. . . or rather, a kitten. Faithful contributor Matthew Cobb sent me an email this morning:
You’ll be pleased to hear we have a kitten. Pics will follow. He doesn’t like Ollie and Pepper [their other cats], who ignore him. Time will tell if it’s a good idea…
Here’s the picture:
Things seem to have settled down in Manchester this afternoon, for I got an update:
He had a big wee this afternoon and cheered up enormously.
The tentative name for this cat is Harry, but I don’t like that. I asked Matthew if I could query the readers here for suggested names, and he said that was fine. But he laid down two rules:
Things we’ve already argued about – no human names (although Harry seem OK); no cutesy names (so Minou was banned, sadly.
So, leaving out human and cutesy names, suggest a name for the cat shown above. If Matthew uses one of them, I’ll send the winner an autographed copy of WEIT (after May all prize books will change to Faith vs. Fact), with the kitten drawn in it.
You can suggest up to five names, and the deadline is Friday at noon.
Spot.
Hey, I spotted the cat!!
Do gods’ names count as human names?
My kid is currently running around calling our cat “Smilodon.” We may use it for our next cat. Feel free to steal.
If the Kitty lives up to “Smilodon”, yoo’re the ones with the problem!
Good knowledge by Junior though. Let us (and passing bears) hope he was being whimsical.
Hmmm…you also said he. With that coloring, is he a calico? If so, and he is not sterile, you should probably call him “lucky” or perhaps “moneymaker.”
Sadly, he’s nothing so exotic. Looks to me like he is just a tabby, but homozygous for the piebald spotting gene.
A nice intro to cat coat genetics:
http://ib.berkeley.edu/courses/ib162/Week3a.htm
Dash, Popper, Meeko, Ryder or Scout??
I sometimes used to nickname our cats “Ignatz” and my husband insists that if we ever get another cat that’s its name. But for a girl cat? No.
So Matthew can have Ignatz — if he and new kitty approve.
Ignatz Mouse was Krazy Kat’s sidekick in an early 20th century comic. ‘Krazy Kat’ would then make a good nickname for Ignatz.
A girl cat named ‘No’?
It would save time for any cat, boy or girl.
“No, don’t go on the kitchen counter.”
“No, leave the toilet paper alone.”
“No, it is not time for breakfast.”
My mother had a friend who named her dog “Dammit” on the same principle.
So I will offer that one, too: Matthew can name the kitty Dammit.
Friends of ours in Boston had a lab named Sternly. Because you had to call him sternly.
Damnit, last name, Janet?
b&
Now it is in my head. Thanks, Ben.
Dammit is a last name. The usual first name is Dog.
I know a lovely Irish Wolfhound-of-sorts named Dammit. Resides in Torrey, Utah, near Capitol Reef NP.
Dammit get off the couch…
Dammit would be a Howling Gael? x
LOL
More a Drooling Gael;-)
PS Dammit belongs to the chef at the motel we stay at in Torrey and puts himself in charge of guarding the BBQing ribs outside the kitchen, though he’ll occasionally walk right into our room and make himself at home.
Clawdius ?
I hope that that doesn’t count as a human name!
I LOL’d at this one!
Clawdius Catus Maximus Profundus. 😀
Stacker.
No human would use that name.
Wait, isn’t one of Palin kids named that? Or a Romney son?
😀
Look at that ” haircut”. “Bangs” is the name for kitty.
The “hairline” is indeed striking, but I would go with Moe. A case could also be made for Curly or Shemp.
Taung
Monet
Broom
Sappho
Beagle
Dagon, perhaps?
I have a friend who just named her cat Tesla. But no human names, so how about “Dynamo”.
If we’re going sciency, I had a chemist friend with a pair of cats, Diels and Alder.
Weasel, because he looks a bit like an ermine, and because he will weasel his way into Ollie and Pepper and his human’s hearts.
“Sugar”, “Squints”” (good sibilants for her to hea: well, “Spot” did come to mind) but, how about “Agora” the ‘spot’ where Rational Greeks came to reason together…nicely feminine…”Mreme”, which is nicely onomatopoeic and references “meme”. “Puss” is direct, and contains the sibilants.
Pumpkin.
Panda.
Kryptonite.
(Lord) Aslan.
Hoover.
All from my what-I-might-call-my-next-cat list.
Since I am working my way through Daniel Deronda at the moment, how about Hifaz, the name of Mrs Meyrick’s serene and regal cat?
I’m doing the same. A bit of a struggle occasionally. All her other novels were smooth sailing.
I gather someone is re-writing the book as if narrated by Gwendolen, removing all passages related to DD.
Hmm…sounds like a great way to eliminate one of the main points of the book. Unless Gwendolen is to be re-created as a Jewish activist herself.
Possibles names:
WEIT (as your book)
Bonus
Milky
Pinky (he has a pink nose)
Looks a little like Audrey Hepburn, long neck big eyes and dark hair on top;
Audrey
Audie
Holly Golightly
Sabrina
Edda (van Heemstra)
Darwin,
Socrates (soCATes)
Hubble
Quark
Spock
Laniakea (or just Lani)
Meelo
Naga
Pabu
Momo
Pokie
I have given four out of the five cats I have had Viking names because of my background in Old Norse studies. In all of those cases, I had them for up to a week or so to see what kind of personality they had so that I could find a name to suit them (adopting T.S. Eliot’s notion that all cats have intrinsic names waiting to be discovered). Astrid was named for her stellar sweet nature. Thorbjorn (“bear of Thor”) was a large, cobby cat that had bearlike qualities (Teddy, not grizzly). Freti got his name because his shelter diet really stank up the litter box his first few days home (“Freti” means little foul-fart”). Kveldulf, which means “evening wolf”, was a stray who got into everything and went crazy after dinner time, tearing from one end of the house to the other. I had originally been tempted to name him Loki, but my wife said that naming a cat after the god of mischief was asking for trouble. Isa is named after a handmaiden of Freya because she is somewhat clingy and always somewhere close by. Samone, however, is the only cat so far who kept her shelter name, because she didn’t have much of a personality to emerge until she’d been with me for almost a year.
So Matthew may want to give the naming process a week or two to see if his kitten’s intrinsic name emerges.
we have a ferret named Loki. oh the things that have gone missing…..
I just love those name choices! I’ve had cats named “Freya”, “Danska” (after the name of a Danish vodka that almost killed me), Niamh (went a bit Celtic on that one) and “Ziggy Sigurd Sigue Sigue Sputnik Stardust” 🙂
Atum
Egyptian Mythology
Means “completion” in Egyptian. This was the name of an Egyptian creator god. He was first prominently worshipped in Heliopolis during the Old Kingdom.
Baltazar – from the 3 wisemen (since you now have three cats)
Masculine
What about native american names?
Tocho is Hopi for Mountain lion (Hopi are in northeastern Arizona and parts of New Mexico)
Bidzel – Navajo for ‘he is strong’ (Navajo is the largest tribe, lands are located in the southwestern US
Wahkan is Sioux for sacred (the Sioux are from South Dakota for the most part)
Takoda is Sioux for friend to everyone
Tohopka is Hopi for wild beast
Dakota – Sioux for friend
Kitchi is Algonquian for brave (this is the most common native american language)
Shilah is Navajo for brother
Tyee, Chinook (here in Colorado) for Chief
Hania is Hopi for spirit warrior and Hototo is Hopi for Warrior spirit who sings
Lallo is Kiowa (Oklahoma) meaning Little boy
Lusio is Zuni (New Mexico) for light
Sage ( an herb, and what cats are)
Names should be descriptive so you need to know something about him to pick a good one. We’ve had/have a K’Ehleyr Klingon warrior kitty (nicknamed KK), Velcro, Nuisance and Calamity.
Stan. To complement Ollie. Alas, both human names.
I think he looks wise and contemplative, so here’s my suggestion –
“huì”
– which is Mandarin for wisdom and intelligent. If it turns out he isn’t wise or intelligent, the name still works since you can use it ironically. 🙂
It’s also Maori for meeting.
Maori and Chinese as well as Japanese names have similar words that are totally different.
I had a dog named Kuri (for dog in Maori) but I saw a Japanese company called Kuri.
Salty.
As in salt, ollie, pepper.
Condiments of the season to you.
Fear ripper
Ork slicer
Death to all mousies
OK, really.
He looks like a Sage or a Merlin.
1. Farfel
2. Rocky
3. Parsnip
4. Cumberbatch
5. Yoda
Not original but how about: Chairman Meow?
Our male cat says you can use his name….Bumper.
Shaker
Jerry
Zeus, Apollo, Ares, Hades, Poseidon.
I had a dream the other night with a cat named “Ragu”. I don’t have any idea where my mind picked it up, but I sort of liked the name. Plus a good Ragu is damn tasty.
Minnow, see, it’d be a pun.
It’s a human name, but not used anymore:
Aelgifu – Anglo-Saxon for gift
She’s lovely.
Salford
Trafford
Ferguson
Catch
Huxley
Nice, but wrong team – MC
Entrechat
Kotik
Silver
Looks a bit of a serious kitty that one – like it’d grow up to be an accountant – so names like Sprocket, Knuckles and Biff are out. Maybe Rolex?
Or if Matthew thinks he hasn’t made his point often enough, how about Gif?
Medium,
Ninja,
Bagus (pronounced like bagoos, Indonesian for good) When it is a bad cat you can call it “dida” bagus (not good) – also not sure that dida is the correct spelling but it sounds that way.
Funny thing, at the animal shelter where I’m currently volunteering, there’s a kitten named Ninja who looks almost identical to this moggie.
Name for the cat Graduate(Grad for short) because he looks like he has the cap on and ready for the gown.
Bingo
Fudge
Muzzy
Pickwick
Siskin
I suggest the name Glitch because I like the sound, and because glitches seem to be a frequent part of the feline experience.
Alexis
Hitch
Zephyr ( pronounced Frenchily, as Zay – fear )
Bastion
Moxie
Blue
Splodge. Or Habibi.
If I get a cat I would name him/her Mewon which is a pun on the name of the elementary particle muon in the Standard model of particle physics. I hope it will have a negative charge and 1/2 spin.
Or Mewton, after Sir Isaac?
“Water” since he and Ollie don’t mix.
Critter
Mau or Miu (Chinese for “cat”) with the added bonus that this is what cats say.
I’m currently looking into acquiring a couple of male cats and I’ve already picked out their names.
Rimon and Steelon.
With they have a license to ill … ?
Yep. At least it’s better than my ex-gf’s pugs, Mucus and Phlegm. Well, ok, I might have been the only one that called them that.
I have known many dogs who deserved those nicknames. Very appreciative someone invented the tennis ball throwing thingy.
Knuckles McKenzie
Fozzy Cobblepot
Mick Bojangles
Spicey McPickles
Guantanamo Jones
Guest: What a lovely cat you have!
Owner: Thank You.
Guest: What is his name?
Owner: Guantanamo Jones.
Thanks for that name!
To heck with the cat! I’m changing MY name to Guantanamo Jones!
Another alternative is to pick a language at random (preferably a non-Indo-European one), find out what that language’s word for “cat” is, and use it as a name. If you don’t like the choice, try another language – you only have several thousand to choose from.
Courtesy of Google Translate, here are some words for ‘cat’ that differ from the general Indo-European pattern (even though some are from I-E languages):
Chinese – mao. 🙂
SEBUC for ‘smaller emergency back-up cat’.
But right now I am looking at Greek God names, but also mythological monsters.
Chimera, Manticore, Mormo, Griffon, Sphinx, and so on. Some of the names make more sense when you look up what they were. Mormo, for example, was “a vampiric creature who bit bad children”. I like that.
I still have Clawed Monet, but several years ago I also had his brother, Pablo Picatso. Pablo was marked just like this kitten.
You’re welcome to use the name. L
Muse… source of inspiration.
Proton…. he looks pretty positive to me.
Hopi – “behaving one, one who is mannered, civilized, peaceable, polite, who adheres to the Hopi way.” (from wikipedia)
Caliche
Moth
Banyan
Cipher
Ouzel
I have five with a Manchester theme (as a sub-game feel free to explain the Manchester connection, commenters). I am submitting some second names to consider, which probably count as names, but here goes …
Dalton
Dover
Fletcher
Mosi
Titan
Titan is a good one. Other NFL team nicknames could be used as well:
Bengal
Raider
Packer
Bill
Redskin
Titans are Manchester’s “American football” league team, so a likely name for a Manchester kitteh with American fans, I thought.
sub
Abraxas, Jethro (human, but not lately), Parliament-Funkadelic (aka P-Funk), Cerberus, Dr. Wu.
I have so many more; it’s really hard to limit to five.
With that head pattern, I’d go with Hoodie or Chech (“Shesh”).
I would go with the name ‘Zircon’. The name has the ring of an ancient general, a cat in charge of the household.
My process: start reviewing the various feline deities to determine if one of them has blessed you with one of its lifetimes. It was nearly instantly obvious that that’s what Baihu had done, though I still don’t understand what I did to deserve it.
If he’s not a god, consider the various cats from myth and fiction. Perhaps, for example, he’s Pixel?
If still no luck, start in with the non-feline heroes of the local culture. If he’s a real terror, it could be that Grendel has found you.
And if even that doesn’t turn up any hits…time to start over again at the top….
Cheers,
b&
My son says: Spotz
Slinky.
Jonesy
What a cute cat, his expression looks so thoughtful. My suggestions:
Zipper
Shorty
Oberon
Spike
Milton
String Theory
That’s cute for a cat!
+1
So, Matthew, are you calling him Harry because he’s a little prince?
MGM?
Detroit?
Tigger?
Let’s go by some rules. Double consonant, alphabetical (SOP, OPQ)…
1. Ollie, Pepper and Salt
2. Ollie, Pepper and Sammi
3. Nobby Ollie and Pepper
4. Ollie, Pepper, Quinn
5. Ollie, Pepper, Quaid
Matthew’s rule seems to be short names with double consonants, instead of “no human names” and Harry would therefore fit in fine.
When it was stated no human names I want to assume that meant names like Bill, Mike, Frank, etc. I hope names like
Moe or Hitch
are okay. They’ve both been mentioned already but I want to second them.
Given Mr. Cutie’s ‘hair style’ I recommend
Snape
Leto
Alfalfa
I also like
Retro
Buzz
Cheers,
Ken
Looks like a Gus to me. I’ll argue it’s eligible because I’ve never met a person named Gus though I’m sure they still exist. And if Harry is in the the running Gus should have a chance?
Gus is an awesome cat name!!!
My very favorite grandfather was named Gus and cousins had a dog named Gus.
George Washington’s father was named Gus (short for Augustus). They didn’t get along.
Gus is the cat at the theatre door
His name as I ought to have told you before
Is really Asparagus but that’s such a fuss
To pronounce that we usually call him just…Gus.
That’s great! What a fun poem. Makes me like the name even more.
That’s the opening of Gus the Theatre Cat from T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, which became the basis for the musical Cats. I have a copy of the book that was illustrated by Edward Gorey. Those lines were also quoted in the 1976 movie Logan’s Run.
Call her Acetylene, spell it HCCH.
Finnegan
Smeagol
Nano nano
Ballou
Quark
Higgs
…oh and for the foodies, Panko or Tonkatsu.
From the way it was pronounced on the old TV show, it should be spelled Nanu Nanu.
This is more a nod to Science… nano. 🙂 But Nanu is good too.
“Spot” in…
Latin: Locus
Romanian: Loc
Swahili: Doa
August
Niles
Cute kitten. I suggest Regis (as in Lyme…), future king of the Cobb household. Ho-ho.
Solutions to a cat problem, please. The local bruiser cat is terrorizing my cat, our house has become part of bruiser cat’s territory, my moggie is permanently terrified and bruiser cat has now broken our cat-flap twice, chasing our Elsa, last night being the most recent incident.
Can anyone suggest a humane way in which I can dissuade bruiser cat from thinking that our house and back garden is its territory? x
Spray Bruiser with water?
He looks like a sweet kitten, so I’d call him Biscuit 🙂
I love astronomy terms:
Quasar
Aurora
Ion
Jansky
Nova
WEIT
Oh, I see someone has already suggested it.
Then, say…
HITCH
Crap! It was taken too! OK, I give up.
Two ideas:
Hairnet
Pompadour or Pompatus
That cat’s natural hairdo is amazing.
Zeus..
ONE DAY… I wanna say that, too… With those ears it could be a “Falcon” but with those eyes it might be a “Trouble”
Diamond. Came to me immediately.
Second choice, Wedge.
Oh, how I wish I could live with a kitty, but allergies make that impossible. I do enjoy visits from a most amazingly friendly neighborhood cat (named Link). He’s a very handsome orange tabby.
Hi For Matthew’s cat, I suggest the name Emp, implying both emperor and imp. Keep up the good work on why evolution is true and reason vs faith. Cheers, John Christopher
He looks decidely like Snidely to me. Snidely MacWhiskers should be his full moniker.
Pinto
Perhaps villians and also heroes from several of the Star Trek series would suffice. I list several below from the original series for starters.
Balok, Harcourt (Fenton Mudd), Trelaine, Kodos, Sarek, Kang, Kor, Anan, Stonn, Adonais, Korob, Akaar, Oxmyx, Krako, Tyree, et cetera…
A personal favorite and blast from the past from my youth include names from the children’s television show called “Jason of Star Command”. Try names such as Dragos, Parsafoot, Canarvin, Peepo, and Kesh.
That looks like a Cormac
Hmmm… the naming of cats…
Adlatus
Kater (German for tomcat)
Peebald
Prinz Eisenherz (The German name of Picice Valiant, lit. iron heart)
Does ironical count, like ‘Chairman Meow’? If not perhaps: Quartz, Kwerky, Evo-Devo, Cat-22.
Pied Piper
Spots
We used to have a cat named Minou!
Our two new kittens (4 and 7 months) we named Carmen (she’s a firebrand) and Booker (after the literary prize, and Booker T.) Booker looks kind of like Sylvester without the red nose. Unfortunately I’ve begun calling Carmen Dingle, or Dinglebat, (or sometimes Doofus or Goofus) because, although she’s very smart, she’s fearless and nuts and tears around getting into everything before crashing for a catnap. She’s tiny, but tries to eat all kinds of people food (broccoli, edamame, crackers, oatmeal), as well as dog food, in addition to her kitten chow.
Cracker would be a good name for the kitty. Like a saltine to go with Ollie and Pepper.
I have more:
Dusty
Felix
Cloudy
Stormy
Frosty
Smokey
Chili
Fonzie
Snooky
and my favourite, Vinnie, to make the perfect combo — Ollie, Pepper and Vinegar!!!
I forgot Patches and Sushi.
And Ramen, as part of the tribe of PCC.
And Zero (kinda like Zorro because of the mask), because of all the Zeroes all over his body! What an adorable cat!
I know I’m way over the ‘5 items or fewer’ limit, but I’m not entering the contest. I just like playing with names. So I offer one more — Rupali (after the Indian lady in PCC’s travels to India. Kitty is silvery in spots. 🙂
More suggestions, since we can’t have the kitty forever stuck with Harry:
LeRoi (but must be pronounced as LeRoy – a friendly poke at royalty; kitty wears a crown);
iCobb (pretty obvious why 🙂 );
Cobbler (as in shoemaker; lots of little kitty bootie prints over his body);
Morse (after one of my favourite British detectives, Inspector Morse; kitty looks inquisitive and has dots all over him too, like some kind of code).
One more I forgot – Tango! And if the kitty handlers don’t like Morse as it’s too short, try Endeavour. 🙂
Tadpole, because of his markings.
Ok…let’s try..
Scroob
Scrubby
Spark
Sunshine
Binky
Mingo
Wings (because of the ears)
Benni
Patches
I’m surprised that nobody has brought this up before (although I mentioned it in passing) – T.S. Eliot’s advice for naming cats. I had encountered his cat poems long before Andrew Lloyd Webber turned it into a musical, and I have been guiden in its advice that a cat needs a dignified name*.
When my cat Thorbjorn went missing for a couple days, I was nearly frantic. My first thought was for his health and well being. My second thought was that someone would take him in and give him an undignified name like “Mr. Boots”. He had white paws, which are more properly known as gloves.
Typo apology: “guiden” should have been “guided”.
…and there I was thinking that guiden sounded lovely and quaint and old English-y.
Love the poem; thanks!
My silly little tabby, Carmen, who’s a very light grey tabby with NO white feet, was called Mittens by the Humane Society:-(
Booker, who does have white feet, was named Eddie, which is kinda OK.
Cyrano (de Bergecat)
Mary is popular here.