One of the most interesting stories shared by the Cats Forum members was the story of the origin of a cat named Garfield:
- "When I was a kid we had a gray cat that went through many name changes and finally ended up as Garfield, this was long before the comic Garfield. We named our cat after an old tombstone we found on the property with the name Garfield Leach. This cat could let himself into the house when we were gone, so we said he must be the ghost of Garfield Leach."
We weren't the only ones who assigned a name out of "gender confusion." Pat (Raleigh54) describes Raleigh's naming:
- "I didn't name either of my cats. I understand that Raleigh was named for Sir Walter Raleigh back when her former family thought she was a he. They thought she seemed rather elegant and courtly and somehow the name just came to them. She was 7 years old when she came to me and had enough to deal with moving from Kentucky to Minnesota and being rehomed several times in quick succession - I didn't want to put her through a name change."
And another cat named for a movie, but with a different spin:
- "Nuggs - we were watching Encino Man a lot when he was a baby. One of the lines from the movie we were having fun at the time with was 'Check out fresh Nuggs - owoooo!" He started out as Baby Nuggs, and we later dropped the Baby - he was too dignified for that!"
A cat named for a movie, which backfired on his human:
- My Atticus and Scout are from To Kill a Mockingbird. They are fun names and it's my favorite book and movie. Nothing earthshaking but I didn't realize what I had inadvertenly done to both Atticus and myself until just last week.
TKAM was showing on TMC and I had it on, being my favorite movie and all. Well, everytime someone said the word "Atticus" (the girl in the movie pronounces it VERY clearly) my poor Atticus would look at me with the "what do you want" look on his face. He was SO confused as to who kept calling his name. Scout is deaf so it didn't matter to her one wit.
Lori has a house full of cats with clever names:
- Banshee is named for a type of Irish spirit who wails loudly. She's been a screamer from Day 1. Usually, she wants more petting.
Gus-Gus started life with a fat little belly like the mouse (named Gus-Gus) in the Disney movie "Cinderella." Now, however, he is quite svelte.
Mr. Beaumont was my husband's idea. There's a reason for it, sort of. It's what Joey named his boat on "Friends." It seemed completely strange and therefore perfect.
Clea Bella is named for her beauty. She is sight-impaired in one eye, so the name Clea comes from an opera about a beautiful blind woman. Bella means "beautiful."
Steven came to us when we had 4 females and 3 males. He made our family "even Steven."
What great inspiration for thinking "outside the box" when searching for cat names. After all, they are all such amazing creatures in their uniqueness, that we should do no less in giving them names.
If you enjoyed this exploration of the reasoning behind cat names, do join in the forum discussion. We'd love to hear your cat's naming story.
