Why did your cat get his name?

[calismum]

Been quite a bit on the forum recently about names. Thought it might be an interesting thread to find out/update on why our cats got their name.

My lot past and present
Shanti - ginger Tom - the colour of chianti, and I was only 17 and didn't know how to pronounce Chianti!!
Pepper - Tortie female - she was mainly black peppered with orange
Smudge - Tortie/white female - her colours all smudged into each other.
Max - B/W Tom - I just loved the name
Misty - Tabby/white female - Chosen by OH, he liked the name
Sid - Black semi feral - when I found him cowering in the shed he hissed just like a snake so was called hissing Sid, shame really coz he turned into a lovely natured boy.
Shadow - Black feral female, daughter and shadow of Sid.
Munchkin - Tortie feral female, sister of shadow, daughter of Sid - she was the colour of Jaffa Cakes and that advert was out at the time 'don't let the Munchkins get your Jaffa Cakes'
Alfie - Named by OH's dau
Kinsi - a name we seen on a gate in Skye last year 'Kinsi lives here'

So come on, why did you give your cats their names, I need to know as there are a number of unusual names on this forum

[angieh]

When Merlin came to me all those years ago he was actually called "Brockly" because that was where he came from. I think that's near Bristol! There may be another town or village with slightly different spelling, but I haven't tracked it down.

It took quite a few days to settle on his "real" name. He just looked like a wizard to me! I had wanted a cat for so long and it was like magic to have one.

Smudge was called Smudge because she had a white smudge on her black nose, which looked like a smudge of paint.

I'll let you know whether Kizzy is actually a "Kizzy"!

[Mags]

Originally Posted by angieh

When Merlin came to me all those years ago he was actually called "Brockly" because that was where he came from. I think that's near Bristol! There may be another town or village with slightly different spelling, but I haven't tracked it down.

Brockley Combe is in Somerset, just outside Bristol and not far from Bristol Airport There is also a Brockley in Surrey I think

[angieh]

Originally Posted by Mags

Brockley Combe is in Somerset, just outside Bristol and not far from Bristol Airport There is also a Brockley in Surrey I think

He'd come a long way then! He was brought into the place I worked in Storrington, West Sussex - not very far from the East Sussex border. He spent the afternoon playing with paperclips before I brought him home.

[dandysmom]

Su-Ling (seal point Siamese) - name I picked from a book

Scamper (ginger semi-longhair moggy) named by me at age 6 because that's what he did as a kitten. Most unsuitable as he grew into a very large dignified cat!

Sultan (Aby) he had regal presence and cattitude even as a wee kitten

Misty (blue torbie) named by a friend when I couldn't think of a name.

Patches (brindled tortie) already named when I rehomed her

Dandy (Singapura) I was trying to think of Malay or Chinese names when it occurred to me he was born right here in the USA and was a Yankee Doodle Dandy!

Princess Leia (blue torbie) former owner was a Star Wars fan; she knew her name when I rehomed her, so ...

Onyx (black moggy) she didn't look like a Midnight or Sooty ...

[Moli]

Leo, is my sons cat and Leo is his birth sign....
Merlin was a little monster as a kitten always into things....He was Blu when I got him..
Oliver constantly asked for food as a kitten....He was Sparky...
Casper, he was named after Mags's Cassie....

Chancer was supposed to live with the lady next door, but he took a chance and moved in with me, with 3 dogs and 4 cats...

[Leesy]

Charkie-I named him Charkie as when he came to me as a wild little kitten the colours of his fluffy fuzzy fur reminded me of charcoal so I sort of invented the name.

Maximus- I loved the "Gladiator" film and just loved the name Maximus from the film and wanted him to have a big strong name behind him. LOL We call him Maxi Baby at home.

Maisy-Jane - My daughter and I decided on Maisy`s name it was just a name that we both liked. Her nickname at home is Maisy-Moo.

[pookyandjo]

Great thread Calismum...this is going to be a stroll down memory lane!..
My very first cat was a tabby and white DLH.. and his name was...... drumroll........yep.. you guessed it... Fluffy!
give me a break... i was only about 6 at the time!
then a black DSH called sooty... i know... still not very imaginative...(both of these were "family cats"
I got "my" first cat when i was bout 13.. a DSH jet black i called C- for...(i was breaking out of the stereotypical names slowly!)
a couple of years later.. Fluffy was gone and Sooty wasn't much longer for the world... i "found" on the way home from school a DSH tabby i called Dr Spock cause he had big ears and was a liitle odd looking...
I joined the police force just before my 19th birthday and on my first weekend home from the academy i had to have C-for PTS cause he had a kidney problem and in the first week i was away he had lost all movment in his hind legs.
Spocky stayed with my parents
After that i didn't have a cat for a few years until i was working nightshift one night and we went to a burg... i was sitting in the front of the police car with the door open using the radio... and a tabby kitten hopped into the police car..climbed up my leg...thank goodness it was winter and i had pants on instead of a skirt! and proceeded to make himself very comfortable on my clipboard!
I ended up taking him home...we (hubby and i had just started going out a few months earlier) named him Omar Oakleigh Portman Templeton the 1st..
a mouthful i know... we lived in our first flat in omar street in Oakleigh... Portman avenue was where he found me at the burg we were at... and the guy i was working with on the van that night was a guy called Ron Templeton..
We only had Omar for 4 years before he disappeared..
Next on the scene was another cat that i picked up in the course of my duties... we went to a call of "shots fired" .. so we kitted up with our ballistic vests.. and went racing off with lights and bells blaring.. only to find that the "shots" were some kids with crackers... we were in the process of giving them a stern talking to... when the hemp shopping bag next to the bigger of the two kids started moving..... you guessed it... a kitten... a tabby and black DSH...they told us that after they had finished with their crackers... (they had two left when we got there) they were going to throw the kitten in the bag.. into the creek to see if it could swim!
Needless to say i took the kitten off them and took it home...
We named him John... after John Merrick (the elephant man...cause he wore a bag on his head too!)
John was with us for quite a few years...we lost him when cait was about 5.. she treated him like a dolly...and he just went along with the whole thing..
We were catless for a little while after he went...then we got Tinky Winky.. named after the purple Teletubby.. not cause he was purple... but because i liked the name..
Tinky was orginally Caits cat... but she will tell you that i "stole "him .. so we got George... were were going to name him Dipsy... but David said no more Teletubby names... that he had to have a proper name .. He wasnted to call him Ralph.. but Cait won the argument and George it was...
Now we have HRH Princess Harri..The ginger cat that i always wanted... and was going to be called Prince Harry... but He ended up being a She and the rest.. as they say... is history!

Sorry for the Gettysburg Address... but i start writing on here and it just all comes out!

[dandysmom]

Don't be sorry.... love these stories! I like Omar; must add that to my list of names I like. And I cannot visualize Angie's dear old Merlin ever being called Brockley! Too similar to the detested vegetable!

[Magenta]

Well...first cat was called Snowball, yes, she was a big ball of white fur - I was very young at the time lol! She was a stray that wandered in one day, stayed for about 3 months and then wandered off again.
Second cat was Riff Raff a long haired smokey grey and white. She came running down the garden one dark and stormy night absolutely drenched through and looking a total mess with matted fur and mud, hence the Riff Raff name, plus I love Rocky Horror lol! We had her for just over a year before an RTA
Then there is Smudge a tabby and white short hair, who was one of my Mum's friends cats, but she didn't get along with her brother and left, ending up at my parents. She already had the name, but we often call her Smee or Smeagol! She's 19 this year and still going strong!
Liebchen was the next one. A black short hair with 5 white hairs on her chest. She was the univeristy cat that really belonged to the woman who owned the house next door, but she was always round ours! The name comes from The Witches. When we left Uni we made sure the lady living in the house next door would take care of her.
Then there is Twitch, tortoiseshell and white short hair. She turned up 2 weeks after I moved in to my current house. She came in a pretty sorry state with a horrible growth at the base of her tail. I found out that the home she came from (up the road from me) had children that used to pull her tail and they had obviously damaged it, so she niggled at it and caused the formation of a huge scab that hadn't been treated! I was appalled! I took her straight to the vet and she has been with me since. Whenever she sees those children she runs and I don't blame her Her name came from the way she can never sit still and is constantly flicking her tail lol!
Finally Obsidian, Black short hair with speckles of white hairs throughout his coat, it looks like he's going grey! When I first met him he would hiss and spit, so hissing Sid it was for a while, then as he warmed to me I firgured something a bit more dignified was in order lol, so it became Obsidian, although he's still known as Sid at home