How to Select the Perfect Name for Your New Cat

Selecting a name for your pet can sometimes be a challenge. Often, you select a name in advance that doesn't quite fit once you get to know the cat's true personality. Here are a few suggestions on how to pick the perfect name for your new cat.

Determine the Sex

OK, I know this is pretty obvious, but you would be surprised at how I often I find cat owners who had initially thought their pet was a little girl (or boy) and then went to the vet and learned otherwise. This actually happened to me, when I took my little girl kitty to the vet and she turned out to be a he. Not wanting to give my baby an identity crisis, I had to come up with a new name FAST. A good idea in case this happens to you is to have two separate names picked out for your kitty, the same way parents do when they are expecting a child, or select a unisex name.

Obvious Physical Traits

Is your new cat a short hair or a long hair? Does it have blue or green eyes? Is it black, brown, gray, orange, or multi-colored? These are excellent questions to ask when trying to pick out the perfect name for your new cat. When I was racking my brain trying to come up with a name for my new little boy kitty, I went by the color of his orange fur and decided on Rusty. If your new cat is gray, a name like Ashes or Smoky would be appropriate, and names like Midnight, Blackie, or Shadow, would be ideal if the cat is black. Look at your cat's obvious physical traits and try to come up with something that will fit him or her.

Personality

What kind of kitty did you wind up with? Depending on how you look at it, giving a cat a name that doesn't fit its true personality can either be downright cruel or absolutely hilarious. For instance, I once had a co-worker who named her cat 'Sweetie Pie' and this cat was anything BUT sweet! If you ended up with a really frisky, playful cat that loves people, it would sound kind of silly if you called it something like 'Bashful' or vice versa and named a really timid, shy cat 'Rascal'. Get to know your kitty really well before you come up with a personality based name, unless you have a silly sense of humor and totally dig the 'ironic pet name'!

Celebrity Cats

No, not cats owned by the rich and famous, but rather names of movie, music, and tv stars and characters that would make perfect pet names. Do you adore the HBO series True Blood? The name Sookie would make a great name for a little girl cat. Are you a Twilight fan? Edward and Bella happen to be very popular pet names these days. If you are undecided on what name you should give your kitty and have gone through all the classic and cutesy cat names in the book, think of a character or celebrity you really love and name your cat after them. For instance, I named my second little kitten Amanda after Gunsmoke's Amanda Blake, and call her Mandy for short. This is a great way to pay homage to the stars you love and admire.

Now, if you are STILL clueless on deciding a name for your cat, this website has tons and tons of great names to choose from.