Does a Cat Need a Name?

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 44 Comments

I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult. It’s not. Mine had me trained in two days. (Bill Dana)

Thanks to all of you who suggested great names for the puppy in the picture I posted on Wednesday. Everybody agreed she was very cute. I guess I should have told you the puppy was a girl, but it didn’t really matter. Names came in for both boy puppies and girl puppies. The interesting thing was that none of the thirty plus suggested names was the name I gave her. Lucy. She was one of a litter of pups that a neighbor’s dog came over and had in our garage. The neighbor wasn’t interested in collecting the eight or so puppies and carrying them home. So I undertook the job of finding them homes.

And of course, the grandkids loved all the puppies. They insisted I needed to keep one of them and so I had two I really liked. One Lucy and one a cute little brown puppy. I always wondered if I should have kept the other one. Lucy was sweet enough but she had too much beagle in her. She wanted to go hunting all the time. I mean all the time. I didn’t build a fence for her the way I have for Frankie. And off Lucy went , hunting. Then one day, she came home all beat up with major injuries that required a vet, stitches, much care and big bills. She got better and off she went hunting again. I should have given her to somebody with a fence. One day she didn’t come home. I looked for her with no success. I hoped she found a better house – one with that fence she needed. And I still wondered about that little brown puppy. But then I got Oscar and all was good. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on my very good dog, Oscar.

Name a New Pet

So now you get to name a new pet. This time how about naming a cat.

“What’s your name,’ Coraline asked the cat. ‘Look, I’m Coraline. Okay?’
‘Cats don’t have names,’ it said.
‘No?’ said Coraline.
‘No,’ said the cat. ‘Now you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names.” (Neil Gaiman, Coraline)

So maybe the cats don’t need names for themselves, but we need names for them. One of my sisters used to live on a farm and every cat in the neighborhood soon found out her house was the place to go for shelter and food. She had dozens of outside cats and she named every one of them. I think they liked it. I know they liked living on my sister’s farm. She took many of them to be altered to slow down the population growth. The cat up top is not one of her cats. But he needs a name.

Leave your name suggestion in a comment here on my blog post and you’ll get an entry into a book giveaway, open only to those who do make comments here. Even if you suggested a name for my Lucy pup, you can get another entry in my drawing hat by coming up with the perfect name for this gray and white cat. I’m going to let you guess whether this is a male or female cat. That will let you imagine the cat you want to imagine as you come up with the right name. The deadline to enter is May 11, 2018 at midnight EST. You must be at least eighteen to enter, but feel free to ask your kids and grandkids for naming advice. Three winners will get their choice of one of my books and a grab bag book from my overstuffed bookshelves. So leave your guess and check back middle of the week for another pet to name. Hmm, wonder what next.

Again thanks for reading and for all the names for the puppy. You came up with some great names and most of you suggested different names. Some went by the color, Rusty, Brownie, Milky Way, S’mores, and even Ovaltine. Chocolate Ovaltine. The most popular name was Blu/Blue because of the puppy’s eyes. All the names were great. I liked Banjo and Blossom. There were very few repeats. You all are unique thinkers. So I have plenty of names if I want to name a puppy in one of my books.

So what would you name the cat?

Comments 44

  1. Churchill for a boy or Queen Victoria for a girl,Ann. This cat looks so regal, I’m thinking of historical or majestic names for this cat, friend! 😉😊
    🐈Psalm 7:17🐈

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  12. Post
    Author

    Good names so far, guys. Interesting how you see different personalities for this kitty. Janette sees peace and names him Pacifico. Margaret says the cat says his name is Buster. That doesn’t sound too peaceful. 🙂 And Bev sees a leader and names him Simon. Rebecca, Festus is a cute name and suggest an even different personality for the cat.

    Karen, I like Sherlock. That’s a great names for a cat. I’ll have to remember that one if I get to write another Hidden Springs mystery with of course, a new cat character. Sherlock the cat would do well in a mystery. And you are right, Karen, about there being no right or wrong answers. Just the answer you think is right.

    Lois, Ricky is a nice name. Never had a pet named Ricky. Marji, we hope our cats our mousers. Some I know are too well fed to worry about catching their own food. Others love to do the catch and play operation. Cats are always interesting.

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  15. He (?) looks quite serious. I think Sherlock would be a great name. I like these contests since there are no right or wrong answers. I’m sorry that Lucy never made it back home. Such a cutie! I pray she found a good home. 😊

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