They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, ‘Can he name a kitten?’ ~Samuel Butler
Have you had the pleasure of naming some kittens? Maybe a dog? Or best of all, a sweet new baby in your arms? With those babies, you have months to debate the perfect name and get your spouse to agree.
When I had my babies back when, you had to wait until the doctor delivered the baby and told you “it’s a girl” or “it’s a boy.” Now couples know the sex of their babies almost as soon as they know they are going to be parents. I’ve known a few couples who decided not to know their baby’s sex until the baby was born, but most people don’t want to wait. They want to buy pink or blue for the baby’s new room. In fact, many of them decide on the name long before the birth date.
But in the olden days before all these new tests, ultrasounds, and gender reveal parties, you had to think up names for both a boy and a girl. Just in case. I have two sons and one daughter. My husband had seen or heard the name Tarasa on the radio or maybe in a movie. When he mentioned it, I latched onto it right away although I may have spelled it differently. I liked the look of all those a’s, but I think my spelling did make trouble for my daughter since we pronounced the name Taresa. But the a’s just looked better.
We had to wait a few years until that sweet girl came our way. Naming the boys was a little different. The first son was named after my dad and my husband. The second son and third child had a much debated name. My husband would mention a name and I’d frown and shake my head. I’d mention a name and he’d frown and shake his head. I can’t remember now if we agreed on a girl’s name or not, but we did finally agree on Daniel as a boy’s name. It could be that my older son, tired of our back and forth name disagreements, suggested Daniel. Anyway, when he was born, he didn’t have to go nameless while we did more debating.
Whatever name you pick for a baby or even for a dog or a kitten, does fit after a while. I do sometimes wonder if I should have given my dog, Frankie, a less energetic name or maybe I think the name is energetic now because of Frankie. Nobody was excited about the name when I told them. But I had named him on that crazy drive home from the humane shelter where I had to drive with one hand and hold him off in the seat beside me with the other hand. Maybe I should have tried the name Sleepy.
Whatever name you pick, you might have to say it a few times. You might have to convince the grandparents or your siblings that it’s the right name, but a few weeks or months down the road and the name generally fits. My daughter-in-law had that experience with her first daughter. She picked a name and shared it with her family. One of them spent the next however many months trying to talk her out of the name that she had already fallen in love with. So for her next two daughters, nobody but my son and her knew the names until the baby was born.
If I’m gonna tell a real story, I’m gonna start with my name. ~Kendrick Lamar
When I start down a story path for a new book, I have to start with a name too. The name of my character or all my main characters. Over the years, I’ve named many, many characters. Sometimes I pick a name and work with it a while and then realize that no, this person is not named that.
In my upcoming release, The Song of Sourwood Mountain, I changed the main female character a couple of times. She started out as Virginia/Ginny and became Almira/Mira. The main male character started out Gordon, got changed to Drew and then back to Gordon. My young mountain girl was Ada June from the first. The name was actually the inspiration for her character in the story.
I like names that are a little unusual. Tansy was perfect for my packhorse librarian in Along a Storied Trail. Piper worked for my Frontier nursing courier in An Appalachian Summer. Other names I pick for my main characters are more common names you might hear anywhere. I do try to make them fit the time period and wherever they grew up. At times, I can have a name that my new character just does not like at all. If that happens, that character will just lay there on the paper and not show the first sign of life. Sigh. That’s when I have to get out my old name book and start searching again.
So what about it? Can you name a kitten? I have a cat about ready to come on the scene in the story I’m working on right now. I hadn’t really thought about what it might look like yet, but the ghostly gray white cat in the picture up top with those gorgeous blue eyes will work. My main character has beautiful eyes too. She’s never felt as though she’s pretty since she has a blonde, blue-eyed, very pretty younger sister. But Elena has some beautiful eyes. So does this cat.
What woud you name my cat?
Comments 35
My “grand-kitties” are Timtam, Stella and Luna. I think they’re all great cast names.
Author
I like Luna, but I don’t think my character would think of it. Cute names, Amy.
My siamese cat with blue eyes is name Mr Peanut because he was the color of a peanut hull and I could see him strutting around like the Planters Mr Peanut with a top hat and cane. I also have cats named Scruffy and Fancy.
Author
That’s cute, Janice. I don’t know if my cat will be top hat and cane type of cat. LOL.
Hi Ann,
I might consider the beautiful name, “Aberdeen”, because she has the coloring and a bit of the look of a Scottish Straight. Perhaps she has the nice temperament, too.
All the best in choosing a name that fits her. She is a beauty.
Mary Clare
Author
That would be a perfect name for a cat in some stories, Mary Clare. Aberdeen. You have to love the sound of the name.
I believe the kittens name should be Smokey, because his face looks like smoke from an old coal stove.
I would name her Cleopatra, Cleo for short. It it’s a boy, Patrick, or Pat for short.
Lucky because I have a cat I named that. We stopped in a stormy day and she was running in front of vehicles. When you stopped she would come running. She was soaked and her eyes infected. My vet’s respectionist said every year mama brings her kittens to the road and they get run over. Not this or another. She’s lucky sometimes now because she is so annoying at times. I tell her she is lucky to still be alive. But I love her. One cat we had my daughter named Fiesty because she would open the back screen door and steal a whole loaf of bread off table after we ate. She had two of Nine kittens named Pepper and I forgot just now the other. All white with some very little black. I have one ten years old called Sugar.
Author
I can see how your cat earned that name, Jane, and continues to earn it if she can be annoying but still loved. I’m thinking maybe I should have named Frankie Lucky for some of the same reasons.
Fiesty obviously knew how to find her own food and who needs mice?
I would name her Cinder or Ashes. She looks like she’s been playing in the ash bucket or nosing around an old chimney. I’m not a cat person, but she’s beautiful with those blue eyes.
I would name her Sasha.
I would name her Bonnie Blue.
Kiki or MinNu. These were names that I named my cats Kiki was a Siamese like this one and the other was a mixed that I call MinNu.
I would namy your cat Tabatha. It sounds like a pretty name for a pretty eyed cat.
I have named several cats and a few dogs…most recently our Great Dane puppy George Bailey….but as you may know my favorite names are my children, Johnathan ( after my grandpa) April Mist ( because I always wanted a little girl named April and because my husband chose Mist one morning while he was fishing ) Heather ( our stillborn baby, ( I chose her name from a newspaper article) and Meagan ( rhymes with Reagan, ( I named her after a little girl that I met when my son went to speech therapy) .
Author
For sure the nickname of Tabatha – Tabby – is definitely a popular car name.
Love the reasons you state for naming your children, Lisa. Thanks for sharing about that.
What came to mind was Snowball. Not very exciting, huh? 🙂 We had a white male cat we acquired years ago, and he ended up being Monty (short for Mont Blanc). He was a character.
female – Luna; male- Orion
I would name her Sheba.
First thing to come to mind was Azure for the blue eyes . Second thought was Cyan .
If it’s a female cat, I would name her Sophie. For a male cat, I would name him Oliver.
How fun! I have never had a cat, always dogs. However, I do have several grey kitty names that come to mind: Smudge, Smokey, Misty, Tinsel. We did have a lop-earred bunny named Smokey that was grey.
Author
Tinsel is a fun name for a grey kitten, Alison. So many great name suggestions.
I, too, am assuming your cat will be a female. She looks regal to me so the previously suggested Princess sounds good to me–perhaps Princess Sapphire.
I have a friend with an all-white cat that the family named Mayonnaise. It’s a darling name and cat, but nothing as commonplace as mayonnaise seems appropriate for such an elegant cat.
Author
I do think this particular cat has a regal air, Suzanne. Thinking hard about Princess. So maybe. And maybe Cinderella. Probably will change it a dozen times before I write the end on this story.
I’m assuming that cat is female. She looks to me like a Marjorie. I’ve named a lot of cats over the years and dogs, too. For cats, a lot of times I’ve named them after somebody they look like. Other times, one look and a name just seems to fit them. The cat we’ve had for the last 10 years was named Herbie when we got him but it didn’t suit. He was Hector right away and still is. Hector is a really good boy and we love him.
Author
Hmm, Lee, what do the people think when you name a cat after them and say that it looks like them? Of course, most cats are very pretty.
My sister used to live on a farm and was a cat magnet. She sometimes had dozens of cats she fed and she named them all. She liked regular people names like Tom and Martha.
Haha. They never knew. It was always people from my past.
Ghosty Blue, Serendipity, or Princess Blue
Author
Princess Blue is nice, Lucy.
i would name the cat Serena because her eyes look so serene.
Author
Love your reasoning behind the name Serena, Lana.