Have You Ever Named a Cat?

Maggie Monroe

Callie

“Perhaps one reason we are fascinated by cats is because such a small animal can contain so much independence, dignity, and freedom of spirit. Unlike the dog, the cat’s personality is never bet on a human’s. He demands acceptance on his own terms.” – Lloyd Alexander

Back when I was writing my third Hidden Springs mystery, Murder Is No Accident, I came up with a very necessary cat character for my mystery. I settled on a calico cat. Simply because they are so pretty. Then I asked my FB friends to suggest a name for this new cat. And boy, did I get names and more names.

That’s been a few years ago and I’ve forgotten some of the names, but not the enthusiasm of the readers suggesting names. Some shared great pictures of their own calico cats. As I say in that post back when,  I had so many great names that I could have named a few hundred calico cats.

It’s a shame the feral cat that decided to make my deck her new home wasn’t a calico to get one of the names. But no, she’s a tortoise shell. A tortie, I think some say. And since she had kittens under my deck, I named her Mama Mia. Doesn’t exactly fit now since she looks like a lithe and frisky teen cat instead of a mama one. But Mama Mia it is.

The pictures folks shared back when I was writing that third mystery spurred my imagination about not only what to call my fictional cat but also how my cat might look along with some hints about her personality.

But back to the names. Callie/Kali/Cally were by far the most popular suggestions followed by Patches. Some of you said that Callie was the only name. Others of you said name the cat anything but Callie. Some suggestions were for Calico something, like Calico Zoe, Calico Liz, Calico Jo or Kelly the Calico. I had actually considered Calico Jane.

Hissy Fit

Kate Tippi Toes

Stormy

A few of the more interesting suggestions were Hissy Fit. That cat’s picture is here and her owner says the vet assures her that Hissy Fit has plenty of attitude. Of course. It’s a calico. Kate Tippi Toes might fit in that category too. She was named after Kate Hepburn who never lacked for attitude. We had Coquelicot (French for poppy); Miss Priss; Pumpkin; Izzi; Stinkerbelle, Rainbow; Calicat; Rags; Puzzle; Kitty Boo; Cosie; Cali Lily; Crazy Quilt; Blotchy; Butters; Sassy; Sunny; Calliope; Sparkle; Queenie; Butterscotch; Moon Doggie, and many more.

I liked J.C. for Just Cat, Heinz 57 for all the colors, Marmalade for the orange, Muslin and Cotton for Calico cloth, Maple, Pandora for all the colors let out of the box on the cat, Stormy because of the clouds of black perhaps, and Perfect because every cat thinks she’s perfect.

Stella

One of the cats pictured is Maggie Monroe. I think her beauty mark tells you how she got her name. Then there were the regular people names because cats know they are people just like you. Some had names like Stella, Lucy, Wilma, Angie and Martha. My sister had a calico cat named Martha that was a favorite.

So many names and great looking calico cats that I may have to write a dozen stories starring calico cats. But whether I ever get to do that or not, I enjoyed all the names and meeting some beautiful cats. It was such fun seeing the cats and knowing their names.

Zita

Parts of this post are from that long ago post, but when I was looking for something to post about the Hidden Springs mysteries since they are on e-book sale right now for 99 cents each, I came across this post with all the cat pictures. They needed to come out of the archives and see the light of the internet again and find some love.

If you’ve read Murder Is No Accident, you might remember that I didn’t use any of these names and went with one my daughter suggested. Miss Marble since it was a play on the name Miss Marple who was Agatha Christie’s amateur sleuth in some of her mysteries plus the marble look of the colors of the cat’s fur. Check out all three mysteries and see buy links on my website. Amazon, Kobo, B&N are offering the sale price but some sellers aren’t. So, make sure the price is what you expect when you are buying the e-books. The sale ends soon.

But were I to need another name for a calico cat, which would you vote for from the ones suggested or what name might you suggest yourself?

Also, you might get some smiles from reading T.S. Eliot’s poem, The Naming of Cats. You can find it here.