Pet Names · Cat Names
By Sophie Kihm · Updated September 2026
Across 122 pages
of 122
Diminutive of Relief, word name
"relief"
It sounds like a modern nature name, but Leafy was coined as a Puritan nickname for the girls' name Relief, which referred to the relief of Christ.
English fruit name
Sour or sweet? Enough like Lennon, Leonard, and Clement to work, or best left in the fruit basket? That's up to you to decide, but Lemon has been appearing in the US charts for boys since the 1880s.…
Diminutive or Derek or Dermot or Irish place-name
"like an oak"
With the fashions for tree names, place names, and nickname names, Derry is a three-way winner. The unusual Irish Derry was given to zero babies of either gender in the US last year, but it's a merry…
Japanese
"fortunate child"
What parent wouldn't love this meaning?
Welsh
"pretty and blessed"
If you like soft, lispy Welsh names like Gwyneth, or want an alternative to Delilah, Adele, or Edith, consider this out-of-the-ordinary option.
Latin
"song for unaccompanied voices"
Madrigal might be a pretty and highly distinctive choice for a child of a musical family--or for the parent looking for a less conventional path to the nickname Maddie than Madeline or Madison .…
English word name
"tenth month"
Although this month name was used only for girls in a recent year, there's no reason it can't work for both genders. For a holiday baby, more original than Noel and more universal than Christmas.
English
"a planet visible in the east just before sunrise; (poetic) the sun"
Hebrew; German surname
"fortress, God's protector; mouse"
This rare name received national attention in 2021 when actor Frankie Muniz and his wife Paige named their son Mauz Mosley. The variation they used stems from the Hebrew word Mauzzim , literally…
"deer town"
Obscure, though legitimate, name that could be used to honor a relative named Barton or Martin.
Dartha is a feminine name that likely developed as a variation of Martha, which has Hebrew origins meaning 'lady' or 'mistress of the house.' The substitution of 'D' for 'M' gives this traditional…
English place- and word name
This British river name sounds sleek and strong but perhaps a bit too energetic.
"true, reality, hope"
Popular name in Japan in its own right, but also as a nickname for Miyako or Makiko. It appears in the visual novel Danganrompa , borne by the character Maki Harukawa. Succinct and simple, it can…
"causing harm"
Disney turned Maleficent into a name in 1959, when it was used for the "Mistress of All Evil" in the film Sleeping Beauty . Prior to that, maleficent was a word meaning "causing harm," the antonym of…
Variation of Maybelline
"lovable"
Maybellene is the true one-of-a-kind baby name that Taylor and Natalie Hanson chose for their daughter in 2020. It's a variation of Maybelline, which is itself an elaboration of the name Mabel. The…
French, musical intrument
Mandolin may seem like an outlandish choice for a name, but since BANJO has been used as a baby name, all the instruments in the band seem to be auditioning for a place on birth certificates. This…
Mcqueen is a masculine surname-turned-first-name with Scottish Gaelic origins. Derived from 'Mac Shuibhne' meaning 'son of Suibhne' (a personal name meaning 'well-going' or 'pleasant'), it carries…
Fruit name
Mango is one fruit name best left untasted, unless you're naming a cat or looking for a nickname for a name like Manuela or even Margaret.
Mango might be cute as a short form of a related name like Manuel, or for a pet name. But we're not feeling it as a full baby name for a child of any gender.
Music name
Manzie was an obscure one-person name until Woody Allen used it for his young daughter, named after jazz drummer Manzie Johnson. Johnson played with another jazz musician, Sidney Bechet, whose last…
