Cat Names · Pet Names · Names from the Arts and Pop Culture
Literary Cat Names
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Huckleberry
Word name and literary name
Everybody knows Huckleberry Finn, the Mark Twain character named, Twain said, for the 19th century slang term for "humble." A few modern parents have put it on a birth certificate, including "Man Vs.…
Honoria
Latin
"woman of honor"
This is an eighteenth century elaboration of Honor found in Charles Dickens ( Bleak House ) but rarely heard here and now.
Cullen
Irish
"holly tree"
Cullen is an appealing Irish surname name that upped its cool factor considerably when it became the Twilight family name of Edward et al. It's considerably less popular than it was at its peak in…
Honora
Latin
"woman of honor"
Honora and Honoria are two ways of softening the severity of Honor, while retaining its righteous meaning. They were predominant until the Reformation, when the Puritans adopted the abstract virtue…
Homer
Greek
"security, hostage, pledge"
Homer is a name of two halves, associated with the ancient Greek poet of the epic Odyssey and with the (often) doltish patriarch of The Simpsons . So does that make Homer a classic and scholarly…
Crow
Bird name
From Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore , the story of a boy named Kafka -- crow in Czech.
Bennington
Place-name
Name of pastoral Vermont town and college sounds too stiff and starchy.
Hieronymous
Greek
"sacred name"
A name used in Germany and Holland as a form of Jerome, it's the unlikely moniker of fictional detective Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch.
Cressida
Greek
"gold"
Cressida is a golden, mythological, and Shakespearean name, much better known in Britain than it is in the US. Given to just 11 American girls in a recent year — though still the highest number on…
Hermione
Feminine version of Hermes, Greek
"messenger, earthly"
Hermione's costarring role in Harry Potter has made this previously ignored, once stodgy name suddenly viable. Hermione could really take off once today's children start having kids of their own. In…
Sylvester
Latin
"wood, forest"
This name of three early popes has been associated in recent years with a cocky cartoon cat ("Thufferin' thuccatash!") and the Italian Stallion hero of the Rocky and Rambo movies (who was born…
Ishmael
Hebrew
"God will hear"
Ishmael is most familiar through "Call me Ishmael," the opening line spoken by the youthful narrator of Moby-Dick . Few American parents have followed that advice, though the Spanish and Arabic…
Crane
English surname
"crane"
This elegant surname has great potential to turn into an unusual first name, especially with its literary associations to both Stephen and Hart Crane. Crane is a surname that originated for a tall…
Jacy
This variation of Jacey was the name of the gorgeous small-town heroine of Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show .
Bellow
English occupational name
"bellows maker"
Might be an honorific for novelist Saul Bellow, although bellowing is not the gentlest of sounds. Consider Saul instead.
Jarrell
German variation of Gerald
Briefly faddish a few decades ago when Darrell was cool. But does have a creative connection to poet Randall Jarrell.
Jarvis
English variation of Gervase, meaning unknown
Jarvis, one of the original two-syllable nouveau boys' choices, is a saint's name with a certain retro charm and a nice quirky feel. Though Jarvis peaked in the late 1880s, he is beginning to sound…
Ariadne
Greek
"most holy"
This name of the Cretan goddess of fertility is most popular now as the more melodic Ariana, but Ariadne has possibilities of its own. It first entered the US Top 1000 in 2014. The renewed interest…
Jerzy
Polish variation of George
"farmer"
Writer Jerzy Kosinski put this foreign variation on the U. S. name map.
Amis
Literary name
The surname of father-son British writers Kingsley and Martin could work very well as a first, though its Amy connection makes it sound a tad feminine.