Pet Names · Cat Names
Black Cat Names
Across 7 pages
of 7
Maurice
English and French from Latin
"dark-skinned"
In the USA, Maurice was in the Top 200 for most of the 20th century; since 1990, however, it has been on a slow and steady decline. This name has the potential for some old-school cute nicknames such…
Maury
Diminutive of Maurice
"dark skinned"
Old-man name, soft as a fraying gray cashmere cardigan, that would be even cuter for a girl.
Melania
Spanish and Greek variation of Melanie
"black"
The current wife of Donald Trump, Slovenian model Melania Knauss, brought this pretty version to the fore. Saint Melania was an heiress who freed thousands of enslaved people.
Melantha
Greek
"dark flower"
The th sound both softens and complicates this Melanie relative.
Merle
French
"blackbird"
A sleek, smooth, understated name off the grid in the US but among the Top 100 girl names in Germany. In the US, it is a unisex name, while in Germany and the Netherlands, it is predominantly…
Midnight
English, word name
A mystical word name, most often reserved for black cats, Midnight conjures up darkness and the liminal space between the end of one day and the beginning of the next. It has seen some use as a baby…
Moritz
German form of Maurice
"dark-skinned"
The unusual-to-the-English-ear Moritz is a Top 25 name in Austria and a form of Maurice or Morris, which are modern variations of the ancient Roman Maurus. There were several early saints named…
Nigel
Irish
"dark, black-haired"
A name that Yanks might see as overly British, but combined with the right surname, it does have a measure of Sherlock Holmesian dash via Nigel Bruce, who played the original Dr. Watson to Basil…
Nigella
Feminine variation of Nigel; botanical name from Latin
"black"
A name that sounded unthinkably priggish until it became attached to Domestic Goddess British TV chef Nigella Lawson (named for her father), who gave it a big dollop of glamour.
Night
Word name
An ubercool and mysterious name, brought to you by director M. Night Shyamalan.
Nightingale
Bird name from German
"night singer"
Charming nature name made even more appealing by the connection to iconic nurse and statistician Florence Nightingale.
Nila
Indian, Tamil, Hindi
"dark blue; moon"
A sweet, simple Sanskrit name which would work in many languages and has an sparkling, colorful meaning. Fitting in besides Nina, Mila and Nola, Nila was one of the fastest rising names for girls in…
Nimbus
Latin nature name
"dark cloud"
Nimbus is a word from nature for a type of cloud that has occasionally -- very occasionally -- been used for a human. But it's evocative and upbeat and certainly makes an intriguing and stylish…
Nisha
Sanskrit
"night"
Simple but sophisticated, Nisha is a pretty Sanskrit choice that hit the popularity charts in England in the late 1990s. The meaning "night" adds a slightly mystical element to name and it is a…
Nyx
Greek mythology name
"night"
In Greek mythology, Nyx was a powerful goddess and the embodiment of the night, giving this name a dark yet mystical feel. She is often depicted as one of the first deities, an offspring of Chaos who…
Orpheus
Greek mythology name
"the darkness of the night"
Name of the legendary ancient Greek poet and musician — whose music was so beautiful it made trees dance and rivers stop to listen — would provide a child with a challenging but indelible identity.
Perran
Cornish
"little dark one"
Also spelled as Piran, this Cornish saint's name is thought to have derived from the Irish Ciaran. Borne by a 5th-century monk who founded a monastery, it also appears as a place name in Cornwall, as…
Peta
Native American, Blackfoot,or Greek, "golden eagle, or rock, stone"
"golden eagle, or rock, stone"
Too tightly tied to the acronym for the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Pinchas
Hebrew
"dark-skinned"
Famous violinist-conductor Pinchas Zuckerman is the most famous modern bearer; the biblical Pinchas was the son of Eleazar and the grandson of Aaron -- both preferable name choices.
Poe
English
"peacock"
Hip new middle-name choice, conjuring up the gothic tales of Edgar Allan, and current single-named pop singer Poe. As a first name, it's radically underused, given last year in the US to only five…