Smokey - because she's grey
Tennessee Tuxedo - because he's black with a white 'bow tie' at his 'purr
box' and a white 'cummerbund spot on his belly
Ivy - because she was born a feral, and was caught in a patch of poison ivy
Lizzie - because she's a haughty regal cat (Lizzie is short for Queen
Elizabeth)
Weeble - because he was only a day or two old (no teeth, eyes not open and
ears were tiny flaps on the side of his head) when I found him, and he would
'walk' around looking for food (formula) and he was all weebly-wobbly (his
head was a bit heavy for him, and he almost ended up doing handstands
resting on his nose)

(snip)

Persia named herself, basically.  She demanded to be let inside my apartment
one cold January night in the year 2001.  I didn't intend to have a cat, but
couldn't do anything but fall in love with her after she decided to enslave
me.

After a couple of days I realized I couldn't just keep calling her "cat".
So I was looking at her one afternoon as she was sauntering oh so casually
and smoothly away from me, wondering what should I call her.  Suddenly it
popped into my head - Persia!  I said this out loud.  She immediately turned
around and ran back to me - "YES?" :) I was astounded.  She's answered to it
ever since.

Jill

Wel, I can't really take much credit for naming my crew, as the
upstairs neighbor, long since moved away, named two out of three.

She named the scrawny little pregnant cat which was coming to my
outdoor feeding station for neighborhood cats Little Bit.  I assume
she had owners (she had a flea collar), but none were ever found, so
guess she had gotten lost or abandoned. LB graduated from ocassional
diner at the food bowl, to temporary resident (as long as she didn't
bother my cockatiels) when there was a bad ice storm. The idea being
that once it warmed up she would be going back outside. She had her
litter before it warmed up, so of course she had to stay until they
were old enough and found homes. By the time the kittens were old
enough, she had convinced me she had no interest in cockatiels, and
that I needed some cats. On a side note, I doubt that LB would be
named that today, since despite being spayed 3 years ago people just
meeting her sometimes ask if she's pregnant ;-)

The neighbor met the kittens that day after they were born, and gave
them their names (after all, at that time I wasn't planning on keeping
LB or any of the kittens. Sammy was originally going to be given to
the neighbor, but her older cat, Pumpkin, hated the idea of sharing
the apartment with a newcomer. By the time the kittens were old to go
to their new homes, Sammy was my favorite and had convinced me that I
needed to keep her as well as her mom.

Rocky is the only one who I can take credit for naming. He was feral,
and  a long time visitor to my patio cat cafe. For the longest time
all I saw of him was his white tail vanishing over the fence. So his
first name was Whitey. Eventually he was tame enough that I was able
to catch him (he'd been trapped once by a different neighbor who was
trying to trap a neighborhood possum, and after that would not get
near a trap). I hauled him off to be neutered and planned to rehome
him with a friend as a barn cat. But, while recovering from the
surgery he convinced me that his wild days were over, and I ended up
keeping him. He was named after Rocky Balboa, from the Rocky movies,
since he seemed kind of dim-witted and had the street scars of a tom
cat living on the streets for 6-8 years (as estimated by the vet).
I've since learned that he's not nearly as dumb as he likes to act, no
real surprise considering he survived as long as he did feral.

Laku is solid (brownish-)black and "laku" is (an abbreviated form of)
the Finnish word for licorice. Pics of Laku in the addy in my sig.

Sweetie, because that's what I end up calling everyone anyway
Joe - because that was what my 4 year old announced was his name when he got
thrown in my door.

TBird <--- tired

Willie - coal black poodle  Proper name, Wilhelmina

Sam - Siamese.  Name seemed to go with Willie

Ginger - Tortie my daughter named

Henry - Siamese.  Well after Willie and Sam, what else could we name him?

Maggie - Another tortie.  Named after a bar I used to hang out in, but my
parents thought Maggie was a friend of mine, since I used to meet other
friends at Maggie's

Brandie - Apricot poodle.  Proper name Brandy Alexandra

Sugar - Brandies daughter.  Named for a white spot the size of a sugar cube
on her chest.

Taffee - Sugar's sister.  The exact color of pulled taffee, and the name
went well with Sugar.

Jacob, or Jake - Siamese.  Named after my father whose first name was Jacob
although he always went by his middle name Milton.

Rosie - Sweet little Siamese girlcat.  Not sure if my husband named her
after the character on African Queen, (it is his favorite movie)  or some
bar girl he may have known in Japan forever ago.

Favorite name sequence.  I once had a canary I wanted to name after my
favorite school bus driver, Don.  Parents thought a bit of a plain name for
a canary, so we changed it to Dawn.  Sister liked the name so much she named
her daughter Dawn several years later.  And once in a while we still kid my
niece about it.

Jo

Cinnamon because of her coloring. She is a tordie.
Abby was named by the lady that rescued her. I was told she knew her name so
we kept it. I'm not sure if she did before, but after a few days we us she
did because I use it when talking to her.

Ann

Lets see:

First cat 3 yrs old  
Figaro (what else do you name a tuxedo cat :)

I am going to have to get a picture of me and him with one of those
bow tie collars and me dressed up in my tux. I think I'll send it off
to Playboy asking for an invite to one of Hef's parties. (Hey Hef! I
am bringing my own puss... CAT)

Second cat (Middle child) 2,5 yrs old  
Tito

Got him from a friend who's cat had kittens.
When I took him to the vet right after I picked him up I did not have
a name for him. When I went to check him in the receptionist asked me
for his name. Well, he was curled up asleep in the carrier way in the
back. He was such a tiny gatitio ( spanish for kitten) I just said
Tito.     It stuck.
Now he is 15+  lbs  of well... cat
Must be a Maine Coon in his background somewhere (big like one with
the bushy tail and  ear tufts).

Third cat 1.5 yrs old
Antonio

Found in my front yard underneath my steps.
Named after the gardener in "The Marriage of Figaro"

Will post a picture at alt.binaries.pictures.animals of the boys.
One of the rare times they were all together.
See if you can tell which one is the mischievous one.

.

Stinky, because when he arrived he was.  And I couldn't think of a
good name for him for the life of me, and I was referring to him for
weeks as "that stinky little cat," partially in sympathy with my
already-resident cat, Mimi, who responded to him with wild
Flehmen-ing, followed by head bops.  So I would say to Mimi, "OK,
Mimi, where's that stinky little cat?"  

Mimi was completely deceptive.  When she arrived, she was very shy and
timid and demure, like the character Mimi in La Boheme.  I did not
know that she would very quickly become a tiny Ayatollah. ;0

Theresa
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com
alt.tv.frasier FAQ: http://www.im-listening.net/FAQ/

Well, as many of you know, I have multiple personalities.  Tony was
named after one of my alters who was about three years old at the time I
got Tony.  It was done as a gesture to keep peace in my system.  Ever
seen three year olds throw tantrums?  Guess what?  They can throw them
just as well in a multiple personality system, only the stakes are
generally higher.  Tony it was.  It was a good decision.  Tony looks
like a Tony.  Not many people know how he got his name though.  It never
occurs to most to ask.

As for the Stripey Thing...well he was first named George because he was
going to be my father's cat and he wanted a cat named George.  Long
story short, he didn't become my father's cat and he became very much my
cat and I liked calling him my orange stripey thing.  So I did.  And it
stuck.  Now I just call him Stripey Thing and he looks at me every time
I say it - even if I am just using his name in conversation.  He knows
his name.  Of course, he will still answer to George.  And if I really
want him to come and he is being recalcitrant, I call for Tony - even if
Tony is right next to me.  My lovely Stripey Thing knows that if I am
calling Tony there is usually food involved so he will come running to
beat the band.

Bridget

Xoxo: short for Xoxocotlan, a town in Oaxaca, Mexico. Just cuz we
thought it was a cool and weird name, for a cool and weird cat. :)
Luna (moon in spanish) and Maya (self-explanatory): because they look
like ocelots, we wanted a mesoamerican-sounding set of names.
Basho and Issa: they're of asian ancestry, so we chose names of japanese
zen poets
Rufous and Fez: just because, but their names fit *so* well, they
couldn't have been named anything else!

Tanada was named after Tananada, the trollop in Robert Asprin's Myth
series.  Berfert was named after a Basilisk in the same series.  Guido,
the Mafia hitcat (RB) was named after a character in the same series.
QC (our Maine Coon) was named after the Quality Control (QC) shop where
Rob used to work in Texas (it can also stand for Queenly Cat).  Merlin
was originally named Tiger (which didn't fit) Merlin did.  Pine Cone got
his name because he discovered us at Morrow Mountain State Park here in
North Carolina and I'd promised to bring back a Pine Cone for our cat
sitter.  Fortunately, her father wouldn't let her keep her and I
couldn't stand the idea of losing my bad boy.  Squeakers was discovered
on our front yard and the only noise he could make was this strange sort
of squeak.  We didn't think he'd make it through the first night.
Fortunately, one of our soldiers adopted him and the two have really
bonded.  SPC Huey was originally PFC Huey.  Someone abandoned him on
Blackhawk street on Simmons Army Air Base, he was rescued by Rob's
section sergeant and given to us to find a home for him.  He found his
home with us.  He was promoted last September due to his great ability
in being a companion animal for Rob.  Penelope Marie was such a sweet
dainty southern belle that she needed a sweet first name.  Her initials
says a lot about the underside of her personality.

In most cases the cat's behavior suggested the name.  Sometimes we've
tried several names out before finding one that works to both our and
the cat's satisfaction.

Pam S.

When we got Vino as a kitten, our 8 year old niece named him.  She's
allergic to all pets with fur and has bad asthma, so she never gets to have
a kitty of her own, so we thought she may as well have the honour of naming
ours.  She decided on Vino.  We thought that was a very strange name for an
8 year old girl to come up with.  But she claims it's from some Disney
movie??  I don't know which one.  In any case, Dennis and I were heavily
into winemaking at the time, so we figured the name was fitting.  So Vino it
was!
--
Britta
Sandpaper kisses, a cuddle and a purr. I have an alarm clock that's covered
in fur!
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album

I've had lots of cats with lots of names:
"Smokey" was a gray long-haired tabby ( my very first kitty when I was little).
She was a VERY sweet mother cat who tried to mother everybody she thought
needed it--- including the 6 Beagle puppies the dog had at some point in time.

My dad named 2 of her kittens. They were "Muskie-bait" (Dad threatened to take
him fishing) and "Catfish" (Dunno what the fixation on fishing was...)

Later there was "Frizbee" and her brother "Squeeky" (that's the sound he made
until he got big)

My mom and I were talking one night between rooms after we had already gone to
bed. We were debating what to call the new kitten when Mom called out "Buster!
We'll call him Buster." Thus "Buster" he was dubbed.

I had a BIG orange tom I was calling "Buddy" as an interem kind of thing, until
we decided what his proper name would be  (you've got to call him SOMEthing
until you finally know what his name is...)  and "Buddy" he became. I read
somewhere that that is one of the most common pets' names for presicely that
reason.

I named another little guy "Geek", cause that was the sound he made. He was a
very timid little thing who always ran and hid behind the refridgerator when
anyone rang the doorbell.

And now I have "Tiki" (pronounced TICK-EE), a very opinionated and strong-
willed  gray and cream tortie. And her nemisis, "Freddie", is an even more
opinionated and VOCAL calico. Do all calis carry on so? She talks to me
constantly---and no, not just when food is involved.

Smokey - solid black.  Originally son's cat.

Mistletoe (aka Missy - and other names not fitting for public consumption) -
dilute tortie.  Christmas present for my wife 2001.
Sam

I didn't name Frank, but I thought the name was so well chosen that I let
him keep it. The person who was slave to Frank's mother named him that
because he has a tiny black spot on his chin, just like a goatee beard, and
the only famous person with that kind of beard in 1987 when Frank was born
was Frank Zappa. You can see his beard here: http://tinyurl.com/2eedo and
here: http://tinyurl.com/2nzae.

Sheba was named for the Queen of Sheba, since I wanted a rather exotic
name for her. She is a tortie and acts like a queen.

Amber was named for Lord Amber, a magician in the Crystal Gryphon
series by Andre Norton, I was reading at the time. And he is
amber-colored.

Djoser, the Black Panther, was named for the first Pharoah to build a
pyramid. I was reading a book on Egypt at the time and there was a
picture of a statue of the king with the same facial expression as the
cat. And the statue was black.

Robin is Russian Blue, the same steely gray color of a robin. And the
name seems to fit his personality.

--
CATherine

Boone, our lab, was named Boone after the city Boone, NC.  All of his
litter had to be named city names in NC that began with "B"  Since Boone
was also my Grandmother's family named I jumped on it.

Oliver was named after the Dickens's character "Oliver Twist" since he
was a little street orphan when we found him.  I had originally named
him Cora Beth.  I guess I didn't look down far enough when I checked out
his sex and the vet had to suggest maybe I should think of a boy's name
for him since he was, in fact, a male kitten not a female as I had told
her.  :-) We "sign" his name Oliver T. Fine.  The T was originally for
"Twist" but has since been modified to "Trouble"

Our RB Golden Retriever was named Argus after Odysseus's dog.  It also
means "bright" and  One very vigilant; a guardian always watchful.  That
was our boy.

Ted was named by her first person, Jon.  Jon was into the movie "The
Jerk" at the time, so named her (!) "Shithead".  It quickly became
"Ted" and has stayed that way ever since.  Because she's a calico I
sometimes also call her "Pumpkin".

Persephone was re-badged.  The RSPCA carers who found her called her
Percy, but "he" turned out to be a "she" and I thought Persephone was
close to Percy.  She is a tuxeudo and Queen of the Underworld seems to
suit her quite well, especially when she has the dibbil in her.  Her
alternate name is Monkey because she is Irrepressible.  (who else here
is a fan of the old TV series "Monkey"?)

Spock went without a name for a long time.  For months he was "grey
kitten", to distinguish him from his calico sister and black brother.
When he decided not to be re-homed (we were fostering him at the
time), we thought we aught to give him a proper name.  He has Mr Spock
(from Star Trek) eyebrows and huge, pointed ears, so Spock/Spocky he
is.  His alternative name is "you little sh*t" and is mostly thus
called when he escapes out the front door.

Tish

On Mon, 24 May, Rob wrote:

Mine are all rescues and their names are split between ordinary  
     cat names and descriptive names.

Smokey and Natasha (Tasha) are Russian Blues.  Smokey came with
    his name.

Squidget is a squeaky midget.

Roxy, my Persian, came with her name.

Sumo was a very thin boy with a typical round Asian body when he was a
      kitten and has a little white mawashi (sash) underneath his
      otherwise black body.

Lady Jane Grey, my twenty year old beard snuggler,  got her name when
     we wanted to rescue a gray kitty.

Regards and Purrs,
O J

Here's mine:

Cosmo - after the cosmos, and Cosmo Kramer on "Seinfeld".
Internet - tossed it out as a joke, and he responded to it. So now
he's stuck with it!
Sabra - told me his name telepathically.  Didn't know at the time it
*was* a name, and one with much meaning to boot.
Trill - from the species on "Star Trek - Next Gen", and because he
makes that trilling noise a lot.
Wolfie - short for Wulfgangh von Catticus.  He reminds me of a friend
named Wulfgangh's dog.
Brando - former feral, who looked like Brando at the end of "On the
Waterfront" when I first trapped him.  Not to mention his wide girth
;-).
Merlyn - I said I was going to name my next male cat Merlin.  However,
he turned out to be she, so I feminized the spelling.  And she
responded to it right away!

Ginger-lyn
(already told the story about how I named myself ;-) )

"Aries" (RB) 'cos he was born on the 18th April & when a kitten he'd
run everywhere so frantically that he'd have to use his head as an
auxiliary brake (he was half Siamese)

"Kensey" (RB) started as "Kensington" but I felt it didn't suit him,
so I tried "Kendo" (after K Nagasaki the burly wrestler whose build he
mimicked) but he didn't respond to that, so as Kensey was the little
river beside which his favourite pet store was situated, and he seemed
to like it, so it became.

"Bandit" came as Scruffy from the rescue home but that demeaned him,
so I tried Corporal (as in the little corporal 'cos he's a compact
model) but he didn't have the discipline for that. As his favourite
occupation for about a year was to ambush my ankles from the
forest-like safety of the legs of the dining table & chairs, we
reached the right result.

"Pericles" is a big noble-headed red tabby Maine Coon with a
pronounced ruff, for all the world like the beard on the bust of the
Athenian statesman that's in the reference books. It seemed a good fit
to both of us, as we reckon few cats have the gravitas to carry off a
full 3-syllable name.

"Snowball" 'cos he's a Ragdoll. See why in his pics (and the others
come to that) at this URL:

Current kitty is "Ming the Merciless"...  from the old Flash Gordon
comics (my husband's name is Gordon, so we don't need another kitty to
be called "Flash").  The dog is "Boris Yelpsin" from his habit of
yelping when he was a puppy.  Former kitties were "Scamper" or "Scamp"
from her habit of being constanly underfoot, her sister was Nosey
because she was.

Katrina
--

[snip] My youngest kitty, one year old Anya, was named after a

Hopefully you don't mean that she's completely self-absorbed and
utterly berift of social skills.  :-)

..> Rob Riemensnyder

When I was a kid, my dad brought home a tiny striped kitten. My sisters and
I said we should call him "Kitty Cat."  My dad said he had "Joe" in mind.
Our last name was Roberts, so the kitten became Kitty Cat Joe Roberts.  But
then one of my sisters pointed out that it was near Christmas, so maybe we
should name the kitten "Jesus."  The final result was Kitty Cat Joe Roberts
Jesus.

Many years later I trapped and tamed a feral cat. When I brought her in, my
husband suggested that we call her Rose because it was as if we had picked a
beautiful wild flower and brought it inside. And this wild Rose came
complete with thorns. So she became Rosie.

Annie

-snip-

Well, my recently-deceased little boy, Pancake, got his name from his
habit of leaping onto the plate holding my breakfast (usually
pancakes).  He'd always smell of maple syrup, no matter how well we
cleaned him off, so my sister remarked that he smells like a little
pancake - the name stuck.

The other kids (siblings found at 2 months of age, discarded by a
roadway)...

RUNT (black male)- Rather boring and self-explanatory.  He was the
smallest of the group.
LITTLE GIRL (orange female)- Nothing else fit her...she's just our
"Lil' Girliepoo"
BIGGLES (black male)- The most robust of them, he resembles a bear
more than a cat, really.  His size and a character from a Monty Python
skit gave him his name.
GREMLIN (black male)- He looks like a gremlin (like from the film).
Wide head, huge ears, big mischievous eyes
MR. HOOHA (black male)- This kitty likes to leap on me and be carried
around the house.  He gives several audible warnings to let you know
he's preparing to jump on you...a little mewling sound that sounds
like he's saying "Hoo, ha!!" Most of the time, he actually sounds like
he's speaking Chinese - weird little fellow. I won't mention what we
were going to originally call him, suffice to say he was quite fond of
sharing his flatulence with me, LOL
SCOOTER (orange/white long-hair male) - My mother named him.

BTW, doing better since Pancake's passing.  The backyard has been
converted to a kitty playland...Privacy fence w/border on the bottom
to prevent digging under, rabbit fence attached to top of privacy
fence and around all trees to prevent over-the-top escape.  That way
they can still enjoy the outdoors without worrying about suffering the
same fate as their older brother, Cakers.
I've got several shrubs back there for them to hide in, I pitched a
pup tent for them to play in, and they've got all kinds of other
little goodies to climb on/under.  I sit in a swing in the back corner
of the yard and watch them play - the best stress relief there is! We
jokingly refer to the back yard now as
"Al-CAT-raz", heh heh. A sign I painted and hung upon a tree says as
much ("Welcome to AlCATraz")

Hmmm. Many cats, many names, many stories.

Cleocatra (RB), my first cat when in college. I thought the
name was clever. I was probably wrong.

Belle (RB), my first cat as an adult; she chose me. When we
got her, we also had a parakeet. Before we had named her, a
friend came to visit and, watching the kitten watching the bird,
said "you ought to bell the cat, you know." And we looked at each
other and said, simultaneously, "Belle! the Cat!"  Of course.

Whistle (RB), the second cat. Because we were (still are) geeks.
If I'd known how many we'd end up having, I'd have named her
Book. Calico with health problems.

Vinegar (RB). Because she was full of piss and vinegar and my hubby
wouldn't let me name her Piss. White, with a grey yarmulke.

Brat (RB). Rescued polydactyl, earned her name in a serious way.

Sqeaky (probably RB; she ran away after we moved and did not come
back) a semi-feral black DSH who adopted us right after
Whistle died. Because she did. Squeak, that is.

Fearless Fosdick, a white-with-gray-striped-blotches boycat,
because as a kitten, he WAS! Fearless, that is. As an
elderly purr-boy, he isn't.

Yoda (probably RB) an orange tiger boy, runt of the litter. As a
kitten, he had the big slightly folded-over ears, big eyes,
and tiny chin of the Star Wars character, and he looked very
wise. He wasn't. That boy had the brains of a stump. And he
apparently wandered away from home one day and couldn't find his
way back.

Princess. Siamesey DSH. Because it fits. She is most regal.

Spooky (RB), a rescued black DSH with stowaways. She came with
the name, and it never really fit but we never changed it.

Trouble (RB), one of Spooky's stowaways. (Yes, we kept all three.
Yes, it was silly. But.) His name fit...first one out of the
birthing box, first one to climb up on the bed, etc....

Tigger, one of Spooky's stowaways, gray tiger DSH. Obvious name.

Smokey, the last of Spooky's stowaways (wouldn't that make a
great band name, though?); when she was born and her first
year, her fur had a sort of gray mist look; now she's just black.
And fat. And she quacks. She is also known as the Duck Cat.

Louie (RB) giant ginger striped Maine Coon. The largest, and
sweetest, cat I've ever known. Unless you're a vet.

Lady, black DLH, showed up on our deck one day, announced that
was her name and promptly took umbrage at all the other cats. But
she loved the dogs. So we found her a home with no other cats,
but two dogs to play with.

Jezebel, another one who showed up one day and said "I'm home!"
and we said "who are you?" and she said "Jezebel" and so she
has been for years now. She's a dark tortie SH.

Persephone, the cat who came back from the dead. Also known as
Psycho Cat. Found as an abandoned kitten at the bottom of our
road and hand fed until she could eat on her own; her littermates
died before we found them. The name is obvious.

Cinder, soft gray DLH. Because that's the color she is.

And then there were Shithead 1 and Shithead 2, more kittens
tossed at the end of our road, whom we knew we could not keep
and therefore did not want to name enough to bond to. They did
earn their temp names, and they went to a good home.

And Purrsival, an FIV+ rescue cat, again we could not keep
and found a good home for where he'd be an only cat and always
stay inside so as not to be a danger to other kitties. He waaaay
earned his name, he was one of the most affectionate and vocal
cats I've known.

Deborah
Currently 7, down from 12...

Well I've had several pets, so here are a few notable ones

My cats -

Imp - I was looking for a cool black cat name.  My roommate already
had midnight, spooky, and a bunch of black cats with cool names.  Imp
is a skittish cat, and he suddenly crouches into "run" mode whenever I
move.  And cats are little devils, and a small devil is usually called
an Imp.
Mischief - Do I need to explain?  :)  After I got Imp, I decided that
if I ever got another cat, I would name it Mischief.  A few months
later, she showed up.

My birds -

Patches(RB) - He was blue, white, and gray with a patch of white on
the back of his head.
Pandora - She was a bundle of trouble when I first got her.  Always
knocking toys off the bars, and beating up Patches.   And she's always
taunting the cats.
Tweety - He was all yellow when I got him as a young bird.  Now there
are patches of green and gray on him.

Past pets -

The dog I grew up with was named Obi-Wan Kenobi, no joke.  My dad got
him after Star Wars came out.  He went to RB when I was 14.
Now my mom and dad are owned by Princess Leia and Princess Jaina.  See
a theme here?

Princess Leia is a no brainer.  But in case you haven't read what
happens after Return of the Jedi, Han Solo and Princess Leia marry and
have three kids; Jedi twins Jason and Jaina, and a third son Anakin.

I've had a hamster named Fuzzy, because that's what he was.  I had a
large goldfish with a double fan tail that I dubbed Albert "Jaws"
Tummytime.  Albert from Fat Albert, Tummytime because to a goldfish
its always that time, and Jaws as a reference as to what would happen
when my sister and I would put bugs in the fish tank.  (the bug
becomes the unsuspecting swimmer..........)  Let's see, Maia and Max
the guinea pigs, Gloomp the beta fish... I think that's it.
heheheheeehe

Take care,

Kristi