# Are Your Cats Named for Famous People? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 10, 2023, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857 "2023-09-10T00:16:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/61 "2023-09-11T04:47:02Z")
[Poe](https://twitter.com/theevilwriter/status/1700178524286365705/photo/1) is named after the author, not a Teletubby like I’m occasionally asked. And [Linden](https://twitter.com/theevilwriter/status/1699550015314669691/photo/1) is named after the tree, and not our former president who died 4 years before I was even born like I’m asked even more often. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/62 "2023-09-11T07:45:24Z")
My late kitty was Imhotep. After the Arnold Vosloo character, but based on, I presume, a real Imhotep. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/63 "2023-09-11T09:32:58Z")
I had two marmalade tabbies named Londo and G’Kar. Adversaries from Babylon 5 but brothers in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/64 "2023-09-11T12:17:05Z")
Oh wonderful. That was my favorite TV show ever and I have the whole series and movies on DVD. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/65 "2023-09-11T12:25:30Z")
We named one of our kitties Clapton. Some rotten little swine had tied fireworks to his tail, & the Vet had to amputate. But he was very loving to the family. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/66 "2023-09-12T17:18:06Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > My new kittens are Merry and Pippin. Well, Merry is really meringue, because he’s mostly white with some dark markings, like my chocolate chip meringue cookies. Which reminds me, the next female cat we get - especially if she’s naughty - I’ll be tempted to name her Berúthiel (“Beru” for short): [https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Berúthiel](https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Ber%C3%BAthiel) > [@WildaBeast](#): > > My cat’s name is Nelson. Honestly that’s just what the shelter said his name was and I didn’t bother changing it, and I have no idea if he’s named after anyone in particular. But I like to tell people he’s named after Nelson Mandela… One of Churchill’s favorite cats was a Nelson, although he was named after the admiral, not the then-unknown South African leader, of course: [Nelson (cat) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_(cat)) > [@kayT](#): > > > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > > We once had a cat named Atticus, which my boys thought would be a good name for a lawyer’s cat. He was a pretty nice gray-brown tabby. > > We just adopted a cat and have tentatively named her Scout. She has been Scouting out her new home (which sounded nicer than snooping) but I wasn’t sure about it as a girl’s name. Then I looked up the one Scout I knew that was a girl, Atticus’s daughter, who is described as inquisitive, intelligent, and a tomboy, and I realized it’s a perfect fit. She’s a darkish grey with tuxedo patches of white. Great idea! We have friends with a dog named Scout. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2023, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/67 "2023-09-13T04:59:45Z")
My first cat was named [Princess Alexandra of Denmark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_of_Denmark) - Sandy for everyday use. Our many other cats were named by my wife, and rapidly acquired multiple nicknames (a specialty of Mrs, Bookkeeper), but none named after any person. W never had cats when I was growing up until I was a teenager, when the rest of the family went away for a wedding and came back with a tuxedo kitten they had rescued from outside the reception venue. My sisters were supposed to name him but couldn’t agree on a name, so we just kept calling him The Cat - TC for short. When they brought home a little grey kitten a couple of years later, she became Little Cat - LC. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2023, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/68 "2023-09-13T14:32:30Z")
Hey, “Elsie”/LC is a fine name for a girl cat. ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/69 "2023-09-14T18:33:57Z")
Any animal I do not know the name of is instantly named Stinky. At work, there was a Catch/Neuter/Release “feral”\* hanging out around our building for a couple of weeks that I ended up taking home. Seeing as I had been calling her Stinky for a while, she became **S** tinky **C** at, SC, Essie. After a vet visit, I was told my she cat was a he cat. Seeing as he was literally a gib, a castrated cat, he became Gibby, which is also the name of the lead singer for the Butthole Surfers, a band I like alot. \*Gibby may have been a stray but he was not feral. He is very well socialized with people and tolerant of dogs. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/70 "2023-09-14T18:58:29Z")
Gibby was a lucky boy. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/71 "2023-09-14T18:59:00Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > When I was in high school we had a cat named Napoleon. A/k/a McAvity? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/72 "2023-09-14T19:16:04Z")
We just got two kittens (squee!) and one is named Angus by my son who is a huge AC/DC fan, and the other is Goose because I wasn’t allowed to go with Flerken. Both cats are girls, BTW, and these names are becoming a misgendering problem. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857/73 "2023-09-14T19:22:06Z")
How do you know they don’t see themselves as boys? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-your-cats-named-for-famous-people/989857.md?page=3)