# Help us re-name a kitten! (explanation inside) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806 "2007-07-23T03:44:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/1 "2007-07-23T03:44:48Z")
In this thread: [Help us name our 3rd kitten](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=425926) I asked everyone to help us name our third kitten. We had the names Kaylee, Inara, and needed another. You all helped and we named the little girl River. River, Kaylee, and Inara are all wonderful and a great joy for my wife and me. However, we have a bit of a problem. We think Kaylee is a boy. A veterinarian told us all three are girls, but we are beginning to suspect that Kaylee…has a penis. It’s quite hard to tell with little kittens, but she looks male in the face and we’re pretty sure. Well, Kaylee is lovely as a name, but we’ll rename the cat if it is indeed a boy. We’d like to stay with the Firefly/Buffy/Angel theme, but we’re not sure what we want. We’re open to suggestions. Anyone have any? Here is a photo of her…I mean him. I’d post a photo, but where can I do so for free? I used to use photobucket, but it require registration now. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/2 "2007-07-23T03:58:30Z")
I use Webshots. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/3 "2007-07-23T04:24:30Z")
You must name him Mal, Wash or Jayne. I’d need to see a photo to pick one in particular. Or maybe a personality description would work. ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/4 "2007-07-23T07:54:10Z")
Joss ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/5 "2007-07-23T10:15:00Z")
How about [ImageShack](http://www.imageshack.us/) to host your pictures? (ETA: I haven’t yet seen them run out of bandwidth nearly as much as photobucket, myself.) As for Kaylee being a “he” why not wait until they go in to be fixed and see what operation was required? That is certainly a way to be sure, eh? 😉 Though, if the vet is saying female I might lean towards what he’s saying, unless the kittens are really, really young? Then, I might gently tease him about having to operate on “our girl’s” testicles so “she” couldn’t make babies. We had one cat that we thought was a girl, until his testicles finally descended. He didn’t have the giant “male cat” head, it was of female proportions, and he was long and lanky. So, yeah sometimes kittens can throw you a zig when you are seeing a zag. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/6 "2007-07-23T10:42:03Z")
“Jayne” sounds like the best way to hedge your bets … ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/7 "2007-07-24T00:30:53Z")
[QUOTE=Steve Wright] “Jayne” sounds like the best way to hedge your bets … [/QUOTE] I’d agree with this absolutely, but I’d be afraid the cat’d take up Jayne-like personality traits! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/8 "2007-07-24T00:47:09Z")
We have a cat who went from being “Tommy” to “Tommy Girl” and back to “Tommy” because we had a similar problem. It’s nice to know that I am not the only one who has done that. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/9 "2007-07-24T01:38:38Z")
He has penis? Then you must name him… EnSue! Yes, a cat named ‘EnSue’. My daddy left home when I was three And he didn’t leave much to ma and me Just this old cardboard box that used to hold booze. Now, I don’t blame him cause he run and hid But the meanest thing that he ever did Was before he left, he went and named me “EnSue”… ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/10 "2007-07-24T17:59:45Z")
[QUOTE=TroubleAgain] I’d agree with this absolutely, but I’d be afraid the cat’d take up Jayne-like personality traits! 😛 [/QUOTE] What, like he/she would be alternately a hostile jerk and completely awesome? It’s a cat! You’re already there! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/11 "2007-07-24T18:33:57Z")
Eh, who says you have to rename him? A friend of mine had a cat named Lily that ended up being called “Lily-boy,” and when we discovered that our supposedly female cockatiel, Lucy, was most likely a girl, we just said “screw it” and continued to call her Lucy, pronoun and all. It’s not like you have to dress him in different clothes or worry about the other kittens teasing him on the playground. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/12 "2007-07-24T21:26:33Z")
Another vote for “why change a thing?” And River has already been established as a male (or at least unisex) name, in the deceased actor River Phoenix. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/13 "2007-07-24T21:31:04Z")
How can a kitten look “male in the face”? The only place my boy cats ever looked male was between the legs. 😃 How old are the kittens? Around 12 weeks the boy cats get tiny cotton balls. Oh, and “Jayne is a girl’s name.” ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/14 "2007-07-25T00:32:14Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] What, like he/she would be alternately a hostile jerk and completely awesome? It’s a cat! You’re already there! 😃 [/QUOTE] But maybe he would start wearing a silly orange hat. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/15 "2007-07-25T00:40:13Z")
With a pompom and earflaps, no less! ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/16 "2007-07-25T01:21:46Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] when we discovered that our supposedly female cockatiel, Lucy, was most likely a **girl** , we just said “screw it” and continued to call her Lucy, pronoun and all. [/QUOTE] Strike “girl,” insert “boy.” thank you. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/17 "2007-07-25T01:27:59Z")
There is an easy way to sex kittens, even young ones. Stand it facing away from you, hold its tail straight up. If there are two little holes, it’s a girl, one, it’s a boy. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/18 "2007-07-25T01:47:08Z")
Fap. ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Pumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Ms.Pumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Pumpkin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/19 "2007-07-25T03:09:58Z")
[QUOTE=lisacurl] How can a kitten look “male in the face”? The only place my boy cats ever looked male was between the legs. 😃 [/QUOTE] Females tend to have smaller, pointier faces, and males; larger, rounder faces. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806/20 "2007-07-25T03:28:11Z")
What! Still no pictures? I warn you - I’ll keep coming back until you post them. (And I think EnSue is a hoot, but that Jayne would work. You could also switch to Kaylor in a pinch. Kaylee wouldn’t mind having a boy-kitty named after her.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-us-re-name-a-kitten-explanation-inside/412806.md?page=2)