# Opinions on renaming my new cat **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 30, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244 "2006-01-30T19:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Whifton\_Polekitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/97f17d/32.png) [@Whifton\_Polekitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whifton_Polekitty)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/21 "2006-01-31T02:44:50Z")
Now THAT is one beautiful cat. Good for you, **RubyStreak**. In terms of names, I like names that actually MEAN something, and thought **Cervaise**'s suggestion of Phoenix nice… Alternately, “Ignigenae” whic is latin for “Born of Fire”, suitable for a feral getting a new life… ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/22 "2006-01-31T02:49:02Z")
Tansy is a medicinal flowering herb, and they’re actually quite pretty. The [tansy aster flower](http://pages.prodigy.net/jospencer/tansy.jpg) is blue with yellow middles, and Tansy is bluish grey with yellow eyes. Perfect! ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/23 "2006-01-31T03:21:37Z")
I love the name Tansy. Always have. Wasn’t it in Gone With the Wind somewhere? Go for it! She’s a beauty, btw. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/24 "2006-01-31T04:03:56Z")
Yancy ---
**Author:** ![mrald](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mrald](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrald)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/25 "2006-01-31T04:07:22Z")
Stella She looks like a Stella to me. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/26 "2006-01-31T04:13:43Z")
How about **Antsy**? ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/27 "2006-01-31T04:16:02Z")
Ripple. She looks like she moves like a ripple through water. When I got my cat, 11 years ago, I found the previous owners had named her Sassy. Put that with Fancy in the bad cat names bin. I named her Delilah after a Queen song. And gave her the last name Underfoot because she is. I believe more cats should have last names in the Hobbit vein only cat related. Plus last names give cats like this the extra ounce of dignity they deserve. Usually. So my full suggestion would be Ripple Finecoat. Hmm, maybe Winecoat is a better last name. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/28 "2006-01-31T15:36:55Z")
I like Chance, but I’d go one further and make it “Chancy”. I think it has a nice ring to it, meets the criteria, and sounds like it fits her personality - it’s a little chancy how she’ll take it. ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/29 "2006-01-31T19:50:44Z")
> [@Tenar](#): > > She was probably stressed out at the shelter. How about “Kali”? Kind of evil, but I like it. I renamed mine Kali, because she was fiesty and black, and Kali is the Black Goddess. But of the two, Kali ended up being the more laid back and Durga is “the Destroyer” after all! Tansy is a great name. She looks like a Tansy. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/30 "2006-01-31T20:21:05Z")
I don’t think using another name will conceal the fact from the neighbors that the cat did time in the lock up. The collar will be a complete give-a-way that she’s under electronic home monitoring. Oh wait! I understand now. The cat stayed their for nine months, and then shows up. I know what I’d think if I was the neighbors. The cat’s Catholic, isn’t she. ---
**Author:** ![Mint\_Julep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc79bd/32.png) [@Mint\_Julep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mint_Julep)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/31 "2006-01-31T22:36:24Z")
My kitty is Ralph Emerson Meowachowski. Feel free to use that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/32 "2006-01-31T23:39:10Z")
Let me just say how astonished I am that Tansy has been so sweet! We thought, at the shelter, that she was afraid of people, and she is, but she has been very friendly to me. She purrs as soon as I walk in the room and start talking to her, something she never did at the SPCA. I think she’s happy to be in a home. Poor girl! But lucky for me that I found her! ---
**Author:** ![DrLoveGun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@DrLoveGun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrLoveGun)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/33 "2006-02-01T00:01:30Z")
Cats are like boats. Never rename them and keep them in water. That’s what I always say. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/34 "2006-02-01T00:19:39Z")
I like Tansy for your cat - it fits very nicely. She’s very pretty. My youngest was a shelter cat, and her name was originally Chelsea. Wow. You couldn’t pin a bigger “PICK ME!” sign to a kitten named Chelsea, for me - Chelsea being my favourite football team. 😃 We changed it, however. I didn’t want to scare the bejaysus out of her whenever I watched Chelsea playing - she’s a tiny, fragile cat, and though today she is a brave and highly affectionate little soul, she was still jumpy when we first brought her home. We promptly changed her name to Keroberos, Kero for short. Today she responds to every “version” of her name: Keroberos, Kero, Kero-chan. Our oldest has a million names, too: Bast was her original name, somehow evolving into Bastian, Sebastian, Sebastienne, Sea-Bass. Oddly, though we call them with the same tone, they only ever respond to their own names. Kero will not come when I call Bastian, for example, and vice versa. They’re just a touch smarter than we usually give them credit for. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/35 "2006-02-01T02:05:35Z")
There is really only one logical name for a cat: **TIBBY** Our family has named our cats _Tibby_ for many generations (i.e. we’re on Tibby 9th on this side of the family alone!). The only time that we don’t name a cat _Tibby_, is when we already have a _Tibby_ in the house (Tibby 9th’s sister is named\* Libby\*). There are many variations of the name that come in handy depending on the situation. Examples: Formal: Mr. Tibbs Informal: Tibberino Spanish Flavor: Tibberto Shakespearian: Tibby or not Tibby, that is the question. Seriously, you can’t go wrong with _Tibby_. You have my permission to carry on our tradition in your family. Your welcome. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244/36 "2006-02-01T02:17:27Z")
did you mention how old she is? i didn’t see that in the OP. A cat will usually reveal its name to you in time. But, heck, you could call he “cat” for all she cares. Whatever you name the pretty little thing, say her name to her as you pet her and she’ll get used to it. You don’t have to stick to the “ancy” sound. I think she’s very elegant looking and needs an elegant name like Anastasia or Alexandria. Or open up T.S.Eliot and stab blindly at the page. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-on-renaming-my-new-cat/342244.md?page=1)