Okay, the fates are working on me to replace my just-passed-on kitty with a new one. Last week, when she was sick (but I thought she still had a chance for some time on earth) I took all her old food to a local cat refuge. Naturally the furry little schemers ganged up on me and planted themselves in my heart. So while I’m grieving for my old kitty, I have already put in a call to the refuge about a return visit.
It’s a great place, but good god they pick lame names for their cats. I plan on renaming whichever one I bring home. The Top candidate right now is a black & white male currently called “Nosey.” Second candidate is an orange cat (not sure of sex) with extra toes called “Too Many.”
I do not like “typical” pet names like Fluffy, Scooter, or Shadow. I like names that have some meaning. I am especially interested in a chess-related or architecture-related name (although I’m open to others). My husband objects to Mies (van der Rohe) because he thinks that is the perfect name for our next basset. I said no to Alakhein (did I spell that right?) because I was loath to shorten it to Al (the dumbest dog we know is named Al).
I burned up most of my energy trying to get our baby named back in 1999. I need assistance. I will consider all serious entries, even if you’re submitting your own SDMB User Name. But you have to make a case for whatever you submit.
Bring 'em on, friends and neighbors.
Going with the chess theme:
How about Pawny?
Or my favorite…Rook
Can’t make a case for it…I just like them as pet names.
How about Netochka Nezvanova ?
It means Nameless Nobody.
I seriously doubt you’d find any other cat named that.
I didn’t make it up, Dostoevsky did.
It’s not chess-related, but you can always pretend it was the name of a Russian chess master. 
Ok, ok, so maybe I’m a bit twisted. sigh
I like Scratchy, from the Simpsons. Hemmingway is a good name for a polydactyl (too many toes) as Papa’s Key West cats are famous for that trait. I named my cat Patrick because we adopted him on St. Patricks day and legend has it St. Patrick raised a cat (who had already been cooked, mind you) from the dead. I usually don’t give my animals human names as it causes confusion. Patrick the cat was walking around on the dining room table, I yelled at him and a kid visiting my son named Patrick about jumped out of his skin. My two cats do not seem to recognize their names, kitty kitty seems to get their attention.
Howzabout Schroedinger? Always a story to tell with that name. My cat is polydactyl, and his name is Jack. The fun thing is, that my home phone is listed under his name-
-Waiting for the telemarketers
-Wonko…
You could name him Shere Khan after the tiger in The Jungle Book. Not chess or architecture, but I still think it’s pretty cool. You could call him Khan.
Chairman Miaow or Chairman Meow is cool. (Credits to mattk.)
How about going a bit more obscure? Picture this:
Take the four castles from a standard chess set an place them in a tight square. Now take one of the Queens and place it on the just formed structure. Voila – a Saturn 5 Rooket. (Actually, it resemebles the Russian crafts more than ours, I just couldn’t resist the name.)
Lot’s of names come from the play on words (Saturn, Suyuz, Rooks, etc.)
Biship
Queenie (yuck)
King (gag)
Knight (the variants are better than Knight!)
Checkmate (I like this one.)
Stalemate (This too, though hygiene come to mind.)
I have named my pets from mythology. My dog was named Amasis from Egyptian mythology(even though she was a girl). My cat has the name of a Greek god. My mother is the crazy lady at the end of the street that rarely goes outside and has 100 cats (well 7). Her cats all have boring names overall but it seems to work for her and them. Never name a cat or person Angel as they always turn out bad. I named my cat about a week after I got him as I needed something to suit his personality. That was the same for my dog to as I thought she was cursed and I wanted the black one more than her originally. I would put off naming the cat until you get a feel for its personality.
HUGS!
Sqrl
SqrlCub, you’ll like this:
As it happens, I ran across a “free to a good home” ad for a cat which concluded: “Cat currently does not answer to the name Angel. I am confident cat would be happy to ignore any new name you chose to give it.”
How about blue after Deep Blue?
Fischer seems appropriate for a cat.
Luna is pretty nice too
May I suggest “Chloe” (KLOH-ee), another name for Demeter, the Greek earth goddess? After all, what cat doesn’t act like it like it was just plucked right out of the Greek Pantheon?
Shaky Jake
strugglingman, or ‘struggles’ for short.
maybe SqrlCat?
We had Frank but also had a female we didn’t know what to name her so she became Sister. Frank and Sister – hehe.
I had BC (who died within a few weeks 
) but BC was a black cat and we got her at Christmas time so instead of naming her Black Christmas she became BC.
My male cat is named Sam – after a friend’s dog that had recently died. He is also known as “Sweet Sammy from the South” because I got him in Louisiana.
I particularly like my bro and sis-in-law’s cats name, Spaz. No particular reason, he was a kitten I found in my neighborhood a long time ago and actually a mellow and lovable cat. I asked all the neighbors and the kids around but no one had a lost kitty. Rather than take him to the shelter I asked them if they wanted a kitten.
I kind of think Spaz was a pet name they used for each other at the time.
So use your imagination. Using circumstances around you, you can come up with a good name.
You could go through T.S. Eliot’s Book of Practical Cats (that the musical Cats was based upon), there are some doozies in there. Some of my favorites from it are Macavity and Mistofolees (both masculine names).
How’s about gambit? It’s got a nice chess feel to it.
The Ancient Egyptians thought very highly of cats; certain cults even believed that cats were gods. (Well, there’s really no questioning that sometimes 
)
Bastet–cat headed goddess of the sun, later of the moon
Ailuros–another cat diety
Well, things moved quickly, and we now have the cat. Still no name though. My husband suggested Krenov, after James Krenov (a woodworker he greatly admires). Since husband is not a cat person, giving him a name connection is a good sneaky way to win him over.
I’m enjoying the other suggestions, too! I suspect he’d like Fischer. Chloe, alas, is the name of another cat we know. Also, this one has a penis.
Penis or no, this is a slam dunk. I vote for bianca.