Did You Change Your Cats Name?

[Fish Em]

If you got your cat from a shelter, did you rename him or her? What name did you change it from and to?
Our first cat was Tally and my son called her Daley, so that was that.

 

[DreamerRose]

Yes and no. Mingo's shelter name was Eros. Eros was a god of lust, and it not only didn't fit him, but it was also not easy to say. I chose Mingo, which is the name of an Indian tribe and also Daniel Boone's friend on the TV show.

Lily was named Lily Potter because she had five kittens who were all named after characters in the Harry Potter books. I had been thinking in the few weeks before I adopted her that if I had a female cat, I would like to name her Lily. So it was karma when I saw her up for adoption.

 

[Fish Em]

Mingo is much much better than some fake god name.

 

[Furballsmom]

I wanted to because I really don't think his name fits, but with him being 5 years old at that time I've left his name as is, other than nicknames

His story doesn't quite fit this thread. His original owner was adamant that even though her son was too allergic and Poppy-cat had to be rehomed, she was NOT going to have him spend any time in a cage. She went through a rescue in order to get his picture out to more people, but she kept him at home during the interim while she did the final interviews with prospective new owners.

 

[Fish Em]

so his name is Poppy-cat then? I kinda love it!

 

[weebeasties]

We have changed the names of every shelter kitten. (If they had been adults and were used to the name already we wouldn't have changed them)
Sam was Levi at the shelter. Our dearly departed Isabelle was Chatter. And our Buddy was listed as David Bowie at the shelter.

 

[misty8723]

Never changed any of their names, except for nicknames.
Swanie
Cynthia = Cindy Lou
Darcy
Cricket
Austin. I might like to change Austin, but he was Austin in his foster home, Beethoven in his first home, and back to Austin now. So I'll keep it.

 

[AbbysMom]

Abby’s shelter name was Zelda.

 

[Lari]

Lelia was Laylani in her foster home. I wanted a goddess name since my betta fish had been Loki and I wanted to continue the theme (so I of course found the most random minor Slavic goddess no one has ever heard of, but whatever). I ended up saying that Laylani is her middle name.

 

[amethyst]

The first cat I adopted from a shelter, and my first cat I got on my own as an adult, was named Rumpus by his previous family. I liked it, and he was almost 8, so I figured that was his name why give him a new one.

The second cat I adopted the shelter gave her the name Babs, but I didn't like that name so I changed it to Mystic. She was only about 5 months old and came in 10 days prior as a stray so I don't think she knew "Babs" as her name yet.

 

[Furballsmom]

so his name is Poppy-cat then? I kinda love it!

 

[artiemom]

I did not change Artie's name because he had it for 8 years, and it suited him.

I did change Geoffrey's name. He was originally named Goofy. I just could not call an animal by the name of Goofy.. So I changed it to Geoffrey. It is pronounced Jeffrey~~ close to Goofy..

Sometimes I call him Geffie...

He is 3 years old and got used to the name change, very easily.

 

[vince]

Sir Eats-A-Lot was given his name by some contractors working on the house. He was named Norman at the shelter.

Chesterfield wasn't so much of a change. He was Chester at the shelter. I figured since his buddy was a knight of the realm, he should have a bit of a fancier name.

Meep didn't have a name. She was a foundling, which I named Orange, because that's the color she is. I started mimicking her cry, which sounded like "meep." and she started responding to it, so Meep it is.

Incidentally, what kind of spell-checker do we have here? It changed "working" to "whoring!" Good thing I checked the message before it was sent!

 

[m3rma1d]

Tulula is now Tallulah because I actually loved her name, but the spelling seemed pretty butchered.


Mitzy is now Geneva because her white ears bear strong resemblance to a trait in African violets that have a thick white edge, which is called a Geneva edge... I'm big into African violets so I haaaad to call her that. Not to mention Mitzy didn't fit her grouchy personality at all.

Facebook.com/GenevaKitty

Charlie is now Alasdair because when I was a kid, I had a huge crush on Alasdair on You Can't Do That On Television and I always thought it was a really cool name. (plus I have an ex named Charlie so that woulda been awkward)


I got to name my foster kittens and I'm actually going to be a little sad if their future parent(s) rename them, because they have actual meaning--I named them after interests of my recently departed friend Marleen, who was great at fostering kittens and also taught me how to interact with feral and gain trust. These little gals are feral (especially Cribbage), and I'm doing alllll the things Marleen taught me to make them social and adoptable.

 

[Gizmobius]

Gizmo was only 10 weeks old when I adopted him from the shelter but they had given him the name of Stan. I didn't like that name for a cat AT ALL and and had already been toying around with the idea of Gizmo as a potential name (I had just watched Gremlins for the 35893th time for Halloween) and he just looked so much like a Gizmo.

Stevie was adopted from one of my mom's work friends at about 6-7 months old and her original name was Luna. I don't mind that name but I didn't think it fit. I never wanted kids but always thought the name Stevie for a girl was cute, and also my favorite hockey player (Steve Yzerman) was nicknamed Stevie Y so I went with that. I think she wears it well.

 

[Elphaba09]

Estella and her sister, Astrid, were saved from a guy who planned to use them as target practice because he was "sick of feeding them." His kids called them Cookie and Snuffleupagus, respectively.

Estella Flannery Thyme, formally Cookie (L) and Astrid Cordelia Rose (R)

When we first found Tara, she was named Lenore River Song. My friend was going to keep her while I took Simon, that cat with whom she was found. She called her Tara, and Tara responded to it. We decided not to separate them, so I took her. She became Tara Lenore Tierney.

Evangeline used to live somewhere near the fields and woods near my son's work. The owner called her Miss Kitty and some name in Serbian that I do not remember. After nearly two years of feeding her and watching her have several litters of kittens that disappeared, they were able to catch her. We planned to trap/spay/release, but as soon as we saw what a sweet, tame, scared cat she was, we had to keep her. After we found out that she was also deaf, there was no question about it. Miss Kitty became Evangeline Evayne Snow. Sone, she was given the royal title of Her Royal Highness Evangeline Evayne Snow, Princess Piggy Piggy. My husband just calls her Piggy Piggy.

 

[Furballsmom]

What lovely stories

 

[RajaNMizu]

At the shelter, my calico was named Autumn and my tabby was named Toni. Autumn suited her quite well but there is something about naming an animal that makes the relationship feel like yours. So Autumn became Raja...named for one of our favorite drag queens and named by my oldest son. Not to be outdone, my youngest insisted on naming Toni after one of his favorite cosplayers...Mizuto, which we shorted to Mizu.

 

[marmoset]

I've only gotten two cats from shelters. The rest came to me on their own as nameless community wanderers. Matthew was from a litter named after the Apostles. We didn't really like the name because we have a Matthew in the Family but we kept it because we were fostering him. We fell in love with his mother, Jamie, but yeah- that's Matthew's wife IRL and we had too many cats (we thought) at the time. Then along came Joshua- so that'd be 3 cats with the names of close family members. We have enough problems seeming like the weird ones without having all our cats named after people who visit on holidays.

Choo Choo was named Oreo by the shelter because she's a B/W and kindof orb-shaped cat. Too many Oreos are out there and I was a little bitter because Oreos are one of the few non-dairy cookies out there. So I have a love/ hate thing with Oreos. My husband named her Choo Choo after some cartoon character. It was a bit too cutesy for my taste but she was also very much into chewing so the name fit.

I wouldn't change the name of an adult cat though. Choo Choo was only Oreo for about 10 days and she was less than 6 months old so hadn't learned to recognize her name yet.

 

[jcat]

I didn't like Mowgli's name - it's very common for cats here - but my husband thought it suited him and he responded to it, so Mowgli it remained.