Is it okay to change your cat’s name?

[Kvla]

Hi there!
I adopted a cat almost two years ago when she was just itty bitty 4 weeks old. It took me almost 2 months to name her, and in the meantime I called her “kitty” or “my cat”. When I did name her, I named her Ophelia. For almost two years, I hardly called her by name and now I’m starting to think it doesn’t really fit her.

Has anyone gone through something like this? We had a really rough start and I feel like part of the reason I don’t feel as connected to her is because I don’t call her by name.
I know older shelter cats can get their name changed when they get adopted and it feels like a fresh start and I want that with my cat.

Any thoughts?

 

[Kieka]

As long as it phonetically is similar it shouldn't cause problems. If it is majorly different then you might have a training period but she will learn. I purposefully name each of my cats a name with a different sound so they can tell them apart. But my Moms cat thinks that his name is "Link, Rocket dinner."

 

[Kvla]

As long as it phonetically is similar it shouldn't cause problems. If it is majorly different then you might have a training period but she will learn. I purposefully name each of my cats a name with a different sound so they can tell them apart. But my Moms cat thinks that his name is "Link, Rocket dinner."

If she doesn’t respond to Ophelia in the first place, do you think it really matters if it sounds the same?

 

[DreamerRose]

No, I don't think it does. Repeat her new name several times when you feed her, and she will catch on.

 

[Kieka]

If she doesn’t respond to Ophelia in the first place, do you think it really matters if it sounds the same?

More so that it sounds like whatever you have been calling her. But she will learn whatever you change it to, just the more different it is the longer it will take.

 

[verna davies]

Often older cats that are adopted have their names changed and as yours isnt familia with her name then it should be fine.

 

[ArtNJ]

Being honest, most of my cats haven't known their names. The names tend to be used too often, in misc. talking to the cats, whereas we use a clicking noise or tapping the leg/couch to specifically mean "come for petting" so that is a bit easier to learn. At best, they know their names as another sound linked with human availability for attention -- i.e. some of them can learn to associate multiple sounds/words with the same things, meaning they can have two names, or a name and two call noises or similar. Of course, cats aren't dogs or parrots, training isn't always easy or quick, and if they respond to a name, and don't have other existing cues you can use while training a new name, then it would be a downer to switch and have the cat not know when you are summoning it.

 

[glittercat]

Mine are two years old in the summer and I have to say I'm still 99% sure they don't have the remotest idea what their names are. Though to be fair they have so many nicknames it's not surprising

Anubis probably thinks his name is 'mommy's handsome baby boy'. Feora will sort of twitch an ear at her name. But, she and her sister Dari both probably think their names are 'who's my little baby girlie girls? '

Ahem.....

 

[ameliashuman]

I'll call out to one of my cat's and all of them will come, doesn't matter who I called. I suspect they associate all the names or the inflection of my voice with attention and/or food. They do know the phrase "wet food," I say those two words in multiple inflections and they are instantly in the kitchen waiting. Its funny what gets trained up.

 

[neely]

We had no idea whatsoever of the previous names for all our cats that we adopted or if they were even called by name. I use the name we gave them frequently but have to admit I also have a bunch of favorite nicknames.

 

[vince]

It doesn't seem to matter what I call them. The only word they regularly respond to is "hungry!"

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Go for it. But if you want the new name to really be "hers," then USE IT OFTEN! Right now, she probably doesn't know her name, since you say you seldom use it. This will be no different than changing a shelter cat's name. They are bright, and quite capable of learning a new name if it is used often.

 

[Vivi18]

If she doesn't know her name by now, I don't think it will matter. I always repeated key words or phrases to my cat since she was tiny in hopes that she'd catch on by context. She did, in fact, catch on. So now she knows her name, knows to 'come', 'go away', knows the meaning of 'no' or 'yes', 'enter'/'exit'. She also responds to 'food'/'water' if she wants it changed. She also knows to follow me if I tell her so. So far that's what she knows and I'm not sure if I can teach her more, as their capacity for understanding human language is very limited. But the thing is, if you're patient, your cat will surely learn at least her name. I'm sure they also intuitively understand some things by the intonation of your voice.