Name This Cat

November 30, 2012 4:58 AM

Help me name my cat.

Cat is a very large (16lb, long and furry), solid white male cat. He has one blue eye and one green eye. See him here.

Bonus point for literary names. I'm also open to non-human names (i.e. "Karate Chop," "Popcorn," although I can't use either of these names because they belong to friends' cats.)

posted by munyeca to pets & animals (78 answers total)

What's his personality like? Any quirks? I'm asking so we can match him to a literary namesake... For example, if he's a big drinker, there's a deep well of names to choose from.
posted by mochapickle at 5:02 AM on November 30, 2012

Haha. Not so much a big drinker as a big eater. His main hobbies including rolling around and showing people his belly; rubbing himself against any available object, especially if he can knock it over; and making a sort of trilling sound instead of meowing.
posted by munyeca at 5:04 AM on November 30, 2012

Wordsworth.
posted by MegoSteve at 5:05 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Slagathor, Destroyer of Worlds
posted by briank at 5:07 AM on November 30, 2012 [6 favorites]

What books or series are you a fan of?

I ask because I've been reading the "Song of Ice and Fire" series, and my first thought, for someone who loves eating a lot and receiving love as often as possible, was to call the cat Robert Baratheon.
posted by greenish at 5:08 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Edgar Winter
posted by jaimystery at 5:12 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Humbert Humbert.
posted by knile at 5:13 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Mr. Jonathan Teatime
posted by drlith at 5:14 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thesaurus Rex
posted by Namlit at 5:21 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Alexander the Great. (You can call him Al.)
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:25 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yes literature is fun, but that adorable, sweet, pile of gorgeous love's name is Moose.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:25 AM on November 30, 2012 [7 favorites]

Bora Horza Gobuchul.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 5:27 AM on November 30, 2012 [3 favorites]

Canon, because the canon of English literature is often criticised for being overly white and male.
posted by permafrost at 5:29 AM on November 30, 2012 [28 favorites]

For being largely white and male, you mean?

Canon it must be.
posted by tel3path at 5:30 AM on November 30, 2012 [2 favorites]

Much was made of the fact that Robert Baratheon had BLACK hair, you can't name a white cat after him!
posted by fancyoats at 5:30 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Adorable!

Avalanche :) Big, white, and unstoppable.
posted by xyzzy at 5:31 AM on November 30, 2012

Looks like an Ahab to me.
posted by cccp47 at 5:35 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

One blue eye and one green eye? David Meowie.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 5:35 AM on November 30, 2012 [20 favorites]

Looks like an Ahab to me.

Ahab was in search of a white object. Jeeze. You could name him Moby Dick, but he might get mocked for it.

Hemingway, since he is large, white, and rubs himself on everything.

Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus Augustus, better known as Maximinus Thrax, one of the shorter-reigning Roman emperors. Cats love titles, so calling him Emperor Maximinius I will get on his good side, and the original was know for being a large guy, so there is that. Plus, Maximinius Thrax sounds like a Star Wars reference, but will let you roll your eyes and say "he was a Roman emperor, duh," and make your friends feel like you are really up on classical history.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:43 AM on November 30, 2012 [4 favorites]

Foot-Foot?
posted by slkinsey at 5:43 AM on November 30, 2012

There is also Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps. Plus, this will allow you to tease him in French, which might be fun, or Italian, where you would call him Monte Bianco.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:47 AM on November 30, 2012

Captain Bosworth.
posted by discopolo at 5:57 AM on November 30, 2012

When I looked at him, all I could think was Elkin.
posted by DoubleLune at 6:16 AM on November 30, 2012

Looks like a Baron to me.

(I always wanted to name a cat William H. Buckley, but you are welcome to use that if you like.)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 6:16 AM on November 30, 2012

Chesterton.
posted by dywypi at 6:17 AM on November 30, 2012 [2 favorites]

Maybe the conanical spelling of Canon? Conan (the Fur-Bearing One)
posted by Infinity_8 at 6:17 AM on November 30, 2012

(or was it F. Buckley? Darn that memory!)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 6:17 AM on November 30, 2012

Lionel Trilling. I think Lionel is a great name for a cat, nodding to ancestors. And if you get a dog, you can name him Doggerel.
posted by mochapickle at 6:17 AM on November 30, 2012

Regardless of his given name, I'd start calling that cat a baby harp seal. But that might just be me.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:17 AM on November 30, 2012

Alexander the Great had mismatched eyes

Migaloo is a fun name (only known albino humpback whale)

Odin, the one eyed Norse god might work.

I've always thought Professor Moriarty would be an excellent name for a cat, he inspired the cat "Macavity" from the ts eliot poem so theres a fun series of connections there to play with. Or you could go more obscure and name him Simon Newcomb a scientist that is thought to have inspired Moriarty, and is shown in pictures with a bunch of white hair.
posted by dadici at 6:17 AM on November 30, 2012

Pace bitter-girl.com: Major Tom?
posted by MuffinMan at 6:30 AM on November 30, 2012 [2 favorites]

Falkor, the luck dragon from The Neverending Story?
posted by travelwithcats at 6:33 AM on November 30, 2012 [4 favorites]

Shadowfax, Lord of All Cats
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:37 AM on November 30, 2012 [2 favorites]

Kinda-seconding bitter-girl.com: that cat is long, white, and has two different color eyes - you are almost REQUIRED to name him Bowie. Or at LEAST Ziggy Stardust.
posted by julthumbscrew at 6:41 AM on November 30, 2012 [5 favorites]

Ebeneezer
posted by talitha_kumi at 6:42 AM on November 30, 2012

David Meowie

But is he a thin white duke?
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:47 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Pangur Bán.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:54 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Willie Wonka, Pez, Jelly Belly...(I like Candy)
posted by heatherly at 7:05 AM on November 30, 2012

Falcor
posted by thewalrus at 7:16 AM on November 30, 2012 [2 favorites]

I immediately clicked on the picture and thought he looked like a Sam. Then I read the rest of your question and decided he looks more like a Clemens.
posted by Balonious Assault at 7:24 AM on November 30, 2012

Churchill.
posted by infinitywaltz at 7:26 AM on November 30, 2012

First, awwwww! So adorable! Snowflake is my non-literary vote.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:26 AM on November 30, 2012

Two suggestions:

1) Boo Radley. Not only was he a white dude, but plays on your kitty being all white like a little ghost. Bonus points if he hides when people are around!

2) In my cat-owning experience, most of what they do with books is lie across the pages while I'm trying to read, so... how about "Bookmark"?
posted by shaka_lulu at 7:26 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

I like Neil Cassady or just Cassady, that guy was big and white and prone to rubbing himself on things.
posted by justjess at 7:27 AM on November 30, 2012 [3 favorites]

Herman Meowville?

(sorry, couldn't resist).
posted by inertia at 7:43 AM on November 30, 2012

In support of my David Meowie idea, I posit that the trilling is actually him trying to sing. Whether real David Bowie rolls around and shows his belly is something Iman knows but will never tell.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 7:44 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Marshmallow. Because he's a big softie, I can just tell.
posted by Eicats at 7:53 AM on November 30, 2012

...or how about Whisper? Because of his non-meow meowing, and all white coat like a soft whisper.
posted by Eicats at 7:54 AM on November 30, 2012

Hector
posted by 4ster at 7:59 AM on November 30, 2012

Totally a Ziggy Stardust. Don't know about the well-hung part, but he's got the snow-white tan down.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:59 AM on November 30, 2012

Since the picture shows a white cat near books, Mrs. slkinsey suggested Pangur as a name, from the Irish poem Pangur Bán as translated by W.H. Auden and set by Samuel Barber in his Hermit Songs.

Pangur, white Pangur, How happy we are
Alone together, scholar and cat
Each has his own work to do daily;
For you it is hunting, for me study.
Your shining eye watches the wall;
My feeble eye is fixed on a book.
You rejoice, when your claws entrap a mouse;
I rejoice when my mind fathoms a problem.
Pleased with his own art, neither hinders the other;
Thus we live ever without tedium and envy.

(YT link goes to the middle of a YT and so doesn't work with the inline viewer. You have to click the link.)
posted by slkinsey at 8:07 AM on November 30, 2012

Hodge
posted by lathrop at 8:22 AM on November 30, 2012

Put a saddle on him and call him Silver.
posted by Billiken at 8:36 AM on November 30, 2012

Grendle
posted by mule98J at 8:44 AM on November 30, 2012

My 5-1/2 daughter, for inexplicable reasons as I'm only 180lbs, started telling me that I was "chuzzy" when she hugged me. I asked her what it meant and she said it was because I was soft and fuzzy (I had a beard at the time). Anyhow, I googled it to see if anyone had ever assigned a proper meaning to this word and turns out that Urban Dictionary has it down as a combination of chubby and fuzzy. If your cat is chubby and fuzzy you may wish to consider it. Or not. I'm still plus/minus on the word.
posted by scblackman at 8:44 AM on November 30, 2012

Jeoffry.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:44 AM on November 30, 2012 [2 favorites]

Adorable kitteh! Voting for Boo or Moby.
posted by sister nunchaku of love and mercy at 8:47 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Taken from the partial view of the title of the book he's sprawled across in the photo and his color (and his sweet personality):

Icing
posted by jamaro at 8:52 AM on November 30, 2012

Melville (to add on to Moby, which is pretty cool). Plus you can nickname him Mel.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:56 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Falstaff?
posted by mogget at 9:58 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Snowflake Details Inside (or you know, Snowflake for short).
posted by wocka wocka wocka at 9:59 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Snoots.

Sorry, he just said Snoots to me.
posted by BlueHorse at 10:37 AM on November 30, 2012

A white male (presumably privileged) who might enjoy literary references? I'm going with Archer.
posted by antonymous at 11:21 AM on November 30, 2012

Boris. Olaf. Oaf Loaf.
posted by clavicle at 11:45 AM on November 30, 2012

GenjiandProust: "But is he a thin white duke?"

WIth this in mind, I'd just call him The Duke.
posted by capricorn at 12:54 PM on November 30, 2012

He's gorgeous. I looked at him and thought "Morris". But "Gandalf" just occurred to me, too.
posted by angiep at 1:27 PM on November 30, 2012

He either needs a really short name, or an outrageously pompous and long one.

I vote Chester or Bustopher Jones or Henry Longfellow Wadsworth I and also I request permission to rub what it obviously a very fine and fuzzy belly.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 1:28 PM on November 30, 2012

He's a beauty. Of the names suggested here, I like Moose, Ziggy, and Gandalf. I will also throw 'Percy' into the ring.
posted by analog at 2:05 PM on November 30, 2012

I keep thinking of Tyrion (as in Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones.) Mismatched eyes, unusual, musical, very literate himself, and mostly one of the most lovable characters from that sprawling world. And a Lion, don't forget.
posted by bearwife at 2:19 PM on November 30, 2012

Elric.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:10 PM on November 30, 2012

He looks like a Howard to me.
posted by Maisie at 4:56 PM on November 30, 2012

Richard Parker
posted by schrodycat at 6:58 AM on December 1, 2012

I looked again: Cheesecake!
[For the passport: Gobbled Yr., Cheesecake)
posted by Namlit at 8:36 AM on December 1, 2012

I like:
Hemingway
Bowie
Winter
Boo Radley
Falcor
Samwise (likes his food)
posted by deborah at 8:11 PM on December 1, 2012

I have a cat who had been named Hennessy by the lady from the rescue organization, who was about that size when we got him (and has since grown into a 21 pounder, most all of that being muscle), so I'm going to skip literature and suggest you call yours Smirnoff.
posted by radwolf76 at 11:25 AM on December 2, 2012

Lionel it is. Lionel Trilling is a critic I'm very interested in, and it works very well with kitty's tendency to make his little trilling noise!

Thanks, all, for the many great suggestions.
posted by munyeca at 12:39 PM on December 12, 2012 [2 favorites]

HI LIONEL!
posted by rmd1023 at 1:40 PM on December 12, 2012

OMG, that's awesome! Hi, Lionel!
posted by mochapickle at 3:07 PM on December 12, 2012