Help us name a new kitty!
June 12, 2018 7:04 AM   Subscribe

My partner and I are in the process of adopting this sweet girl . We've been talking about names as we don't love her existing name, but we're a bit stuck. Naming parameters inside!

We would really like to have a name inspired by either musical theater or the Grateful Dead. Which should be pretty simple, but the caveat is that I don't love people names for cats. And it seems trickier to come up with a female name. Like we talked about the name Sondheim, but that sounds like a male name to us. So gender neutral names are great as long as they don't skew male.

(And regarding musical theater names, we're not into shows like Cats or Phantom of the Opera - nothing too mainstream. My partner, who is the musical theater freak of the family, loves Sondheim and William Finn and shows like Golden Rainbow and Grand Hotel. And something like Hair or Godspell is fine. We just don't want a Mrs. Mistoffelees.)

I can be swayed to choose a people name if it's cat-like enough. Like I could deal with a cat named Violet (for example), but not a cat named Patti (so no feline Patti LuPone!)

(I may be jumping the gun a bit in thinking of names before the adoption is finalized but we don't anticipate any problems and this way we can get a head start and have a name for her by the time she makes it to our home.)

I'm looking forward to seeing what the Green comes up with!
posted by Neely O'Hara to Pets & Animals (37 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Folly

Dot (from Sunday in the Park, and also because of her Good Head Spots)

Mrs. Lovett


But I really think you're missing out if you don't name her Catty LuPone.
posted by coppermoss at 7:11 AM on June 12, 2018 [12 favorites]


Best answer: Purrnadette Peters
posted by Dorinda at 7:13 AM on June 12, 2018 [6 favorites]


Best answer: For obvious reasons, I think her name is Domino.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:13 AM on June 12, 2018 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Oh hey! I love William Finn and I named one of my cats Finn.

Other ideas:
Trina
Any of the Spelling Bee ladies- Rona Lisa, Marcy, Olive
Mama Rose or Louise
Adelaide
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:18 AM on June 12, 2018


Oh my goddess this is triggering a pun attack but I'll suppress that urge and submit...

Desiree ( from my favorite Sondheim, A Little Night Music)
Gypsy (title character of another well-known Sondheim)

or The Sound of Mewsic sorry I was overwhelmed with the need to say this
posted by missmobtown at 7:24 AM on June 12, 2018 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Magnolia or Sugar Magnolia

Scarlet

Bandanna
posted by Squeak Attack at 7:25 AM on June 12, 2018 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Hedwig?
posted by Temeraria at 7:25 AM on June 12, 2018 [8 favorites]


Best answer: Sugaree
Sugar Magnolia
Ripple
Bertha

Or... some way of shortening China Cat Sunflower?
posted by ubiquity at 7:31 AM on June 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


Casey
posted by dywypi at 7:34 AM on June 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


So this is a long walk for a name, but we open our window (with the screen down) for our kitty Mame to look out at the birds. We've recently gotten some ants through the window, and we didn't want to use any poison. My partner read that a weak vinegar solution will keep ants away, but we thought it'd get all over Mame's paws, and so we thought if we got another cat, we'd call her Princess Pickle Paws.

So I want someone to name a cat Princess Pickle Paws. Please do it!
posted by xingcat at 7:37 AM on June 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


I love Company; since April is a girl’s name, what about Barcelona?
posted by deliriouscool at 7:48 AM on June 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


Lilac Domino - an operetta in 3 acts
posted by sutureselves at 7:51 AM on June 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


As soon as I saw the pictures I thought she looks like a Sonja. Maybe you can treat Sonja as a diminutive of Sondheim.
posted by phunniemee at 7:52 AM on June 12, 2018


Best answer: Sunflower (for China Cat Sunflower)
I also will put in my vote for Sugar (and/or) Magnolia.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:52 AM on June 12, 2018


Stella Blue?
posted by halation at 7:56 AM on June 12, 2018


Best answer: Eliza Doolittle, shortened to Dot.
Cunegonde.
Ameowlia Balash
Muffin, from Ernest in Love
RENO SWEENEY
Birdie
posted by Hypatia at 8:15 AM on June 12, 2018


Direwolf
Ripple
Terrapin (Terry for short)
Garcia
posted by Lawn Beaver at 8:28 AM on June 12, 2018


Best answer: The Dead has the skulls and roses and "It Must Have been the Roses," and Sondheim had "Everything's Coming up Roses" and "Evening Rose" and all the Rose songs in Gypsy, therefore the only possible name is Ro or RoRo, short for Rose.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 8:49 AM on June 12, 2018 [2 favorites]


Dame.

Because there’s nothing like her. She’s stunning!
posted by mochapickle at 8:57 AM on June 12, 2018


Bernadette
posted by amtho at 9:14 AM on June 12, 2018


Probalby too people-namey for you, but I think that cat would be a good 'Cassidy.'
posted by box at 9:24 AM on June 12, 2018


Best answer: Jerry Garcia --> Cherry Garcia, called Cherry!
posted by snorkmaiden at 9:38 AM on June 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


Amelia, for sure.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 10:31 AM on June 12, 2018


Best answer: Merrily, for Merrily We Roll Along. She could be a Ree or a Rolly for short.
posted by prewar lemonade at 10:33 AM on June 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


I came her to say you should call her "Carlotta" from Phantom of the Opera but that's the opposite of what you asked for :(

I still think it's a great name for her!

If not, what about a musical instrument inspired name, such as Trombone or Xylophone? Or a more unusual instrument like a Theremin or Kazoo or Zeusaphone! ha-ha
posted by JenThePro at 11:17 AM on June 12, 2018


Best answer: Milky White is the name of Jack's cow in Into the Woods

Depending on what her meow sounds like, you could call her Squeaky, since Squeaky Fromme is a character in Sondheim's Assassins

Otherwise, if it's not too mainstream, I would just go full Music Man and name her Amaryllis, Shipoopi, or Lida Rose
posted by castlebravo at 11:19 AM on June 12, 2018 [2 favorites]


My friend had a dog named Jack Straw. Not Jack, but Jack Straw. So I nominate Delilah Jones even though it's a person name. Two names together make it less...human namey? in my mind.
posted by Elly Vortex at 11:28 AM on June 12, 2018


Best answer: Grusinskaya doesn't sound excessively human-namey to a Western ear.
posted by praemunire at 11:32 AM on June 12, 2018


Best answer: Sunshine Daydream
posted by argonauta at 11:39 AM on June 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


Barker, named after the Sweeney Todd family, and because it's ironic for a cat.
posted by alon at 12:12 PM on June 12, 2018 [2 favorites]


Trip, if you aren’t too superstitious about naming a cat after a thing she could do to you.

May it be a long, strange trip with her. Congrats!
posted by armeowda at 2:42 PM on June 12, 2018


Nubbin.

Her little head-dots look like little nubbins. Or, what I imagine nubbins look like.

Her name is Nubbin.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:22 PM on June 12, 2018


Best answer: Aoxomoxoa? Sugar Magnolia? China Cat Sunflower? (Not being a deadhead myself, with those magnificent brows I'd be tempted to call her Groucho.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:35 PM on June 12, 2018


Otherwise, if it's not too mainstream, I would just go full Music Man and name her Amaryllis, Shipoopi, or Lida Rose

Or Trouble. With a capital T.
posted by mark k at 9:10 PM on June 12, 2018 [3 favorites]


Four Eyes!
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:24 PM on June 12, 2018


WE WANT AN UPDATE!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:35 PM on June 19, 2018


Response by poster: It took us forever, but we finally named the cat! I marked as best the ones that made my short list - I particularly loved Sunshine Daydream and China Cat Sunflower and Sugar Magnolia (Sugar would also have been good for Sugaree and the musical Sugar), but none of those worked for my boyfriend. So I compromised on not having a human name, and now our life is rosy, since we've found our Rosie. So yes I said yes I will Yes nailed it! (We're listening to Ramble on Rose as I write this.)

(Hypatia, my boyfriend was SO tickled that you suggested a name from Ernest in Love. Props for an obscure forgotten musical (and I thought Muffin was super cute too.)

Since her profile was taken down, here's my cat tax!
posted by Neely O'Hara at 8:59 AM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


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