Yet another cat naming question ...
March 11, 2013 12:07 PM Subscribe
We are about to adopt a gorgeous pair of young cats. They are 1yo, brother and sister, tabby and white, mainly white with tabby spots and blotches and stripey tails. She is smaller than him. They are rangy at the moment but will be indoor cats and will probably become "fine" and content with time. Quite lively but friendly. They have, erm, had kittens together already (the boy is now neutered and the girl gets done next week), so bonus points for incestuous brother-sister pairs (I am already mining Iris Murdoch's novels for some but they don't have great cat names).
I promise there will be photos. We are British, an editor and a computer support person, 40s, no kids. The cats are currently called Charlie and Lola. These are characters in a children's book and not really appropriate. The shelter is fine with us changing the names but want us to decide soon so the chips can be the right name.
Previous cat names I have used - (For I Shall Consider My Cat) Jeoffrey (c.f. the poem), Bathsheba Everdene and Eustacia Vye (Sheba and Stacey), Tabitha and Dot. Previous animal names OH has used - Snowy (mouse), Streaky (bunny) (he shared Dot with me from when she was 5 to when she recently passed aged 16.5).
Any more you need to know, please ask. We will be visiting them soon to take a towel to them with our scent on; I promise I will take all the photos then.
I promise there will be photos. We are British, an editor and a computer support person, 40s, no kids. The cats are currently called Charlie and Lola. These are characters in a children's book and not really appropriate. The shelter is fine with us changing the names but want us to decide soon so the chips can be the right name.
Previous cat names I have used - (For I Shall Consider My Cat) Jeoffrey (c.f. the poem), Bathsheba Everdene and Eustacia Vye (Sheba and Stacey), Tabitha and Dot. Previous animal names OH has used - Snowy (mouse), Streaky (bunny) (he shared Dot with me from when she was 5 to when she recently passed aged 16.5).
Any more you need to know, please ask. We will be visiting them soon to take a towel to them with our scent on; I promise I will take all the photos then.
Spoilers I guess for incest plots.
Cathy and Chris from Flowers in the Attic. There's also George (girl) and Shawn (boy) from the Newsflesh series, and Cersei and Jaime from Game of Thrones (this one is great because they even had kids together).
posted by jeather at 12:14 PM on March 11, 2013 [4 favorites]
Cathy and Chris from Flowers in the Attic. There's also George (girl) and Shawn (boy) from the Newsflesh series, and Cersei and Jaime from Game of Thrones (this one is great because they even had kids together).
posted by jeather at 12:14 PM on March 11, 2013 [4 favorites]
Cathy and Chris. Anyone who grew up in the 80s and read Flowers in the Attic will get it right away. Everyone else will just think you have really boringly named cats.
posted by fshgrl at 12:15 PM on March 11, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by fshgrl at 12:15 PM on March 11, 2013 [4 favorites]
Zeus and Hera.
Or any of the Titan sibling-marriage pairs:
Oceanus and Tethys,
Hyperion and Theia,
Coeus and Phoebe,
Cronus and Rhea.
Other options.
posted by DoubleLune at 12:20 PM on March 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
Or any of the Titan sibling-marriage pairs:
Oceanus and Tethys,
Hyperion and Theia,
Coeus and Phoebe,
Cronus and Rhea.
Other options.
posted by DoubleLune at 12:20 PM on March 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
Siegfried and Sieglinde. My inspiration is Thomas Mann and The Blood of the Walsungs (pdf link), all about incestuous siblings.
posted by bearwife at 12:20 PM on March 11, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by bearwife at 12:20 PM on March 11, 2013 [5 favorites]
Luke and Leia--O.K., I know they weren't actually incestuous, but there were all those longing looks and so on...
posted by agatha_magatha at 12:23 PM on March 11, 2013 [9 favorites]
posted by agatha_magatha at 12:23 PM on March 11, 2013 [9 favorites]
Cleopatra and Ptolemy (Cleo and Tommy for short)
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:23 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:23 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
Not actual incest, but Jack and Meg White (of The White Stripes) used to say that they were brother and sister but are actually unrelated and were married to each other.
posted by needs more cowbell at 12:25 PM on March 11, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by needs more cowbell at 12:25 PM on March 11, 2013 [5 favorites]
Van and Ada, from Nabokov's Ada.
posted by felix grundy at 12:26 PM on March 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by felix grundy at 12:26 PM on March 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
I appreciate the affection I see between Clooney and Pitt.
But without pictures, it's hard to know.
posted by kinetic at 12:32 PM on March 11, 2013
But without pictures, it's hard to know.
posted by kinetic at 12:32 PM on March 11, 2013
Wow - thanks for all of these so far! I will get pictures soon, I promise!
posted by LyzzyBee at 12:33 PM on March 11, 2013
posted by LyzzyBee at 12:33 PM on March 11, 2013
angelina and james.
(oh, come on. you knew someone would go there eventually.)
posted by koroshiya at 12:40 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
(oh, come on. you knew someone would go there eventually.)
posted by koroshiya at 12:40 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
top dollar and myca from the crow (they were halfbrother and sister), although evil.
posted by koroshiya at 12:42 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by koroshiya at 12:42 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
BTW general bro/sis names are good, too - in a way it's a bit embarrassing to explain the old incest bit, isn't it ...
posted by LyzzyBee at 12:43 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by LyzzyBee at 12:43 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
Hansel and Gretel. Because shelter cats are often smart, underfed, and their parents have abandoned them. And my theory is they often lick your face to see if you're made of candy.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:47 PM on March 11, 2013 [11 favorites]
posted by MuffinMan at 12:47 PM on March 11, 2013 [11 favorites]
We adopted a boy/girl combo from the shelter and kept the names: Orwell and Kitana. So maybe the last name of an author and a video game character.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:54 PM on March 11, 2013
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:54 PM on March 11, 2013
Isis and Osiris because they were brother and sister, had a kid, then Osiris was torn apart but reassembled by Isis except for his genitals (of course) and reanimated by the other gods.
posted by jamjam at 1:18 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by jamjam at 1:18 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
You have to name them Van and Ada!
posted by trip and a half at 1:37 PM on March 11, 2013
posted by trip and a half at 1:37 PM on March 11, 2013
Or Demon and Lucette. Or Aqua and Marina. Really any combination of names from Ada would work.
posted by trip and a half at 1:40 PM on March 11, 2013
posted by trip and a half at 1:40 PM on March 11, 2013
Charles and Camilla is what I came in to suggest. I think it's obscure enough on the incest reference, and Charles is close to Charlie, which is nice. I think they are also both lovely cat names.
posted by k8lin at 2:12 PM on March 11, 2013
posted by k8lin at 2:12 PM on March 11, 2013
++ for Luke and Leia. But if not Zeus and Hera, Jupiter and Juno?
posted by Theophylactic at 2:16 PM on March 11, 2013
posted by Theophylactic at 2:16 PM on March 11, 2013
Sebastian and Viola, from Twelfth Night. (Gadzooks, "twelfth" is a weird word.)
posted by mollweide at 2:16 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by mollweide at 2:16 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
How about Iris and Murdoch? Especially if the boy is a yowler.
posted by moonmilk at 2:22 PM on March 11, 2013
posted by moonmilk at 2:22 PM on March 11, 2013
Charles and Camilla will not do in a UK not particularly Royalist household! Which is a shame, obviously. I have already rejected Hansel and Gretel, I just don't like those unfortunately. Sebastian and Viola would be great except the kid next door is called Sebastian and so was one of my parents' cats. OH has vetoed Iris and Murdoch unfortunately. What do we think of
Ray (Davies) and Lola
Octothorpe and Tilde
We do like Ptolemy and Cleo a lot though ...
posted by LyzzyBee at 2:34 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
Ray (Davies) and Lola
Octothorpe and Tilde
We do like Ptolemy and Cleo a lot though ...
posted by LyzzyBee at 2:34 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
Rahel and Estha (from The God of Small Things). Lovely names, and probably won't ring any bells with most people.
posted by sively at 2:34 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by sively at 2:34 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
In Meg Rosoff's novel How I Live Now there are incestuous first cousins called Daisy and Edmond.
posted by Lotto at 2:34 PM on March 11, 2013
posted by Lotto at 2:34 PM on March 11, 2013
Not brother and sister, but how about Boris and Natasha? Then again, maybe Rockie and Bullwinkle are going too far back...
posted by rpfields at 3:24 PM on March 11, 2013
posted by rpfields at 3:24 PM on March 11, 2013
Giovanni and Annabella are incestuous siblings in the play delightfully titled 'Tis Pity She's a Whore by John Ford, a late contemporary of Shakespeare. The play has been riffed on by Peter Greenaway and Tom Stoppard, among others.
posted by Orinda at 3:29 PM on March 11, 2013
posted by Orinda at 3:29 PM on March 11, 2013
Romeow and Mewliet.
It's my final offer.
posted by MuffinMan at 4:06 PM on March 11, 2013 [7 favorites]
It's my final offer.
posted by MuffinMan at 4:06 PM on March 11, 2013 [7 favorites]
The Endless think of each other as siblings. If any of their names appeal to you. Other mythical/heroic pantheons are similar. The greek gods were mentioned, probably the most prominent example. The x-men aren't all that different.
from Jeff Noon's scifi, there's Scribble and Desdemona.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:43 PM on March 11, 2013
from Jeff Noon's scifi, there's Scribble and Desdemona.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:43 PM on March 11, 2013
Cal (for Caligula) and Dru (Drusilla) or Liv (Livilla). Caligula was also accused of incest with a third sister--props if you can think of a shorter nick for Agrippina! ;)
Lucrezia and Giovanni (after the Borgias, of course).
John and Franny (from John Irving's Hotel New Hampshire).
Hal and Cathy, for Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon (though she was first married to his older brother, theirs was not really an incestuous relationship, as it's doubtful that first marriage was ever consummated).
posted by misha at 6:41 PM on March 11, 2013
Lucrezia and Giovanni (after the Borgias, of course).
John and Franny (from John Irving's Hotel New Hampshire).
Hal and Cathy, for Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon (though she was first married to his older brother, theirs was not really an incestuous relationship, as it's doubtful that first marriage was ever consummated).
posted by misha at 6:41 PM on March 11, 2013
I don't have a name suggestion but I wanted to say that it's not true you have to decide quickly because of the chip. When you decide on (or change) a cat's name, it's just a matter of a database being updated, not a physical change to the chip itself. We didn't decide on our cat's name until a few weeks after we took her home (and she already had a chip), and the vet put the right name in the chip details at her first vet check-up. As I understand it, the chip just has a number and when it is scanned that is matched with details stored under that number in a national database.
posted by lollusc at 6:43 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by lollusc at 6:43 PM on March 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
Yeah, a cat isn't going to be able to answer questions about its name, and if it's a collar tag discrepancy that worries you, the whole point is that the chipped info should take precedence to avoid confusion or even out and out theft (petnapping). I'd worry more about the owner information (names, contacts) than the pet's name (a houseboat has a slip address, right?)
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:38 PM on March 11, 2013
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:38 PM on March 11, 2013
(and somehow I managed to confuse this askme with the houseboat naming. Weird.)
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:01 PM on March 11, 2013
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:01 PM on March 11, 2013
Laura and Leland!
posted by macrowave at 10:36 PM on March 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by macrowave at 10:36 PM on March 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
Re the chip thing, we know that can be changed but we just wanted to avoid a) the hassle and b) the expense of changing them when if we can just decide on their names now and be done with it!
posted by LyzzyBee at 12:16 AM on March 12, 2013
posted by LyzzyBee at 12:16 AM on March 12, 2013
I'm surprised this incestuous couple hasn't popped up yet: Edgar and Eugenia, from A. S. Byatt's "Morpho Eugenia" in Angels and Insects. Their last name is Alabaster, which would be a bonus for two cats that are mostly white.
posted by dlugoczaj at 1:51 PM on March 14, 2013
posted by dlugoczaj at 1:51 PM on March 14, 2013
Also, if you go with the Marian Zimmer Bradley version of events, you could use Arthur and Morgaine.
posted by dlugoczaj at 2:00 PM on March 14, 2013
posted by dlugoczaj at 2:00 PM on March 14, 2013
Just to update you all - we didn't end up with those cats at all in the end (their previous owner found a new home and reclaimed them). But I promised a cat pic, so here are our new friends, Mango and Morgan, who came with their names already given and appropriate (the Morgan was Iris Murdoch's favourite car, so he can definitely hep me with my research project)
Cat pictures
Thanks again for all the suggestions and interest!
posted by LyzzyBee at 9:09 AM on March 22, 2013
Cat pictures
Thanks again for all the suggestions and interest!
posted by LyzzyBee at 9:09 AM on March 22, 2013
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