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Some people give their cats names that sound like "pet names," e.g., Fluffy, Midnight, Whiskers. Other people give their cats "human names," e.g., Lily, Sam.

Some hypothesize that cats given "human names" are treated more like humans than cats given "pet names" are.

So now I have a multi-part question for you.

1. Do your cats have pet names or human names?

2. Why do you think you chose a pet name vs. a human name?

3. Do you think your cat's name has any effect on the way you perceive and/or treat him or her? Do you think that your cat's name affects the way OTHERS think about your cat?

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PHCurious
Cat Chat Host

What a fun question. My cats have human names, mainly because I never went for the cutesy ones. (Even when naming my 6 kids, they got 'classics' they could live with, not cutesy, faddish names. I also insisted they be spelled in the most normal way because my father insisted mine be spelled differently and it has been a pain in the butt my whole life)

My cats are Henry, Willy, Holly, and Petey. The respond well to them. I noticed after the fact that they all had 5 letters and ended in Y - not intentional.

I think they are taken more seriously as members of the family with their real names. My husband was listening to message from vet's office on answering machine about Petey and Willy's upcoming appointments and asked me 'how can she do that without laughing?' - I told him it was her job and she had to do it with all the 'Butterball's and Sweetpea's', too.

We favor human names also. Being that we don't have any human kids that mean our fur babies are our children. I like cutsie names as kittens and puppy's but once they are matured like humans I want the name to match a mature catitude.

Although I do enjoy when I encounter a pet that has a completely creative different name becuase it gets you're attention. The most different one I have encountered was a
co-worker talked about having a cat named "Lunch box" when she was in college. Ya gotta chuckle on that one!

Cheri
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Cheri,Shelby,Lily & Lucy

Wow, I never thought of this before... I've always given my pets people names, I guess I'm too serious or something and just didn't feel comfortable saying "come here snickerdoodle!"
I don't think I treat them more like humans... although I do cook their food, and I don't nuzzy them or talk baby talk to them like some other pet owners I've seen. But those kinds of pet owners often talk baby talk to their signifigant others and their human kids, so go figure! Interesting question

Destany

What is in a name? Curiosity does kill the cat right?

Both my cats have human names...I think.

I named my oldest Shyanne. Why? Because I got him (we thought it was a girl) at the SPCA. They had named him Spooky as they'd found him in a ditch on Halloween night. I didn't like it. He purred instantly and was such a lover but he was skittish and shy...thus the spelling Shyanne.

Bogart is the newest edition. Just 3 months old I named him after some furniture I saw on the TV at a local furniture store. My boyfriend likes to golf, so Bogie is his name for short. Since my boyfriend likes to smoke cigars, and we have brown leather furniture, Bogart was a perfect fit.

My two dogs Dallas and Austin are named after well...cities.

My green cheek conure, Skittailz, is named after candy.

Guess if the shoe, candy bar, or attitude fits, name it!

I didn't name Captain Video. Honest. My sister did. When she was a tiny baby we had the orginal Captain Video - but he went to the Bridge before she could really remember him. He was named after an old 50's TV show - my mother had a rare sense of humor and thought it would be a good name, I guess. Anyhow when the current Captain Video showed up in her yard, my sister remembered that name and thought it would be neat.

My parents and sister has always tended toward human names for their cats - Anthony, Cleopatra, Victoria, Samantha, Foley, Sam, Bogie (after Humphrey Bogart), Pete (after Peter Sellers), and Farley. I named my other cats Daisy because she quacked like a duck when she was a kitten and Chelsea because I found her at an Anglican church and she needed a proper British name.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

My sister also has 4 cats, their names are - D.Brown, Chevy, Dill and Tyga. I know Chevy was found (pregnant) in an abandoned Chevy and Tyga was found on a golf course. I'll have to ask her to refresh my memory on the other two. Sometimes there is a background on a pet's name, or how it looks. My daughter's dog is named Football because he is brown with what look like white laces on his belly.

My cats almost had human names, but theirs just fit so well. Macaroni was almost Zoe or Chloe, but she just turned out to be the most suited for Macaroni. I end up calling her Mackie or Roo most of the time (Roo because I used to call her Macaracaroniroo when she was tiny.)

Kuma means bear in japanese. His name was Koala when we picked him up from the shelter. Mike really liked the name Kuma (I was torn between Kuma and Cashew, really glad we went with Kuma!) and it really suited him as well.

Bubba, as I'm sure you all know, started out as Ducky. He was so tiny and cute at 4 weeks that was the only name I could see him with. As he turned into a huge cat with a huge belly, only Bubba seemed appropriate.

I think that cat names should reflect the personality of the cat, but i tend to stay away from human names. I think it's more fun to be inventive and have the only one with that name (ie Macaroni). It hasn't at all affected the way I love them. They'd be the loves of my life even if I called them crapface!

On a another note, I once gave a boyfriend a kitten for his birthday and he named her Treez so that if she ever escaped he could stand at his door and yell "Treez, I'm looking for Treez". Needless to say he wasn't a normal guy and was into some illegal stuff. That was the worst cat name i've ever heard!
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-Martha
Kuma
Bubba, formerly known as "Ducky"
and
Macaroni

>> They'd be the loves of my life even if I called them crapface!>>
I have to laugh at this. My friend and her two youngest siblings were adopted by her mother's husband. Her mom and new husband asked her brother, the baby of 5 girls, if he would like to change his name. He replied I don't care what you call me you can call me "Poop Stink" and I would be happy. You little crapface thing reminded me of that. Jon was only 4 yrs old at the time.

>>On a another note, I once gave a boyfriend a kitten for his birthday and he named her Treez so that if she ever escaped he could stand at his door and yell "Treez, I'm looking for Treez". Needless to say he wasn't a normal guy and was into some illegal stuff. That was the worst cat name i've ever heard!
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I once met a guy that named his dog D.O.G. They would spell out dog. It was rather strange and took me a week to figure out that the named the dog Dog. I thought that was a rather silly name.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

I, too, tend to gravitate towards human names. I named my parents fuzzy little gray kitten Dorian after The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. The first cat I had on my own I named Kira after a character in an Ayn Rand book. My next cat I named Ariel because it means lioness of God in Hebrew and since she was an Aby I thought it fit her.I think she took it too seriously because she turned out to be the meanest cat I've ever had. The 3 Abys I have now were already named when I adopted them. All of Nala's litter mates were named after the Lion King, but I call her Bunny Nala. Mina was named Mona Lisa so I just dropped the Lisa and gave her a vowel change(much better than a sex change)and Gizzy's name is Gizmo but she is usually called Busy Gizzie because she's so nosy. I have a friend who also likes human names. Her dog is Quentin and her 2 cats that are brothers are Walter and Henry. I think it's fascinating how people name their animals. There's usually a good story behind it too.

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>>So now I have a multi-part question for you.
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>>1. Do your cats have pet names or human names? Both. Pet names: Crash, Boots, Moxie. People names: Lizzy, Gabby, Tucker.

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>>2. Why do you think you chose a pet name vs. a human name? I choose what fits their personality.
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>>3. Do you think your cat's name has any effect on the way you perceive and/or treat him or her? No I treat them all the same. Do you think that your cat's name affects the way OTHERS think about your cat? Nope
>>
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>>-----
>>PHCurious
>>Cat Chat Host
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

>>1. Do your cats have pet names or human names?
>>
>>2. Why do you think you chose a pet name vs. a human name?
>>
>>3. Do you think your cat's name has any effect on the way you perceive and/or treat him or her? Do you think that your cat's name affects the way OTHERS think about your cat?
>>

My cats' names are Star and Quentin. Star's shelter name was "Black Star" and I just dropped the first part when she was adopted. I got Quentin's name from the old TV show "Dark Shadows" which had a character named Quentin.

I've always preferred human names over pet names for my cats.

I don't think that the name has any effect on how they're treated by me or others, at least not in my case.

Ellen

>>1. Do your cats have pet names or human names?
>>
>>2. Why do you think you chose a pet name vs. a human name?
>>
>>3. Do you think your cat's name has any effect on the way you perceive and/or treat him or her? Do you think that your cat's name affects the way OTHERS think about your cat?

Hmmm... well...

Voodoo is a black cat. She was named by her previous owner who died. I didn't like it, but the poor kitty had to go through so many other changes, I didn't have the heart to change her name. Now I am used to it, but you can't imagine how embarrassed you can be until someone calls that name out in the drug store. I had to get medicine for her once in the "human" drugstore and they called "Voodoo Weiss" over the loudspeaker. I had to go up in front of all these people to get it. Talk about being stared at!!

Gracie was named by me because she was a sweet, little gray tabbie when we found her. I think she is the most appropriately named cat of the 4. She is still sweet with us but a bit of a witch (or should I say vixen?) with the others.

Puss and Boots were sisters named together (I guess that's obvious). Boots has white feet. I was in a hurry at the vets, having just trapped them the night before. I didn't give it much thought because we weren't keeping them (yeah, right... ). That was about 10 months ago and now that they are clearly part of our family I haven't been able to think of new, more "permanent" names.

I don't think their names affect how I treat them - can't say about other folks. Anyway, they are all goofy in their own way.

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ellen
gracie & voodoo (& Puss 'n Boots)

I always name my cats after something, whether it be their personality is like a certain person, or their coloring, or just perhaps their whole attitude. Neo was named after the character in the movie The Matrix. He is unique in his talents, just like the character. He learned to turn a latch to open a cupboard today! Trinity was Neo's girlfriend in the movie.. so it was inevitable that if I brought home a female.. that had to be her name. Its funny, the Trinity character is often shown in action poses in the air. My kitty Trinity is QUITE an acrobat! LOL!

I had a cat who always sounded like he was whining. I named him after the Tony Randall character - Sydney Shore.

Mary

One month after losing my 20 year old Rascal Kitty, I adopted a 3 month old gray marbled kitten from my local pet store who is blind in one eye. After studying him for several days my son named him the most appropriate name. "OBE" (pronounced O-bee), and stands for "One Blind Eye". He is now almost a year old and being blind in one eye has not slowed him down at all. He knows his name and comes when called "OBE Baby" or "OBE Boy".

1. Do your cats have pet names or human names?

Both of my cats have not exactly pet names, but unique names.

One is Figaro, from the Movie Pinnochio, because we had the case we first got him, and he was very playful and he looked alot like the cat at the time. Now hes a very sweet, thin, klutzy at times.

Our other is Cosmo, He is an American Shorthair. When we first got him, he had a white triangle of fur on his nose, a white underbelly with a gray spot and he was all gray except for a patch of white at the end of his tail. Also, the day we got him, we had gotten mcdonalds and had a left over french fry box with a little bit of french fries left. Well, this little kitten got into it, and now LOVES french fries. ( He used to hide under our dishwasher, and we would lure him out with French Fries). Right now, hes a large bodied cat, and very lazy. But sometimes i think he thinks hes a dog. When someone comes to the door, or is in the house, he has to greet them...

I realise this is some long time after the thread was started, but I thought the questions were interesting. :3

1. Do your cats have pet names or human names?

Human, I suppose. Although my first cat got 'Great' and 'Magnificient' tagged to hers, she was named by my mum after some indian tribe that lived on the island Puerto Rico. I have no clear idea why (I was five, then), except that the only other thing they could think of was my name, and that wouldn't work. I found later that her name, Taina, was also an actual name. How odd.

My cats, Akira and Gawain, have pretty human names, though.

2. Why do you think you chose a pet name vs. a human name?

For mine, I don't know. I guess because I've never really been one for cutey-wooty stuff. I mean, even when I play something like Pokemon (frivolous, I know, but), I name everything and they all usually get normal names, like Michio or Hirohito. I'm more serious with a living creature's name, though, of course (so, no set of cats named Hirohito, Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Churchill and Roosevelt... ). I usually just pick whatever comes to mind at the time.
For example, Akira was named after my favourite comic book artist at the time-- Akira Toriyama.
Gawain was just... the first thing I thought of that wasn't rediculous. And all I could think of were names that started with the letter 'G'. ^.^;
I also don't want to stick my kitties with some horrible name that I would be embarrassed of. ^.^;

3. Do you think your cat's name has any effect on the way you perceive and/or treat him or her? Do you think that your cat's name affects the way OTHERS think about your cat?

Hm. Well, I already was starting to treat little Gawain like a son when I brought him into the house, probably esp. since he was extremely loving. ^.^; I know that due to his name, he's spoken of as thinking everything is a green knight, or that he's not befitting since, unlike the Gawain of legend, he isn't exceptionally well mannered. lol
But I think I would treat him the same either way. I think other people are more likely to take him seriously because of his name, though. He gets the baby talk all the time because, well, he looks like an oversized kitten, but people don't usually treat him with a sugar coating in the conversation. However, I think his attitude really attributes to it, too, since he really tries to take part in everything, just like 'one of the guys'.

Akira, on the other hand... I can't really say much about how other people percieve her because she always hides. I know that I treat her like I normally would a person or animal. But she hates me now (I attend school, she never sees me... *sigh*)...