Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Help name our kittens!

We're so excited! Our application has been accepted and our deposit received, and we have two new kittens! They were just born, so we won't be bringing them home until later this summer, but in the meantime, we have baby pictures!!

So either the kitten on at the top or on the far right is our chocolate spotted girl.

And one of the four at the top or the one at the bottom is our tawny spotted little boy. Although they are from different litters, they're spending time together so they will be a bonded pair when they come to us. Or rather, partners in crime for tearing apart our house. We were laughing the other morning remembering the last creature who tore apart our house. Sophie was so fond of the cats' food that we had to build a chicken wire fence around their bowls to keep her out of it. We were tired of finding her sitting beneath the kitchen table with her cheeks stuffed full of cat food, and we were even less amused by the resulting bad breath.

In the meantime, while we realize you need to spend time with a pet to assign them an appropriate name, we're having an interesting time developing our list of potential names. 

Husband prefers names of mythical origin, and I think when he was younger he even had a cat named after some yoga posture. His beloved late cat was named Zeus. Lately he and Sophie have been reading through a series of books Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, and I suspect some of these names come from there. He was tapping away at the computer the other evening and came up with this list, presented along with my opinions:
Kumi: Ghanaese meaning forceful. Not horrible.

Loki: Norse legend figure. Sometimes a god, sometimes a trickster or shapeshifter. Sophie liked the character of Loki when she was in SF Opera's Das Rheingold, but I'm not sure I like the idea of Wagnerian characters running around my house. 

Jaeger: Hunter. No, because I cannot stop of thinking of Jaegermeister and the snowboarder I saw last year order a Jaegermeister and RedBull cocktail from the Sugarbowl lodge bar at lunch.

Moriko: Japanese meaning forest child. OK, but I would call the cat Mori, which people would think is short for Maurice, in which case why wouldn't we just name the cat Maurice?

Silas. Meaning sly. OK.  Makes me think of George Eliot's Silas Marner, which is not a bad thing.

Thiazzi. I know this came from the series of books. By why not just Theodore? (See explanation above concerning Moriko.)

Tofi. Meaning thunder. Too much like tofu, which I've never really liked. (It's a texture thing.)
I prefer to give animals people names. Like Simon (my current cat).  I had another cat named Oscar and have had mice named Beatrice and Sabine. I have suggested Lucy, Ricky (how funny would it be to have a Lucy and Ricky pair??), Walter, Maude, and Fritz, all of which cause Husband to make a bad face. I know I'm not alone in preferring these names. A fellow blogger has a late cat named Leonard. And I am Facebook friends with a dog named Monty. 

Or how about author names? Like Willa or Truman? (Husband knows who Truman is—he saw the movie.)

Or a tribute to Husband's hard work in his Spanish classes this year? I would love to have a cat named Juan. 

What do you think? We are open to suggestions. 

16 comments:

Tonia said...

The kittens are very cute. I am with you, I like people names. I think Ricky and Lucy would be adorable. My newest chicken is Buffy (after the vampire slayer.) I was considering the names Bella and Edward for some rabbits I am considering adopting. I am sure you'll have quite a list before long!

Red Flashlight said...

Josephine and Boris?

I'm rather fond of obscure names that express my particular fandom. For example, I'd like 'Posner' and 'Easterbrook,' two judges noted for their scholarship (and differences of opinion) in the area of 'Law and Economics.'

Kristin said...

You obviously have fabulous taste (we have a Loki, Lucy & Eli now & had a Simon), so I'm sure you'll pick a great name. We had Bastet, Antigone (Tigi), Oedipus (Oed) & Chuck when I was growing up. I've read that you should always use at least 2 syllable names so it's easier to call the animal...one syllable just doesn't cut it. We had to stretch Chuck into "Chu-uck" or call him really embarrassing pet (ha) names that I won't go into.

Belle said...

I like Juan and Willa. Our kitty is Lu Lu. Well, Lucky Lu Lu that is.

Good luck!
Belle

Purple Flowers said...

I agree w/the two syllable name. My cat was Leo (after the astro. sign), but we always stretched the name to "lee-o" to call him.

Anyway, Dante is a handsome name.
Lucy and Tommy, and I like your choice of Willa and Juan.
Have fun!

Ken Albala said...

CINDY! Of course I remember you. It has been years and years. I love your blog, by the way. Consider for the cats Nebuchadnezzar, or Ashurbanipal - the best names ever. Do write to me directly, I'd love to hear what you've been up to. Ken

Jackie said...

I love people names for animals, too. For some reason while reading this I kept thinking of the name Hank.

TLA said...

I definitely think you are on the right track as far as sources! I think names from mythology or literature (and possibly classic film or theater) are the best way to go. Im a mythology nerd who wants to name my boat Melusina.

Id stay away from pop culture references (one of my old roommates in the 90s had a yellow lab named Chandler, smirk) though I do confess to considering Boris as a partner to my Natasha (I ended up going with F. Scott Fitzgerald and calling him Fitz).

Im sure your family will choose well!

adozeneggs said...

I think Mori could also be thought of as Maury Povich, or Tuesday's with Maury.
Mori should be out.
I like people names too. I'm partial to Lucy (my dear departed black lab) Lucy and Ricky. Then you can say
"oh Ricky! Waaah"
I'm thinking my next female pet will be a Josephine.

Anonymous said...

Hmm... I like literary names and Willa is cute. (Though I could never muster appreciation for My Antonia in high school.)

Given the kitty's jungle-like looks, what about Kipling? You could call it Kip for short. Preppy meets literary. :-)

gandr said...

I'm a simple person. I vote for Click and Clack

Maria said...

Oh Lucy and Ricky to be sure - couple's names are adorable! My sister named the brother/sister pair my dad found in our backyard Caesar and Cleopatra (because she was a Classics major, but I wanted Eowyn and Eomer from Lord of the Rings b/c that was the thing at the time). If my fiance and I get another cat (our current one is Oliver) I would hope for a female and name her Adelaide.

Flo said...

I am Kristin's mother and when I was growing up I had cats named Kiki, Pywacket, Ezio Pinza, Nefertit, Klytemnestra, Agamenon and many more that I can't recall. All were Siamese and very vocal. Whatever names you chose I am sure that you will love them.

Debie Napoleon said...

Boris and Natasha? I like people names too. My babies are Toby and Suzi.

Amy said...

How great to look forward to the arrival of 2 kittens! My husband and I seem to go through 2 or 3 names before we find the perfect one for a new kitty. We've realized over the years that most often the right name presents itself after you spend some time with the kitty. Most of our cats have names from literature or a favorite song. I am also partial to people names for cats. Except for our one poor cat who is just so dumb, dumb like you never imagined possible!, bless the poor thing, that we started calling him dopey and it stuck so well that we can't remember what we originally named him! LOL I promise you we're not bad parents!
So right now we have Sadie, Huxley, Hennessy, Daisy. Past names include Eva, Zsa Zsa, Lucy, Gavin, Cricket, Angus, Finnegan, Alice, Rasputin, Burke...

The kittens are adorable! Have you picked any names yet?
Amy
Aimala02@yahoo.com

KatieGirlBlue said...

As Arnold can attest, I, too, love people names for animals. And I'm with you on Jaeger. Nothing good ever emerges from a night spent with Jaeger, and you don't want your poor kitty to live with that burden.

Whatever you name Thing 1 and Thing 2, I'm super excited for you and the family!