Hello, I love you

[rolanni]

So, I was over at a cat grooming site -- I cleverly closed the window before copying the URL, so I can't tell you which cat grooming site -- that offered a cat personality quiz. At the far end of the quiz, having assured me that my cat is "affectionate," I was provided with a list of "friendly cat names." The list (which I did remember to save, is reproduced below for your perusal:

Friendly cat names: Bailey, Casey, Callie, Daisy, Frodo, Maggie, Peaches, Mimi, Molly, Sam, Toby, Toodles

Now, leaving aside that I feel naming anyone "Toodles" to be an act of extreme unfriendliness - what makes these names particularly "friendly"? Are there inherently "friendly" names? Really? And if so, are there inherently "unfriendly" names? Well, OK -- Toodles. But seriously.

Let's take a random list of names:

Winnie
Hexapuma
Arwen
Archie
Kodi
Mozart
Felicia
Rasheed
Inez
Totoro
Lorraine
Butch

...which are friendly? Which are unfriendly? Defend your position.

Comments

[brock-tn.livejournal.com]

Names are neither inherently friendly nor inherently unfriendly. The "friendliness" of a cat's name depends entirely on the behavior of the cat to whom the name is attached. A cat that behaves in a friendly way has a friendly name. A cat who likes to play the "Venus Fly-Cat" game, not so much. A cat who lies in wait under the hall table, then leaps forth and savages your ankle as you stumble groggily down the stairs in the middle of the night doesn't have a very friendly name, either.

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

Exactly. "Kibbie" (short for "Kibbles") might be considered a friendly cutesy sort of name until the affectionate burrowing under the covers turns into a random claws and teeth attack. Knowing that, having a small ball mounted on a long stick made a great carpet mouse toy...Kibbie wasn't so interested in toys in the air, but "subterranean" toys were the bomb!

[brock-tn.livejournal.com]

We used to have a Siamese who lived for the opportunity to attack "bed mice." We called her "Ninja," because when she first came to live at our house and was spending a week in a cage to allow her and the other cats to get familiar with each other, we found her one afternoon hanging from the top of her cage by her claws, upside down, screaming Siamese imprecations at the top of her little voice.

[jerusha.livejournal.com]

One thing I notice is that most of their "friendly" names end in "y" or "ey" or "ie". That sound is often used to form diminutives, which may be perceived as more friendly because of the connotations of smallness/cuteness. Also see "Frodo" and "Sam" - hobbits are also small and cute (FSVO small and cute).

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

The name you know is not the cat's name.

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

I agree, it is just the name you give them so that you are not yelling "hey cat!" They, over time recognize the sound just as they may recognize words like "dinner". I wait for a while and figure out characteristics. There is a reason why she pictured in the icon was named after a banshee.

Names may be descriptive but not inherently friendly, unless you call something "friend" I suppose.

[brock-tn.livejournal.com]

Well, obviously. People who do not grasp this probably ought not to have cats.

[amm-me.livejournal.com]

Silly list (not yours, the pet site's). No name is inherently friendly or not, save as one may perceive diminutives as friendly (but one may also perceive them as beneath the dignity of a cat).

That said, I do have a small disconnect about Hexapuma, which is a friendly coon cat in Maine, and also a very large, very unfriendly species of predator on the planet Sphinx. Still, there are also friendly cats named Tiger.

Mine are Agate, Alabaster, and Tut (named for "his" Egyptian kohl eye-lines. He turned out to be a mom, so Prince Tut became Queen Tut. And she's not very friendly, yet, after two years on her own as a stray. But she's getting there.)

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

cat names, DC, Bogart, Schrodinger, Tatiana, Tigger, Marduk, Zuel, Newton... Schrody was a bit off but he had a temp over a 100 as a kitten that kinda fried his brain.

Schrodinger ?

[elgordo303.livejournal.com]

Isn't naming a cat Schrodinger a bit like calling a nice Irish lad Jonathan Swift?

Re: Schrodinger ?

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

He was a found kitten, and shortly after we got him, he had some health issues, and almost died. We figured he was a quantum kitty and was named accordingly. His lifespan was only about 3 years and he died of a seizure.

[barsukthom.livejournal.com]

My grandparents had a female cat named Figaro. She bore and trained many broods of championship mousers.

names

[(Anonymous)]

My mom is Winifred (a fiesty 91 this weekend!) so for me "Winnie" is friendly. For others it reminds them of Winston Churchill, which might not be evoke warm fuzzy feelings. Relationships and history make names more than a label. KF

[reedrover]

Felicia has immediate synonyms, and evokes its heart of happiness, so to me it is a friendly name. I see Winnie the Pooh, or perhaps Once Upon a Mattress, so Winnie is also a friendly name to me, though not particularly distinguished.

Rasheed is dashing, daring, small, and quick, with a twinkle in its eye. Friendly depends on how the marketplace is going today.

Mozart is a deep and calming name, though I'm not sure if I find it particularly friendly so much as familiar, like the distinguished gent down the street whose front garden is immaculate but who is always mussed and rumpled in personal appearance.

[fullmetal-al.livejournal.com]

I recently adopted a pair of kittens, one of whom we did happen to name Bailey. Although he can show affection he is less likely to do so than his more aggressively named brother, Hunter, who is just a big mush ball.

[kahva.livejournal.com]

My girl kitty (see icon) is named Arwen, and she's a sweetheart. She's also Little Miss Independent, not big on being held, but she'll lead me to the loveseat so that I'll sit down and give her all the scritchies she can handle and then some. So as far as I'm concerned, Arwen is a "friendly" name. :) But personally, I think how friendly a name is to the person who named the cat depends more on the cat's personality. And the person's personality - to somebody else, if they've known a not-nice Arwen at some point, a sweet kitty named the same thing might not be enough to convince them that Arwen is a "friendly" name.

[hakuen]

I had a cat named Daisy for a while, but she was so named because she was a complete airhead (which also led, sadly, to the "for a while"). Most of those names, I think you'd have to be pretty hostile toward the cat in order to saddle them with. I have known a couple Mollys and Sams who wore those quite well, though.

Totoro and Butch are definitely the friendliest names on your list. *nods* Just because of my own associations though. None of 'em are unfriendly. ...I'd be worried that Mozart would look down his nose at me, but then all cats do that anyway, so.

My list: Tigger (I was 10, ok), Daisy, Kohaku, Bowie, Jasmine You.

[hapaxnym.livejournal.com]

Speak, friend, and enter...

The friendliest cats I ever knew were a trio of siblings named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Not terribly cuddlesome monikers, but we called them Shaddie, Me-me, and Abbie. What they called themselves -- their "ineffable effable effanineffable deep and inscrutable singular Names" -- we of course were not privileged to learn.

Pfft

[(Anonymous)]

This is like human names. We associate friendly names with friendly personalities. And, truly, these are names *we* call the kitties...so this is completely artificial.

Keezie - short for Mechizidek - used to be somewhat friendly and then turn on you suddenly. Mind you, he would also suddenly run right into doors. His human, Leslie, used to say the Jupiter People talked to him at those times. I merely looked after him when she was on vacation or honeymoon or whatever.

Come to think of it, there was Grey Velvet, aka Clyde, aka about 3 other aliases --- who had 5 families in my neighborhood convinced that he was THEIR cat. Including ours...the dog was no deterrent. Now THERE was a scam artist. We all thought he was friendly.
Lauretta@ConstellationBooks

our cat's names

[fiopi.livejournal.com]

Somehow anime and comics became a theme or source, maybe because of the cats seemed to have personalities that reminded us of characters - Nausicaa (sadly missed), Captain Connie-O, Batou, Kuma, and Pazu. No way to know if they agree with their names or not, they all come for "dinner" at least.