Here is our brand new kitten:
I spent a lot of time considering possible names. I needed something that could be short or long (I tend to shorten names and then lengthen them, eg Annaleise–> Anna–>Anna-bananaramagram), that the kids didn’t hate, that I didn’t mind shouting into the night (not, for example, “Fire” or “Figaro” or “Buttface”), and that wouldn’t be excessively embarrassing to the kids when they’re teenagers.
Here are some that made the shortlist:
Agatha Heterodyne (steampunk mad scientists from Girl Genius graphic novels)
Ada Lovelace (a real-life Victorian countess, inventor, and computer programmer)
Misty (for a white cat)
Leia (except I’m still broken up over Carrie Fisher’s death so I’d feel sad whenever I used it)
Isaiah
Loki (an excellent cat name, thanks to him being the God of Mischief… and Tom Hiddleston. Also it’s wise to use a character who’s dead* since they can’t then go and commit incest or something)
Ariel
For a black cat:
Raven
Shadow
Midnight
T’Challa (aka the Black Panther)
Chadwick (the actor who plays King T’Challa so very well)
Shuri (who is sometimes the Black Panther in the comics)
Letitia.
Or literally any other cast member of Black Panther.
Sherlock
Mimi (apparently that’s the “Rover” of cat names in China)
Mao (Mandarin for ‘cat’ and Louisette really wanted to call it ‘Meow’ for a while… but that’d definitely cause an increase in vocalisation)
TomTom (fun to say)
Mystique (for the X-Men character, plus it abbreviates to Missy)
Nox and/or Mademoiselle Brunet (one of my characters – good for a female cat that’s black, white, or brown)
Emmeline (ditto)
Matilda (ditto)
Patrick (ditto)
Amelia (after Ms Earhart; Louisette vetoed it on the basis that if the cat walked in while she was having one of our Amelia Earhart books read, the cat could be confused)
Gandalf
Merlin
Frodo
Samwise
Aragorn (shortens to Arrow, which is cool)
Qwerty/Qwertyuiop (I really liked this; the kids were deeply unimpressed)
Blaze/Diamond (based on markings)
Boudica
Scuttlebutt (fun to say, and piratical too)
Ping Pong (fun to say; good description of cat movement)
Snugglepot & Cuddlepie (yes, I suggested to Chris more than once that we get siblings, partly for their benefit and partly for the kids’ benefit… but he was right to say no. Two is too much for me.)
Bubble (again, fun to say)
Hiccup (fun to say, plus the hero from “How to Train Your Dragon” which is a cool movie/s/show/s/book/s)
But the name we finally settled on is….
Zipper.
I like to say it, the kids see the logic in “she zips around” and it shortens to “Zip” or “Zip-Zip” and lengthens to “Zip-e-dee-do-ya”.
So that’s her name.
She’s another tortoiseshell/white cat. Apparently I have a type (also, the ultimate decision was between two cats, and neither was plain black which is what I was hoping for… but she’s soooo beautiful, isn’t she?)
*probably for reals this time.