Owning a pet these days is big business, from taking out insurance on your kitty to taking your fur baby to its weekly salon.
That’s why it will come as no surprise that cat names have come a long way from moggies who may raise a purr to Kitty or Tigger.
Here we take a look at some of the much loved names we give our furry friends.
Meee-ow!
It’s a well known fact that choosing a name for your child can be a difficult. There’s a myriad of names out there from the traditional to modern to gender neutral to, let’s face it, downright ridiculous.
And the same can be said when naming the newest fur member of your family.
The naming ceremony
So you’ve bought a variety Cat Lap trays, you’ve even personalised it – try this for size https://personalisedlaptrays.co.uk/collections/animal-lap-trays-cats – now it’s time for the naming ceremony.
The most popular names for male cats, according to research at the highest of feline levels, are as follows:
Charlie, Oscar, Alfie, Max, Milo, Jasper, George, Leo, Simba and Harry.
And for the gentler mouser, we have:
Poppy, Bella, Molly, Tilly, Daisy, Millie, Lola, Lily, Rosie and Willow.
So do cats know their names? Would Poppy respond if you called ‘Willow’ into the midnight darkness at the behest of your family members?
Whether you are a cat lover or not, the almost universal perception of them is that they are aloof and independent. We’ve spent an astonishing 10,000 years mingling with them and arguably getting closer to them, so what does research into this question give us?
One such study found that we talk to our kitties very much akin to how we talk to our babies, in high pitched harmonious tones, using simple words and instructions. And as a cat’s hearing range has a wide scale and pitch, they respond – possibly more to inflection than naming – but respond they do, by clever ear and head movements. For the cat lovers amongst us this can only mean that our furry friend knows our human utterances. For the sceptic it may mean something entirely different. Food association, along with reward and the voice of the one it owns can also act as a driver. What are your thoughts? We’d love to know!
