It’s not always easy choosing a name, especially when it comes to your pets. A name typically lasts forever and it will often be the first impression you give anyone.
Names are typically chosen based on personalities or looks. For example, a calico cat may be known as Autumn or Leaf as many calico owners want their cats to be named after their colouration.
Some names are chosen because they relate to an inside joke or are a pun for the type of animal. We, for example, named our betta fish Flub & Blub based on the sounds bubbles make. We also named our hamster Twitch based on the neverending twitching of her nose.
At this point, my partner and I have built a list of names we’d like to use on our future pets. Kalista, our cat’s name, was actually one of the many names we had to whittle down between when we adopted her.
Although we knew that we wanted to get a female cat to help raise the chances of our cats getting along, there was a chance a female cat wouldn’t be available to adopt. So, we came up with a list of gender-neutral names, just in case we changed our minds on adopting a female cat.
Gender-neutral names can come in very handy, especially when you don’t know the sex of the animal you are about to adopt. The following is the list of all the gender-neutral names we were debating between when adopting our cat Kalista.
Note: My favourites will be bolded in each section for quick navigation.
NAMES THAT RELATE TO FOOD OR DRINKS
Who hasn’t thought about naming their cat their favourite type of food? I mean, c’mon how adorable is a cat named “Sushi?”
Not a fan? Well, why not check out this list of food and drink-related words. Some of them are based on plants, some off of brand names, and others based on your favourite beverages.
Acorn
Almond
Biscuit
Bourbon
Brownie
Butterscotch
Cappuccino
Cinnamon
Espresso
Gouda
Guinness
Hennessey
Jiggles
Licorice
Maple
Merlot
Muffin
Mocha
Nacho
Oreo
Latte
Peanut
Pepper
Pickles
Pinot
Pistachio
Pumpkin
Raisin
Twix
NAMES THAT ARE ALSO HUMAN NAMES
There are a lot of human names that I don’t think are suitable for cats. Not that I’m going to stop someone from naming their cat something, but finding out that your cat’s name is “Becky” or “Elizabeth” is a bit weird to me.
There are some names that I just relate so closely to people, and I’m sure you have some names that you feel the same about. Hopefully, none of the following names are on your list of “no-no’s”!
Adrian
Aspen
Bailey
Beau
Bentley
Berkeley
Blaine
Charlie
Colby
Dakota
Harley
Harper
Hayden
Hunter
Kai
Morgan
Payton
Raven
Rebel
Reese
Riley
River
Robin
Rory
Sam
Scout
Sky
Skylar
Sid
Storm
Venice
NAMES FROM POP CULTURE
Something you may not know about our cat, Kalista, is that she’s named after one of my favourite video game characters.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to get a name from one of your favourite pop culture icons, movies or video game characters. The following are some of my favourites, though I’ll be honest… I had a bit of difficulty finding some good gender-neutral ones. Let me know what you think!
Armani
Ash
Ashe
Bingo
Blitz
Comet
Chewbacca
Dab
Dino
Downy
Emery
Gnar
Hershey
Jaws
Klondike
Marbles
Munchkin
Misty
Neptune
Link
Onyx
Porche
Puck
Scar
Shadow
Shaggy
Snubbull
Sonny
NAMES TO DO WITH COLOURATION
Some of us have cats that have particular patterns on their fur. We, for example, are the proud parents of a calico cat. Calico cats are known to have a particular personality to them so it might be a bit harder to get a perfect name for them.
The following list is filled with names that have to do with some of the colours your cats may come in. All of them, again, are as gender-neutral as names can be!
Avalanche
Checkers
Cheetah
Dicey
Domino
Ebony
Ember
Fluffy
Freckles
Frosty
Furball
Fuzzy
Gold
Hazel
Inferno
Ivory
Jaguar
Lynx
Minx
Mocha
Oreo
Patches
Powder
Smokey
Speckle
Spot
Volcano
PET SPECIFIC NAMES / COMMON SILLY NAMES
Sometimes common names are great to look at because… well they’re popular!
The following are some of the silly names we call pets that you wouldn’t necessarily call a human. Check ’em out!
Runt
Wags
Woof
Runt
Paws
Puffy
Snuggles
MUSIC RELATED CAT NAMES
I’m a huge music nerd and I grew up studying classical music. For that reason, I’ve been very interested in calling one of my cats by a musical term, though my partner isn’t as big of a fan.
Although he might not be as big of a fan, maybe you will be! The following are my favourite musical terms and names that sound gender-neutral.
Alto
Allegro
Andante
Clef
Crescendo
Lark
Legato
Piper
Sonny
NAMES THAT COULD BE NICKNAMES
Nicknames get used much more frequently than names do, so why not start by calling your cat a name that was meant to be a nickname?
The following are some of my favourite nicknames that we’ve called cats in the past that sound gender-neutral.
Chief
Nugget
Scrappy
Stinky
Squirt
Zap
Zep
Zippy
MISCELLANEOUS NAMES
The following are names that I couldn’t think of categories for. Just because they don’t fit into a category, doesn’t mean that they aren’t worth our time.
Check out some of these miscellaneous gender-neutral names that you can call your cat.
Bandit
Bear
Boomer
Button
Clover
Cotton
Dabby
Diamond
Digger
Dimple
Elf
Eskimo
Firecracker
Giggles
Lucky
Nibble
Ninja
Nova
Phoenix
Racer
Rascal
Ranger
Rocket
Socks
Squat
Tundra
Orion
Phantom
Pookie
Zeppelin
CONCLUSION
So it seems like I may have a favourite category or two and it might be time that I talk to my partner again about calling one of our cats something food-related.
I am curious about which names you liked the most or which ones you thought of yourself? Let me know in the comments below!