Cat Names Inspired by Famous Cats

Garfield has been eating lasagna and hating Mondays in newspapers since June 19, 1978, which makes him, by sheer endurance, the most famous cat alive or drawn. Borrowing a famous cat's name is borrowing a ready-made personality, and the best ones come with a story worth telling at the vet's office.

A famous-cat name does two jobs at once: it sounds good called across the kitchen, and it carries a wink for anyone who gets the reference. Some of these felines were ink and animation cells; some were real animals with payrolls, passports, and obituaries in national papers. Below, the famous cats worth naming a kitten after, grouped by where they got famous. If none quite lands, run a few past the cat name generator or thumb through contenders on Cat Name Tinder until one clicks.

The cartoon icons

Animated cats built the template. Felix the Cat predates sound film, he debuted in 1919 and was the first cartoon character merchandised into a global brand, his black silhouette and white face plastered on everything before Mickey Mouse existed. Tom, of Tom and Jerry, has been losing to a mouse since 1940 and won seven Academy Awards doing it. Sylvester spent decades sputtering through 'sufferin' succotash' and never once caught Tweety. These names carry slapstick energy, which suits a cat who knocks glasses off counters with intent.

Internet-famous cats

The 2010s minted a new kind of celebrity cat, ones with real birth certificates and millions of followers. Tardar Sauce, better known as Grumpy Cat, owed her permanent scowl to feline dwarfism and an underbite; that face reportedly earned her owners a small fortune before she died in 2019. Lil Bub was a perma-kitten with a genetic condition that left her tongue lolling and her bones unusual, and she raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for animal charities. Maru, a Scottish Fold from Japan, became famous for one thing: launching himself into cardboard boxes with total commitment, racking up hundreds of millions of YouTube views. Nala Cat, a cross-eyed Siamese-tabby rescue, holds a Guinness record for most Instagram followers of an animal.

What makes these names land is that each one is shorthand for a specific bit. Call a perpetually unimpressed cat Tardar Sauce and the joke writes itself. A cat who treats every Amazon delivery box as a sacred duty earns Maru without trying. The internet famous-cat era proved that personality, not pedigree, makes a star, so these names suit a rescue or a barn cat just as well as a show-line Birman.

Real-world celebrity and political cats

Some cats hold actual titles. Larry has been Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office at 10 Downing Street since 2011, outlasting five prime ministers while doing a frankly mediocre job on the rodents. Socks was the Clinton family's black-and-white cat, the first pet to have White House staff field his fan mail in the 1990s. Going further back, the title of Chief Mouser has been held by a string of cats, including Wilberforce, who served four prime ministers across the 1970s and 80s. These names suit a cat with self-importance to spare, the kind who supervises your every move from a windowsill. A black cat with political ambitions could just as easily wear a sleeker name like Shadow or Jet.

Movie and TV cats

Screen cats lean spooky, sly, or villainous, which is half their charm. Salem, the wisecracking black cat of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, was a warlock sentenced to a hundred years as a cat for trying to take over the world, a backstory that makes the name irresistible for any black cat with attitude. Crookshanks is Hermione's half-Kneazle in Harry Potter, ginger and squashed-faced and far smarter than he lets on. Mr. Bigglesworth, Dr. Evil's hairless Sphynx in Austin Powers, gets his comedy from the fact that he was a fluffy Persian until a cryogenic mishap. Bombay, Sassy, and Duchess round out the screen roster, with Sassy the sharp-tongued Himalayan from Homeward Bound earning her name with every line.

The trick with a famous-cat name is matching the cat to the legend, not forcing it. A lazy orange tom genuinely is a Garfield. A box-obsessed lunatic is a Maru whether you planned it or not. If your kitten hasn't shown you who they are yet, give it a week, the name usually announces itself, and the famous cats above give you a deep bench of references to draw from when it does.