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Too nerdy

Too nerdy

nerdy_cat_1735If you’re anything like me, you’re confused over the blog title above.

Too nerdy? Too nerdy? That’s like “too happy” or “too cupcake” or “too feline.” Too nerdy?

I know. I know. Calm down. Love’s in need of love today at Tabby’s Place – and, I’m afraid, nerdy’s in need of nerdy.

Hailey is all in favor of a Phantom Of The Opera litter.
Hailey is all in favor of a Phantom Of The Opera litter.

As we’ve discussed on these vaunted pages before, the naming of cats is a difficult matter. Nine years into Tabby’s Place, we’ve gone far afield of “creativity” and well into the realm of “absurdity.” We’ve had a kitten named Rutabaga. We’ve had an crew named after obscure spices (Zedoary, anyone?). We’ve had a Shmoldie. We have a Squidward.

And that’s where the nerdy comes in.

Recently, it was decreed by a certain Powerful Person (no, not the Burger King – a certain Executive Director we’ll just refer to as Ronathan) that it would be too nerdy to name cats after characters in Game of Thrones.

These Ikes share more than a name. No, not just a striking resemblance: an impressive military record.
These Ikes share more than a name. No, not just a striking resemblance: an impressive military record.

This is the same man who once named a cat Ike because we’d all just been discussing Eisenhower.
This is the same man who named the famous Linda “Linda” because he was looking at a tube of antibiotic cream called clindamycin.

I think we’ve established that there’s no such thing as too nerdy for Tabby’s Place.

And that’s a good thing.

Brussel...and Sprout. Somebody stop us.
Brussel...and Sprout. Somebody stop us.

Still, since he’s the man with the master plan (who has the skills to pay the bills), Ronathan was victorious. Even though it would have been awesome. Even after we promised only to use names of characters who don’t die. (That’s also why you won’t be seeing a King Lear litter anytime soon. And, despite my pleas, the Les Miserables litter isn’t looking so good either. Something about all that tuberculosis and generalized miserabla-ness doesn’t leave a lot of healthy happy characters from whom to choose, even if they do have awesome names like Gavroche and get to sing “Drink with meeee…” But I digress.)

So, Felis Catus folk, hip and nerdy alike, we need you: tell us your ideas for name themes. We’re desperate enough that we’re considering “types of cake” for our next litter (picture it now: Pound, Marble, Tea, Cheese, Germanchocolate, Glutenfree…yeah, we need your help).

Save us from our own nerdiness. Save the kittens.

For the love of Gavroche.

 

Photo credits: Nerdycat: Unknown internet person. Hailey and Ike #1: Volunteer Jessica. Ike #2: Unknown 1940s internet person. Brussel & Sprout: staffer Jane.

22 thoughts on “Too nerdy

  1. How about Mary Poppins names? Since, as we know, kittens are like Mary ~ “practically perfect in every way”

    Or Sound of Music kittens? Or Mama Mia kittens? The (happy) musical selections are endless…

  2. What about using all the names used for 19 Kids and Counting? Maybe starting naming the Kittens after the Tabby’s Place volunteers? Like maybe you could start with the name, JOYCE.

  3. (nothing is as cute as a cat is a hat and glasses!!!!) What’s wrong with cake?!!! How about sports figures – in the summer we can use baseball (Mantle, Maris, Berra, Jeter, Swisher, Babe…) and so on!

  4. I’ve always liked the names from the Mutts cartoon. Mooch, Earl, Doozie, Jules, Schnelly and my personal favorite…Schtinky Puddin’! I agree wholeheartedly with the Les Miz names but I can see that they might conjure up too much miserableness. Another thought… Linus, Lucy, Charlie, Sallie, Snoopy…many Peanuts characters would make cute cat names.

  5. I don’t have any suggestions for names but I do have a couple suggestions for ways to narrow down the possibilities: take into consideration the # of kittens in the litter & what each kitten looks like

  6. How about characters from Charles Dickens. Ebenezer, anyone? ; ) Seriously though…Little Dorritt, Nell, Copperfield, Estella, Pip,…holy moly, they all sound like kitty names.

  7. How about cute sounding foreign language names with cute meanings, for instance we have a kitten we just fostered name Ubatz, which she earned because of her actions. Ubatz is Italian for crazy and it fits her to a “T”.

  8. You could start at the beginning of the alphabet – the “A” litter, the “B” litter, etc. Then pick all names that begin witH “A”, etc.

  9. Famous designers: Vera (Wang), Coco (Chanel), (Christian) Dior, (Tommy) Hilfiger, Calvin (Klein), Yves (St. Laurent), (Gorgio) Armani, Donatella (Versace), so many more.

  10. Wonderful (happy) character list from A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Puck (Robin Goodfellow), Oberon, Titania, Demetrius, Hermia, Helena, Theseus, Hippolyta, Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mustardseed, Mote, Bottom, Quince, Flute, Snout.

  11. Playwrights: Wendy (Wasserstein), Genet, Miller, Moliere, O’Neill, Albee, Beckett, Pirandello, Aeschylus, Chekhov, Euripides, Ibsen (short on females).

  12. In agreement that there is no such thing as too nerdy I offer forth the following names:
    Arthur
    Ford
    Zaphod
    Beeblebrox
    Marvin
    Trillian
    and my personal favorite Slartibartfast!
    All from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

  13. Since we don’t name cats after characters who die, how about naming them after characters who never die? Let’s have some Twilight kitties – Bella, Edward, Jacob, Emmitt, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice, Esme 🙂 I’d love to see even a Dr Cullen hehehe. We could also do Damon & Stefan (the brothers from Vampire Diaries). The actor who plays Damon is Ian Somerhalder and he’s huge into animal rescue. Oohh, how about an Ian?

    As a backup, I have to admit I like the designer names that kalteiss posted.

  14. Lads and ladies: these are all excellent. I’m compiling a list including them all – watch for your names on future felines. (Crucial note: remember Ronathan has veto power. That said, Michael: as far as it depends upon me, there WILL be a Slartibartfast in our cats’ future.)

    @Beensie – LOVE these ideas, especially The Sound of Music. 🙂
    @jb – I appreciate the subtle request. 😉 I’ll see what I can do!
    @mina – Word! 🙂
    @Karen – I love it – although with both Yankees and Phillies devotees on the staff, this one could get ugly…
    @SusanM – Oh gosh yes! It’s hard to believe we haven’t done these yet. Shtinky Puddin’!! And the Peanuts kids! (I can think of a few current contenders for Pigpen…)
    @Lynnwebb – Very important considerations, yes!
    @jbh – Ooh, this opens up a very lavish supply. They do seem custom made for cats – was Dickens an ailurophile?
    @CCL – GREAT idea. Popoki was an instance of this, but we need more. I love the name Ubatz.
    @sck76 and @E – If we learned one thing on Sesame Street, it’s that letters will never let us down. Great ideas.
    @Kalteiss – Righteous idea. Especially given all the buzz over Karl Lagerfeld’s very-doted-upon kitten (2 maids!), this is meant to be. Stay tuned.
    @Michael – Love love LOVE these.
    @Nik – We did “obscure Twilight characters” a few summers ago (Aro, McKenna and Renata), and we’ve snuck in main characters when Ronathan wasn’t looking (remember Esme?). Damon and Stefan are great names – Ian too.

  15. You’re right, I do remember the obscure Twilight character names and Esme! What about names from Disney’s Aristocats? Marie, Toulous, Berlioz, Dutchess, and my personal favorite Thomas O’Malley for whom one of my kitties is named after 🙂

    You could also do Roquefort (after the mouse) and then all the crazy jazz-playing kitties.

  16. Great ideas here! I’m dating myself, but for the next round of black kitties I suggest the vampires, witches and creepy cast of the original Dark Shadows… Barnabas, Quentin, Angelique, Josette, Willie Lomas …. there’s a bunch.

    1. How’s this I reply to myself… another idea (might have been done tho) Cars. We have patients at our veterinary office – Mercedes, Porsche, Lexus, Beemer, Ford. I’m sure others would be good too.

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