Literary Cat Names

Cats appear in literature more than almost any other animal, partly because they tend to live alongside writers (Hemingway, Twain, Murakami, Highsmith, Burroughs all kept cats and wrote about them). The names below are split between fictional cats specifically and human characters whose names have crossed over to cats.

Famous fictional cats: Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson), Crookshanks (Hermione's cat in Harry Potter), Mrs. Norris (Argus Filch's cat in Harry Potter), Behemoth (Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita), Macavity, Mistoffelees, Rum Tum Tugger, and Old Deuteronomy (T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, which became the musical Cats), Bagheera (the panther in Kipling's The Jungle Book, often borrowed for black cats), Cheshire (Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland), Dinah (also Alice in Wonderland), and the Cat in the Hat (Dr. Seuss). From The Master and Margarita specifically, Behemoth is one of the most memorable cats in 20th-century fiction: a giant black cat who walks on two legs, plays chess, and shoots a pistol.

From children's literature: Tigger (A.A. Milne), Crookshanks and Hedwig (J.K. Rowling), Snowbell (E.B. White's Stuart Little), Pinocchio's Figaro (Disney). Salem from Sabrina the Teenage Witch is one of the most-borrowed names for black cats specifically.

From Lord of the Rings, Frodo, Bilbo, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, and Smaug all work. Pippin and Merry suit a pair of kittens. From Harry Potter beyond Crookshanks: Hermione, Luna, Hedwig, Dobby, and Bellatrix all cross over.

From Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire: Khaleesi, Arya, Sansa, Cersei, Tyrion, Jon, Ned, and Daenerys are all common cat names now. Game of Thrones drove a noticeable spike in these names from 2011 onwards, with Khaleesi and Arya being the most adopted.

From Disney films: Bagheera, Mufasa, Scar, Simba, Nala, Rajah, Sherea Khan, Aslan (Narnia), Toulouse, Berlioz, and Marie (The Aristocats), and Lucifer (Cinderella). Disney cat names tend to age well and stay popular across generations.