Cute Cat Names

40 hand-picked cute cat names from the Name Vault — plus how to make one stick.

How to Pick One

Picture a lean eight-kilo adult rather than the kitten in front of you, because kittens stop being kitten-sized inside a year. Button, Bean, Pip, Dot, Bumble and Cricket all describe smallness, and on a grown cat the mismatch becomes the joke rather than the description, which some owners enjoy and others quietly regret. The names that carry through are the ones about texture, flavour or colour rather than size: Mochi, Truffle, Cocoa, Hazel, Miso, Honey and Nori all work as well on a heavy adult as on a kitten. Dumpling and Biscuit improve with weight. Boba, Momo, Lulu, Yuzu and Kiwi are the phonetically strongest group here, because two syllables ending in a bright vowel gets the fastest response from across a room. Whatever you land on, keep clear of anything that rhymes with a word you use to stop the cat doing something.

FAQ

How do I choose the right cute cat name?

Say your top three out loud at feeding time — the one that feels natural to call across a room is the winner. Two-syllable names ending in a bright vowel get the fastest response.

Will a cute kitten name still suit a full-grown cat?

Some will not, and it is worth picturing the adult first. Names that mean tiny, like Pip, Button, Bean and Bitsy, stop matching within a year, though many owners find the contrast funny rather than awkward. Names drawn from food, texture or colour, such as Mochi, Truffle, Cocoa and Marshmallow, keep working at any size. Cats themselves are indifferent either way.

Are cute names harder for a cat to learn?

No. What affects learning is length and consistency, not tone. Short names of one or two syllables, especially ones ending in an open vowel sound, cut through household noise best, which puts Lulu, Momo, Boba and Kiwi among the easiest on this list. Longer ones like Marshmallow and Jellybean work fine too, because you will shorten them naturally within a fortnight.

More From the Vault