Whether you’re deciding on a name for your new kitten or you’ve gone down the route of giving a rescue cat a fresh start with a new name you think would better suit them, you’ll find plenty of cat names lists online to choose from. Great names for cats can be highly objective, you might like a quirky name or a nice, themed name based on your favourite book or show, but it all depends on what you’re looking for.
Making sure you have everything ready for your new addition is no doubt essential but finding that perfect name to suit your feline friend is arguably a much bigger decision since it will stay with them forever! Keep reading to discover the people’s favourite cat names!
The latest top 10 cat names
Some classics never seem to go away, while others might be generational. Not to sound ancient but children these days might not even know why we still name our kittens Simba or Nala.
We never want to see these names fall into obscurity, and it seems the rest of the population might actually agree as they continue to cling to the best kitten names even in 2024!
The Most Popular Cat Names of 2022
If we were to look at the top 100 trending names, we might see a lot of change in the top names for cats each year depending on social trends and what movies were released. Some names might have been totally obscure before some media outlet made it popular or a celebrity named their child something quirky. Suddenly, every other pet is called North or Apple.
Names like Bella were always lingering quite high up in the rankings, but the 2007 release of Twilight gave it a boost in the popular-cat-names-for-females field. Elsa didn’t even rank in the top 50 names of 2013 but with the release of Frozen at the end of 2013, it ranked number 5 the following year!
It’s not unheard of for a new popular name to come out of nowhere but most years, the list of most popular names for cats tend to have many of the same classics crop up time and time again because, frankly, sometimes the oldies are the goodies!
The heavyweight among popular female cat names is Luna; it appears time and time again among the top 10 and rarely lower than the top 3! There are Lunas everywhere, including our social feeds where accounts like Crunchycat Luna have amassed over 600k followers based almost entirely off their little feline scrunching their nose and looking extra cute.
Luna means moon in Latin but it makes us think of the little black cat with a moon on its forehead featured in the once-popular anime, Sailor Moon.
Whether you opt for the slightly obscure or the blatantly obvious, it’s whatever scratches an itch! Naming your pet ‘Kitty’ is just as satisfying. Even Katy Perry jumped on the bandwagon but added her own punny spin by calling her cat Kitty Purry. Her beloved kitten even appeared in the music video to “I Kissed a Girl”.
Popular male cat names
Milo
Oliver
Leo
Charlie
Loki
*According to Rover.com’s list of most popular cat names.
Just as Luna continues to reign supreme among the top female kitten names, usually Oliver is the ever-popular male counterpart, but Milo takes the crown this time! Oliver is clearly a popular choice and inspired by the cat Oliver from the 1988 Disney retelling of Oliver Twist in Oliver & Company. He’s adorable, likable and it’s no wonder that almost four decades after the release of the movie, it’s still a popular name choice.
Some names might be suitable for different coloured coats - you might want to name your black kitty something a little spooky or if you have a tan kitten you may be more inclined to call him Leo like a lion!
The name Loki is often based more on a new furry friend’s personality rather than their appearance. Since 2011, when Loki first appeared in a Marvel movie, Loki has been a popular name for felines with a cheeky streak. As the trickster God, Loki is known for getting into all kinds of mischief so it’s not a shock to find it among the top 10 when so many kittens enjoy causing trouble just to get a reaction from you.
Trends come and go but it seems that many of the top 10 most common cat names tend to stick around for a while. The top places will only see a shift when a big movie or something viral shakes things up a bit. The 2011 viral video of Fenton the Labrador brought in a new generation of Fentons after everyone and their grandparents had seen the video!
Not many trends seem to be overthrowing the classics, so the old faves are still ruling the top 10. If you’re getting ready to welcome a new little chaotic kitten into your home, we’ve not just got the compilation of the top kitty names but we’ve got everything you need from food to toys and litter to help get them set up and off to the best start!