Wednesday 15 December 2010

The Name Game

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

I think it's about time the kittens had names. Really, it's as exciting as naming your own children!

Personally, I like to give cats human names, no Fluffys and Tiggers in my household! And I like them to be meaningful to me in some way. Ava and Sofia came to me at a rather dark time in my life, and their names reflect this- Ava is from the Hebrew chava, meaning life, and Sofia from the Greek sophos meaning wisdom. Positive, affirming names designed for moving on, which is something they helped me to do just by being their lovely selves.

Theo, from the Greek theos meaning god, was just a name I liked, but it seemed appropriate- not lacking in self esteem, this cat!

Now Indigo was going to be called Rose, but when I went to visit her for the first time, it didn't suit her AT ALL- she was far too naughty for a good-girl name like Rose! But I did want a colour name. So I umm-ed and ah-ed a little, and eventually came up with the rather more lively name Indigo- and before anyone tells me it's not a people name, I do know of a little girl named Indigo!

Naming litters is more complicated in a way, more names for one thing, and for another they are only temporary, as their families will no doubt choose for themselves a perfect name. But I simply cannot go through 13 weeks or more calling a kitten 'kitten'- they must have names. So I've decided with every litter I will pick a theme- whatever takes my fancy- and the kitten names will be around this theme.

I am a big fan of the group REM, and so this litter will be named after REM songs/ names used in REM songs and will be referred to from now on as the REM litter. Their pedigree names too will be based on these names.


So with no further ado, may I introduce you to kitten 2, now called Kensey.

Kensey is taken from the REM song Old Man Kensey, from their third studio album Fables of the Reconstruction, 1985.

Just to reiterate, if you've just signed up for a kitten, and you are reading this blog, do you have to keep the names I give the kittens? Not at all. Ava, Sofia and Indigo were named Lucie, Batman and Morris respectively. You can call your kitty anything you like :)

Morris? And Batman?? Yes, both Indigo and Sofia were thought to be boys at first! And a breeder friend of mine had to tell her twin kittens new owner that they were in fact two boys, not two girls as she had originally thought... fortunately she still wanted the kittens! I have a few names in reserve for if any of mine get a late visit from the kitten sex change fairy... small kittens are notoriously difficult to sex. At least when mine start getting their point colour it will be easier for me... all the girls will be tortoiseshell.

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