🐈 10 Famous Cats and the Stories Behind Their Very Human Names

Cats have a long history of acquiring names that seem suspiciously human. There are cats named George. Cats named Walter. Cats named Susan. And somewhere, a cat named Kevin is currently knocking a glass of water onto someone's computer while maintaining direct eye contact.

But some cat names become so famous that they stop belonging to just one feline. Garfield. Felix. Salem. Simba. Say the name and chances are you can picture the cat. What we wanted to know was: Why those names?

As it turns out, the stories are fantastic.

One famous cat was named after his creator's cantankerous grandfather. Another has a name that literally means "lion." One was named after a place synonymous with witchcraft. And one of the most famous cartoon cats of all time bears a name that may essentially be an elaborate joke about... being a cat.

So, from ancient Latin to 18th-century literature to a certain lasagna-loving orange tabby, here are the fascinating stories behind 10 of the most famous cat names ever.

🧡 1. Garfield — The Cat Named After a Cantankerous Grandpa

Famous for: Garfield the comic strip
Name origin: English surname
Meaning: From an English place name meaning "field of spears"

In naming Garfield, cartoonist Jim Davis looked to his own family.

When Davis created his famously lazy, lasagna-loving orange cat, he named him after his grandfather, James Garfield Davis, a man he remembered as large, stern and intimidating—but soft-hearted underneath. Sound like anyone we know?

Garfield himself was also inspired by the many cats Davis encountered growing up on an Indiana farm. The result was an oddly human feline who hates Mondays, loves food, torments the dog, manipulates his owner and approaches exercise as though it were a human-rights violation.

When the comic strip debuted in 1978, Garfield was an ordinary surname attached to an extraordinary cat. Today, say "Garfield" and almost nobody thinks of a field—or even President James A. Garfield.

They think of a cynical orange cat. Not bad for Grandpa Davis's namesake.

✨ Fun Fact: Jim Davis has described his grandfather as stern on the outside but kindhearted underneath—the same basic contradiction he built into Garfield.

🖤 2. Felix — The Lucky Black Cat

Famous for: Felix the Cat
Name origin: Latin
Meaning: "Lucky, fortunate, successful"

Long before Mickey Mouse whistled his way onto a steamboat, there was Felix. The black cartoon cat first appeared in 1919, initially under the considerably less memorable name Master Tom. Soon afterward he became Felix—and one of animation's first international superstars.

Felix comes directly from Latin felix, meaning "lucky, fortunate." One account of the character's naming says "Felix" was suggested as a play on the idea of good fortune—a particularly cheeky choice for a black cat, an animal surrounded for centuries by competing superstitions about good and bad luck.

There are conflicting accounts of precisely who chose the name, but the linguistic joke survives either way. More than a century later, Felix remains a perfectly respectable human name—and perhaps the most appropriately named cartoon cat in history.

✨ Fun Fact: Felix began life as Master Tom in 1919. The name Felix didn't appear until his third film.

🐭 3. Tom — The Cat Who Is Basically Named "Male Cat"

Famous for: Tom and Jerry
Name origin: Aramaic, through Thomas
Meaning: "Twin"

Poor Tom. For more than 80 years, he has been flattened, exploded, electrocuted, frozen, sliced, launched through walls and routinely humiliated by a mouse approximately one-tenth his size. And after all that, he has one more indignity to suffer:

His name isn't terribly original.

Tom is the familiar form of Thomas, from the Aramaic t'oma, meaning "twin." But long before Tom and Jerry debuted in 1940, tom had also become the standard English word for an adult male cat. The expression is often connected with an anonymous 1760 book, The Life and Adventures of a Cat, whose feline protagonist was named Tom. "Tom cat" subsequently became established as a term for a male cat.

So when MGM eventually gave its gray cartoon cat the name Tom, they were essentially calling him... drum roll, please.... Cat.

Or perhaps Mr. Male Cat, if we're being formal. Somehow, it works.

✨ Fun Fact: Tom wasn't originally Tom at all. In the duo's 1940 debut, Puss Gets the Boot, he was called Jasper.

😸 4. Cheshire — The Cat Who Was a Grin Before He Was a Cat

Famous for: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Name origin: Cheshire, England
Meaning: A geographic name referring to the English county of Cheshire

"We're all mad here."

Few fictional cats have accomplished more with less actual cat. Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat appears and disappears at will, speaks almost entirely in riddles, and occasionally leaves nothing behind but his enormous grin. He is strange, philosophical, mildly unsettling and completely unforgettable.

But Carroll didn't invent the expression.

People were talking about "grinning like a Cheshire cat" before Alice's Adventures in Wonderland appeared in 1865. Exactly why remains wonderfully uncertain. One theory points to cheeses once molded into the shape of grinning cats; another to painted lions on Cheshire inn signs that looked more feline than fierce.

Carroll did something better than inventing the phrase: he made the cat real. He took an odd English expression and apparently thought, in effect, Well, what if there actually were a Cheshire Cat?

And literature got one of its greatest felines.

✨ Fun Fact: The phrase "grinning like a Cheshire cat" appeared in print decades before Alice ever fell down the rabbit hole.

🐦 5. Sylvester — The Wild Cat Who Can't Catch a Bird

Famous for: Looney Tunes
Name origin: Latin
Meaning: "Of the forest; wild, woodland"

"Sufferin' succotash!" — Sylvester has spent the better part of a century pursuing one tiny yellow bird with a success rate that should probably have prompted a career change.

But his name is far cleverer than it initially appears.

Sylvester comes from Latin silvester, meaning "of the forest" or "woodland", and is related to Latin silva, "forest." But the cartoon name also plays beautifully against the zoological name Felis silvestris, the European wildcat. In other words, calling a cat Sylvester is a little like calling a dog Canine—only much more elegant.

The joke gets even better: when Sylvester first appeared with Tweety, he was called Thomas, probably referencing the familiar tomcat. He didn't receive the name Sylvester until later. So this cat went from being named essentially "male cat" to being named something awfully close to "wild cat."

Subtle, gentlemen.

✨ Fun Fact: Sylvester's full cartoon name is gloriously ridiculous: Sylvester J. Pussycat Sr.

🎀 6. Marie — Because Every Aristocratic French Kitten Needs a Proper Name

Famous for: Disney's The Aristocats
Name origin: French form of Mary
Meaning: Ancient and debated; meaning "beloved"

White fur. Pink bow. Perfect posture. And absolutely no shortage of opinions.

Marie is the tiny scene-stealer of Disney's 1970 film The Aristocats, the only girl among Duchess's three kittens and the one most determined to behave like a proper lady—even while reminding her brothers that ladies don't start fights... but they can finish them.

Her name couldn't be more perfectly French.

Marie, the French form of Mary, is one of Europe's most enduring feminine names, ultimately descending from the ancient Hebrew Miryam. Its original meaning remains debated, with scholars proposing several possibilities over the centuries.

But Disney's choice wasn't random. Marie was reportedly named for Marie Antoinette, while her brothers were given equally cultured French names: artistic Toulouse and musical Berlioz.

Of course they were. These aren't merely cats. They're Aristocats.

✨ Fun Fact: Marie's brothers are named Toulouse and Berlioz, referencing French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and composer Hector Berlioz.

🧡 7. Morris — The Shelter Cat Who Became a Celebrity

Famous for: 9Lives cat food
Name origin: English/French form related to Maurice
Meaning: Ultimately from Latin Mauritius, traditionally "Moorish" or "from Mauretania"

If you watched television in the 1970s, there was a decent chance you knew Morris. The famously finicky orange tabby became the face of 9Lives cat food—and one of advertising's biggest animal celebrities. But here's the part we love most: Morris was a rescue.

The original cat was discovered at the Humane Society in Hinsdale, Illinois, in 1968 by animal trainer Bob Martwick. At his audition, Morris reportedly charmed the advertising team so completely that an art director compared him to Clark Gable.

Soon, this former shelter cat was starring in national commercials as the world's most discerning feline food critic. His wonderfully ordinary human name only made the joke better. Morris is related to Maurice, ultimately from Latin Mauritius. It sounds dignified, slightly fussy, and perhaps just a tiny bit self-important.

In other words: perfect.

✨ Fun Fact: Morris became such a celebrity that he even ran for President—twice.

🧙 8. Salem — The Cat Named for America's Most Famous Witch Town

Famous for: Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Name origin: Hebrew/place-name
Meaning: Associated with "peace"

If ever there were a cat whose name came with a backstory, it's Salem Saberhagen.

Black cat? Check.

Lives with witches? Check.

Named after Salem, Massachusetts, home of the infamous 1692 witch trials?

We see what you did there.

Salem itself has much older roots. The place-name is traditionally connected with the Hebrew shalom, meaning "peace." Which makes it spectacularly ironic in the case of Salem Saberhagen. Because peaceful he is not.

In the beloved 1990s television version of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Salem is a former warlock sentenced to live as a cat after plotting to take over the world. Stripped of his magical powers but apparently not his ego, he spends his feline years offering Sabrina sarcastic commentary and periodically revisiting his dreams of domination.

Frankly, we've met cats with less plausible resumes.

✨ Fun Fact: Salem first appeared with Sabrina in an Archie comic in 1962, decades before the sitcom made the wisecracking black-cat version famous.

🌙 9. Luna — The Moon Cat

Famous for: Sailor Moon
Name origin: Latin
Meaning: "Moon"

If you know a cat named Luna, you're probably not alone. The name seems almost custom-designed for a mysterious feline prowling around the house at 2:00 a.m. But long before Luna became a favorite pet name, she belonged to the heavens.

Luna is literally the Latin word for "moon" and the name of the Roman goddess who personified it. Which makes it perfect for Sailor Moon.

Luna is the magical black cat who discovers Usagi Tsukino and helps awaken her identity as Sailor Moon. Intelligent, protective and frequently exasperated by her human companion, Luna serves as adviser, mentor and occasional feline voice of reason.

The celestial naming continues with other cats in the series, including Artemis, named for the Greek goddess associated with the moon, and their daughter Diana, named for the Roman lunar goddess.

That's not random naming. That's a system.

✨ Fun Fact: Luna, Artemis and Diana form an entire little family of cats whose names are drawn from Greco-Roman mythology and the moon.

🦁 10. Simba — The Lion Named... Lion

Famous for: Disney's The Lion King
Name origin: Swahili
Meaning: "Lion"

Sometimes the greatest naming story is the simplest. Simba means "lion" in Swahili. That's it. Disney named the lion Lion.

And somehow, instead of sounding obvious, it became one of the most recognizable character names in movie history.

When The Lion King arrived in 1994, audiences met Simba as an exuberant cub who "just can't wait to be king." Then comes loss, exile, Timon and Pumbaa, an impressive amount of insect eating, and finally the return home to reclaim his place in the Circle of Life.

The name couldn't suit him better. Simba doesn't merely happen to be a lion; learning what it means to be the lion he was born to become is the entire story. And because most English-speaking audiences didn't know the Swahili translation, the name managed to sound exotic, warm and heroic while hiding its literal meaning in plain sight.

Hakuna matata, indeed.

✨ Fun Fact: Simba doesn't mean "king," as it's sometimes claimed online. It quite literally means "lion."

🐾 The Last Meow

What makes a great cat name? Apparently, anything.

It can come from an ancient Roman word for luck, an English county, a French queen, a Massachusetts town, a creator's grumpy grandfather—or simply the Swahili word for the animal standing right in front of you.

And maybe that's why naming cats is so much fun.

We give them serious human names and then watch Walter climb into a cardboard box. We name them after gods and goddesses and then find Luna drinking from the faucet. We call a cat Felix, "the lucky one," and hope he doesn't immediately knock our favorite vase onto the floor.

But every once in a while, the right cat gets exactly the right name—and the two become inseparable.

Garfield. Felix. Tom. Sylvester. Salem. Simba.

At this point, it's hard to imagine any of them being called anything else.

Now we want to know: What's the best cat name you've ever heard? 🐈  Tell us in the comments! 👇 We love hearing from you!