Cat's name 1st choice for baby?

[jcp123]

My cat is called Ellie. I love the name. Is it wrong to rename the cat/call them both the same?

[allyfe]

No. It is a lovely name. I would rename the cat though.

Would you use it as a nn or a full name? I love Eloise, with Ellie for short, but it doesn't go with our surname.

And, it could be much worse. My cats are called snuffy walden and Elvis.

[mopsyflopsy]

No, leave the cat its name. Aren't there any other names you love? Ellie is lovely but very very popular...

[thereisalightanditnevergoesout]

Same here!

The cat is 13 so I'm not going to rename him and no, out of all the other names in the world, there's not much else we agree on (not without already being somebody else's name).

So what?

[mayanna123]

But there is a difference between a name belonging to a family members (and imo that includes the cat ) and a name used by a person unrelated to your family.

I personally couldn't do it, but if you're so set on the name, go ahead. But you did ask for our opinions.

Ellie is nice but indeed very widely used already. Not sure if that might bother you.

[thereisalightanditnevergoesout]

mayanna123 - the other name we like is that of my DH's nephew so if we have that DS will have same first name, same surname. DH's nephew is likely to be around much longer than our cat.

But really, only relatively few people know the names of your pets - unless you say this is my DC - s/he shares her/his name with the cat, who will know? Even close family (DH's side wouldn't have a clue what our cat is called).

jcp123 - I did think it was a problem initially and discounted the name, but 6 months on and still no nearer to a decision, it's a contender. If you like Ellie, don't exclude it from you list just because of your cat. By the time your DD is born you may have something else in mind - who knows.

[MamaLazarou]

Can you really not think of another name you like? Out of all the millions of names in the world?

[Naetha]

We were seriously considering doing this. One of our cats is called Max, and was my favourite name for DS. The cat is 10 years old, and very used to his name.

We decided that it wouldn't be fair on the cat to rename him, and not really fair on DS to say that he stole the cat's name. We called DS Ben (which I love, and I can't imagine him being called anything else) and Max is still Max.

The other day, I shouted at Ben for making a mess, but said Max instead of Ben - the cat looked absolutely terrified (he was asleep in his bed at the time), and it just reinforced the fact that it wouldn't have been fair to rename him. Just because he's a cat, doesn't mean he's not a member of your family.

Also speaking as an Ellie, there's plenty of other nice names out there. Ellie is very common - I always whip around when shopping or in the park because someone is calling my name.

[gaelicsheep]

Oh this is so funny. We so nearly did this, but in the end we thought of another name for DD. It was hard to find one though - I'm very fussy!

The moral? Don't ever give a cat a human name. Stick to Tiddles.

[Starberries]

I have a favourite guilty pleasure name that I wanted to use for my firstborn son...DP hated it, so we used it on the cat. Now preg with firstborn son...out of the question!

[rachel234]

There must be another name you love (or love more?) than the names of your cat or nephew - I personally couldn't do it. It doesn't seem fair on the cat (or nephew) - and the whole point of naming someone/something is to identify it.

And I'd have to agree, Ellie is indeed very common and may date more as it falls out of favour again.

[thereisalightanditnevergoesout]

I can't speak for jcp123, but, personally, I have been through a book with 40,000 names, another book of 3,000 names, the ONS site and on MN since April - not to mention many hours on nameberry and other sites.

Most names for me have been vetoed by DH.

There are 3 we both agree on and like.

One is the name of DH's nephew, one is the cat's name and the other (a more recent contender) is DS1's middle name.

Only the jcp123 will know if she feels comfortable using the same name her cat has or if it a problem for her and her partner.