Non-traditional names for pet cats, from Meredith Grey to Pot Roast
Everyone wants their pet to have a cool name, but the reality is that some pet names are more popular than others.
According to Pet Circle, the most popular cat names in Australia for 2023 were:
- Luna
- Milo
- Coco
- Leo
- Loki
- Mochi
- Willow
- Lulu
- Simba
- Charlie
Keep reading to discover some less traditional cat names that break away from common pet naming conventions.
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Pot Roast
Pot Roast was one of the most beloved pets on TikTok (with one of the most unusual names) for a long time.
Originally her owner, an American woman who goes by 'Pot Roast's mom' online, was going to name this bedraggled feline Concrete, but she struggled to spell it so settled on Pot Roast after the "Caucasian middle class dish" of the same name.
The sweet but scruffy cat racked up a whopping 930,000 followers before she passed in 2022.
Faucet
After losing Pot Roast, her owner adopted more cats and gave them equally strange and delightful names.
This sweet ragdoll was named Faucet and sometimes went by the nickname 'Sauce'. Sadly, Faucet died suddenly in 2024.
Coupon
Coupon is another one of Pot Roast's Mom's cats, who also goes by 'Soup' as a hilarious nickname.
Also a ragdoll, Coupon was very close with Faucet and they featured in hundreds of videos on their owner's social media pages.
Meredith Grey
Where better to start the exploration of unusual cat names than with Taylor Swift?
The Fortnight singer is well-known for naming her pets after film and TV characters, starting with Meredith Grey, who she adopted in 2011.
Named after the main character in Grey's Anatomy, played by Ellen Pompeo, the cute Scottish fold made a cameo in Deadpool 2 (kind of), when Ryan Reynolds – who is friends with Swift – wore a t-shirt featuring Meredith and her sister.
Olivia Benson
Meredith's sister is also named after a famous TV character; Olivia Benson, named for the female lead played by Mariska Hargitay on Law & Order: SVU.
Olivia Benson joined the Swift household in 2014 and also starred in the music video for the singer's 2019 track ME!
More recently, the unusual cat name trend came full circle when actress Hargitay named her own new cat Karma after one of the songs on Swift's Midnights album.
Swift also has a third cat named Benjamin Button, but his name doesn't seem quite as uncommon.
Tardar Sauce, AKA Grumpy Cat
You may know her as Grumpy Cat, but this viral feline's real name was actually Tardar Sauce. And no, that's not a typo; her name was Tardar Sauce, not tartar sauce like the actual condiment.
Tardar Sauce, who had a form of dwarfism, rose to fame in 2012 when her owner's brother posted a snap of the grumpy little feline on Reddit, where it quickly gained traction as a new internet meme.
In the years that followed, she became an internet personality in her own right and appeared on Good Morning America, American Idol and more.
Tardar Sauce sadly passed in 2019.
Eye In The Dark
Another celebrity who opted to give his cat an unusual name is The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus.
He adopted his black cat 'Eye In The Dark' for his son Mingus, who was five at the time, and named the feline after the only part of him that was visible when the lights were off at night.
Reedus would even take Eye In The Dark on the road with him while promoting his acting projects.
"He comes everywhere with me," Reedus told Us Weekly in 2017. "He doesn't like to be left alone. He racks up a major room service bill."
Eye In The Dark died in 2022.
Tuxedo Stan
Tuxedo Stan sounds like a very official name, which makes sense given this feline tried to run for mayor of Halifax in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia in 2012.
He led 'The Tuxedo Party of Canada', which was formed by a group of locals who wanted to raise awareness of the growing feral cat population.
Tuxedo Stan couldn't officially run for mayor because he didn't have a birth certificate, but he still gained heaps of attention and was even endorsed by Ellen DeGeneres and Anderson Cooper.
Though he didn't win the election, the Halifax Regional Council gave the SPCA $40,000 (approx. $59,657 AUD) for a new vet clinic to address the feral cat problem.
Tuxedo Stan sadly died in 2013.
Gandalf
When Kat Newquist started a TikTok page, she probably didn't expect her cats to become more famous than her.
The most famous has to be Gandalf, who is a girl despite being named after the male wizard from Lord of the Rings, and is best known for her love of licking graham crackers.
Kat has over 1.7 million followers on TikTok, most of whom agree Gandalf's name is brilliant and suits her very well.
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