Sibling Cat Names: 292 Ideas for Brothers, Sisters and Partners in Crime

Naming a cat is hard. Naming two at the same time is harder! The names need to go well together (especially when introducing them to someone…we all want people to say “Awwww!” as soon as they hear them) but they also need to work separately, since half of the time you’re going to be yelling for one of them, not both.

I am (obviously) partial to pop culture names. Our rescue brother and sister cats are Thelma and Louis, named for the movie Thelma & Louise because they were found in a car, though the rescue had them down as Otis and Ollie. Getting to Thelma and Louis took a few rounds. Ella and Louis, Nina and Louis… Simon and Ella was in there too…I would say it took us about 2-3 months to finally settle on Thelma and Louis, and I’m so glad we took the time to find the names that worked for them!

The reason it takes so long is there are so many darn cute options! And it seems like everyone feels the same way. I went through about 50 different Reddit threads (and about 400 comments) about naming siblings and bonded pairs. Below is everything they suggested, plus a lot of my own, divided up into categories of pop culture pairs, foods, puns/wordplay, famous siblings, and more traditional pairings.

The pair everybody suggests

By a landslide, Bonnie & Clyde was the most commonly suggested pair in the threads I read. It showed up time after time, and several people stated that they’d in fact already named their sibling cats Bonnie and Clyde. Yin & Yang was a distant runner-up, appearing in eight different threads. Several other pairs showed up more than once: Thelma & Louise, Hansel & Gretel, and (from Peanuts) Lucy & Linus.

However, my favorites were the actual cat names mentioned: a pair of bonded barn cats named Mork and Mindy, a couple of cats that the family’s kids named Mario and Luigi, and an adopted sister and brother now known as Max and Ruby. And can’t Spaghetti and Meatball just melt your heart?! Those were the names two black cats already had when they were adopted. Other actual cat pairs included two different sets of orange brothers, one called Crunch and Munch and another known as Crimson and Clover. And Henry and Henrietta, the cats one person grew up with!

As for Bonnie and Clyde, one person who gave the names to a sibling pair went on to tell us how long the two of them lived.

I named a sibling pair that, and the names luckily suited them. Bonnie left us at 16, Clyde at 20.

— via Reddit.com

The burning question: Can sibling cats be named after a couple?

I saw several comments about romantic couple names, like Ross & Rachel or Johnny & June. And while the cats won’t care, some people don’t like the idea of naming a brother and sister after a romantic couple (especially with Romeo & Juliet!). One person was quite adamant about it.

Siblings shouldn’t be named after famous couples. Just my two cents.

— via Reddit.com

I can see their point, but personally I wouldn’t rule a name out on that basis. (I mean, thankfully our brother and sister pair are fixed, but let’s just say there was a point in time it would have been a problem if they weren’t!). While you might not want to name them after a romantic duo, there are tons of pairs who are not in a romantic relationship: friends, partners, siblings (both real and fictional). Like our Thelma & Louise (best friends to the end!), Luke & Leia, Bart & Lisa, Elsa & Anna, Frasier & Niles, Venus & Serena, Dipper & Mabel, Wednesday & Pugsley…

Pop culture duos

Movie pairs are where I’d start, since that’s where we ended up. Other duos include Butch & Sundance, Harry & Sally, Romy & Michele, Wayne & Garth, Bill & Ted and Timon & Pumbaa.

From TV, some possibilities are Lucy & Ethel, Laverne & Shirley, Bert & Ernie, Mulder & Scully and Statler & Waldorf (two old men who sit in the balcony during The Muppet Show and heckle the acts).

From the world of music: Simon & Garfunkel, Sonny & Cher, Hall & Oates, Johnny & June, and Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (they actually made an album together titled Ella and Louis). I also toyed with the idea of Ella & Louis for my cats but ended up going with Thelma and Louis.

Also, you don’t have to worry about matching up the gender. My cats are a boy and a girl, and Thelma and Louise were both women. Another poster in these threads learned that lesson by accident when they named their brother and sister after the Wonder Twins.

Jayna and Zan ( The Wonder twins) That’s what I named my siblings only to find out later that my little Zan is also a female & not a male, so now she’s Zanny or Zana. Wonder twin powers activate….

— via Reddit.com

Food pairs and wordplay

Food items provide an inexhaustible source of pair names, such as Mac & Cheese, Salt & Pepper, PB & J, Chips & Salsa, Biscuits & Gravy, Milk & Cookies. There are two black cats in one of these threads named Spaghetti and Meatball. One poster apologized for suggesting Hamburger and Cheeseburger.

Many names are suggested because they are fun to say, including Knick & Knack, Pip & Squeak, Frick & Frack, Trip & Fall, Patches & Stitches. One person knew someone with a calmer cat named Muffin and a more aggressive one named Tuffin.

My favorite was Pete & Repeat. This is according to a person who once named a whole litter of puppies this way!

Pete and Repeat. Named a litter of pups once Pete, Repeat, Me Too, Also, Ditto and Etcetera.

— via Reddit.com

Names that match without being a set

I often see threads asking for names that go together, but are not an immediately recognizable pair. Picking names that begin with the same letter is a popular option. One family named one of their kittens River and was looking for an R name to go with it. One person has a pair named Mikou and Koumi (essentially switching the syllables around), and another had Obie and Eibo. Some people pick names that are related in some way, like two flowers, two trees, or two gemstones (Opal & Onyx).

Mythology is a popular theme. One person named a litter of five Aphrodite, Artemis, Apollo, Hera, and Hades (they already had cats named Zeus and Athena). Apollo & Artemis are siblings (actually twins) in Greek mythology, so they’d be appropriate for a brother and sister. Another person suggested Freyja & Freyr, a sister and brother in Norse mythology. Fun fact: in Norse mythology Freyja’s chariot was pulled by two cats!

The Name Bank

Each pair in the article has been sorted into boxes by category, and more boxes follow for brother and brother, sister and sister, brother and sister, real-life sibling pairs, and book and comic pairs. For some of these pairs, I’ve added a brief note on where they’re from.

For two sisters, plants and gemstones do a lot of the work.

For a brother and a sister, names that share a first letter are an easy match.

If your cats are real siblings, you can borrow from real siblings.

And a few pairs from books, comics and one video game.

If the names don’t stick

For myself, I went through a couple of iterations before settling on Thelma and Louis. You can always go through some trial and error. Say the names out loud to them for a few days and see if they seem to fit, and be flexible if they don’t. Lots of people in the threads gave examples of names for their pairs and then mentioned what names they actually settled on. Don’t feel bad if it’s not an instant success! One person’s two black kittens didn’t end up being called Midnight and Velvet in the long run.

We had “twin” black kittens whose original names were Midnight and Velvet. The were actually called Fat Boy and Sweet Pea after we got to know them. Loved those cats.

— via Reddit.com

Another poster mentioned using normal human names (or flower names) because of how it sounds when you’re yelling at your pet in front of other people. And that’s a good point.

I had a tendency of naming my animals human names or flower names so that […] I could shout “Ethan! Get out from behind the refrigerator!” Or “Lily! Stop licking the fence!” While on a phone call or with company just arriving.

— via Reddit.com