When I got my cat, I called her many things. Sometimes I even called her by her actual name, but mostly not.
I’ve decided to document this interesting, and ongoing, change in nicknames for my cat. This will possibly lower your opinion of my intelligence. Well, to this, as with many situations in life, there is an XKCD.
I also should mention my attitude towards names.
In lore, names are an extremely powerful thing. Lots of magic has to do with knowing the True Name of someone, or some thing. The Name of the Wind, Rumpelstiltskin, The Hobbit, The Dresden Files; the list goes on and on. I employed this interesting trope in my second novel, Trook Hunters, and was excited at the results it yielded.
More on True Names on Wikipedia here.
So, over the years, I’ve practiced up on learning the True Names of things. Seems silly, but I have an astonishing rate of being able to call the neighbourhood cats to me. It’s very rare that cats are actually named their true name, but I’ve found at least one case of this being true. With all the others, I pick a name and try it out, and keep on trying until I say one the cat likes. Silly, I know, but hey, it works.
The cats in my neighbourhood are named: Brickhouse, Shy One, Handsome (RIP), Tiramisu (Aaron named that one), Grey Cat (not actually his true name, I’m still trying to find that one- Grey Cat is the one he responds to most- he’s still pretty ferral), Houdini (actual name), Sofie (that’s her actual name; I can’t figure out her True Name though, she responds to anything, is super affectionate), and Nice Cat. I’m still trying to broach several strays near my new apartment; the man downstairs feeds them, but they are feral and scared, and hard to observe.
I like naming things. When writing, I spend an inordinate amount of time on names.
So, with all that in mind, I give you the evolution of cat nicknames for my cat.
Cat: Echo
Nicknames, in the order in which they were coined and used:
Roo
Brew
Brew Bean
Big Roo
Big Strange Roo
Roo Bean
Smittens
Cat Butt
Big Cat Butt
Cute Boot
Muffin
Muffin Bean
Muffin Butt
Fluffin
Fluffin Butt
…And this week, I levelled up: a four syllable cat nickname.
Dunder Mufflin.
(I’ve been getting into “The Office”.)
So, that’s it so far. We’ve had her for one year.
No doubt there will be more.
Bonus pic.
Thanks for reading.
Heidi out.
H.G. Bells 
