Naming the Cat

Our family brought a new kitten home last week. He is a sweet little boy we picked up at the humane society. Part of the job of having a new kitten is giving it a name.

We wanted to give our cat a name that the whole family could agree on. We automatically ruled out girly sounding names since the cat is a male. We had a number of non-space-related names, but they were the minority on the list. A few of the names we considered were Fergus, Calvin, and Stormy. Fergus because he's furry, Calvin because we already have a stuffed cat named Hobbes, and Stormy because it has been very rough weather as of late.

Our list of astronomical names for the cat was much longer. We had some names of general items such as Eclipse and Comet. Then there were choices among solar system objects such as Neptune and Deimos. There are a number of great star names to consider, such as Sirius, Pollux, Betelgeuse, and Mizar. Zubenelgenubi is just fun to say but too big of a name for a kitten. Algol has a great meaning in Arabic: The Ghoul. But our cat is good natured. And Nunki is just a word that fit a cute little critter. I really liked the names Zodiac and Draco, but unfortunately they'd already been given negative associations through a serial killer and a troublemaker in the Harry Potter series.

So what did we end up with? Perseus. He's a hero who defeated the Gorgon, slayed Medusa, and rode on Pegasus to save Andromeda from Cetus. But best of all, it has "purr" right in the name. What more could you want?