Silly literary exercise for those who are willing to help...

[Heather in VA]

We are getting two new kittens. In October we lost our last cat who had been with us for over 16 years. He and his brother (who died when he was 14) were great and we are feeling healed enough from the loss to get new ones. I only got to name one of the cats the first time and I named him Gatsby (after the Great Gatsby).

We'd like to continue the literary tradition with the two new ones. We aren't sure if they will be 2 boys, 2 girls or one of each so any combination would be great. All ideas welcome!!

Thanks

[Lorna in the boonies]

Do you want to stick with a theme from a particular book or genre, or are you just looking for literary names in general?

I name my animals after characters from To Kill a Mockingbird. I've had a Scout, an Atticus, a Radley, a Calpurnia (my current kitty), and even a 'used' dog who arrived with the name Sheba, but whose name I amended with the suffix "-robe" -- so her name was Shebarobe. (Terrible, awful pun, and you have to think really hard to get it, but I didn't know how else to work it in! We just continued to call her Sheba.)

[Mama Lynx]

Someone on here has three cats: Merry, Pippin, and Mrs. Whatsit. I've always thought that was a brilliant bit of naming, all around. The next time we get two kitties, I'm lobbying for Merry and Pippin.

[Maria from IN]

We named our dog Fiver after Watership Down because he was the runt of the litter.

I could see Hazel, Fiver, and Pipkin running around the house. Better yet, use the rabbit translation!

Hlao-roo, Hrairoo, and Thlayli? Well, maybe not. :o

[RoughCollie]

We had a cat named Mehitabel:

"Archy (whose name was always written in lower case in the book titles, but was upper case when Marquis would write about him in narrative form) was a cockroach who had been a free-verse poet in a previous life, and he took to writing stories and poems on an old typewriter at the newspaper office when everyone in the building had left. Archy would climb up onto the typewriter and hurl himself at the keys, laboriously typing out stories of the daily challenges and travails of a cockroach. Archy's best friend was an alley cat named "Mehitabel," and the two of them shared a series of day-to-day adventures that made satiric commentary on daily life in the city during the 1910's and 20's."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy_and_mehitabel

[Stacy in NJ]

How about Huck and Tom for males?

[Dana in OR]

Montmorency, after the dog in Jerome K. Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat."

My family didn't go for the name but I still like it!

[Amy in Orlando]

Our dog is named Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird. If you get girl kitties, what about Amy, Jo, Meg or Beth (I vote for Amy and Jo as that is my full name lol). If you get a boy and a girl, what about Scarlett and Rhett? Two boys? The only thing popping into my head right now are Shakespeare and Milton - not sure why. You could also go Greek and name them Ulyssses and Neptune?

Have fun.

[Natalieclare]

If you got a boy and a girl, you could name them Meg and Charles Wallace. (A Wrinkle in Time)

or Miss Marple and Poirot

or Ernest and Gwendolyn (Importance of Being Ernest)

or Mary and Dicken (Secret Garden)


2 boys: Holmes (or Sherlock) and Watson

or Hook and Peter

or Clive (CS Lewis) and George (MacDonald)

or Jeeves and Wooster

or Rip and Ichabod


2 girls:Betsy and Tacy

or Gwedolyn and Cecily

or Beezus and Ramona

or Susan and Lucy or Aravis and Lazaraleen


As you can see, my taste runs to light and frothy.:) Have fun!

I think our barn cat is going to have kittens soon, so I'm on the hunt for some good names as well. Actually, we will probably be giving most of them away.

:DAnyone in Puget Sound area looking for a kitty?????:D

[Heather in VA]

You guys are GREAT!!!! We are going to have a tough time choosing. These names are all terrific.

I was telling DH about all the choices and said how much fun I thought the Little Women names would be and oldest dd decided we need 4 so we can have Jo, Beth, Meg and Amy. That didn't go over well LOL.

I'll let you all know what we decide when we get them (hopefully tomorrow).

[OhM]

I've always wanted a pet named Wimsey! I guess the other could be Harriet?

[Mama Lynx]

We once had a cat named Hermione - Greek mythology *and* Harry Potter ;-)

Or, you could go T.S. Eliot and have a JennyAnyDots and Rumpleteaser, Macavity, etc.

If I was going to use Shakespeare, and had a boy and girl kitty, they'd have to be Beatrice and Benedick.