With this in mind, I set out to carefully choose the names of my Persian cats. My first cat, D’Artagnan, turned out to be a good swordsman – but he used his nails instead of an epee. Like the fourth musketeer in Alexandre Dumas’ novel, my cat was dashing, impulsive and a ladies’ cat. Seeing how the name shaped his disposition, I decided to name his kittens after the gods. I wanted cats with heavenly attributes, and I got much more than I expected.
Fluffy white Amon-Ra, named after the Egyptian priest, healer and god of all other Egyptian gods, ruled our home in peace with his sister and wife Ishtar, namesake of the Sumero-Babylonian moon goddess. But the household tranquility did not last long. I realized that choosing the right names is important in a multi-cat household. In a home with 36 resident cats, it becomes a matter of life and death.
Gentle Amon-Ra hated the sight of handsome son Apollo. Was it because both were sun gods – Phoebus Apollo is the sun deity in Greek mythology while Amon-Ra is his Egyptian counterpart? Apollo the cat tried his best not to cross his father, but the sun in his veins would not allow him to remain hidden all the time. Their fights turned deadly and I had no choice but to find another home for Apollo.
Daughter Artemis, on the other hand, clashed with mother Ishtar. Artemis, as it turned out, is Apollo’s twin. She is the Greek goddess of the moon and her mother is the Babylonian lunar divinity. The moon rules the emotions, and both mother and daughter have no qualms about showing their feelings. Artemis is also the goddess of hunting and it’s uncanny how the huntress became the hunted – just like British princess Diana. In Roman mythology, Diana is the moon deity. Visitors would seek out lovely Artemis who would always hide under the kitchen sink to avoid the stares of the curious crowd!
Their brother Hermes, like the Greek god of the same name, is "a crosser of boundaries." The Greek messenger god was the "herald of the heavens" who guided the souls of the dead into the underworld. My Hermes also made the crossing – we suspect he is a reincarnation of his grandfather D’Artagnan.
Dionysus is without doubt everyone’s favorite. As an adult, he only concerned himself with the pleasures of cat life – eating, sleeping and creating more life, i.e, baby cats. He avoids clashes with his father and brothers and like the Greek god, female cats always find themselves ecstatic under his spell!
Tired of the vanity and imperious caprices of the Greek deities, I turned to literature and the movies for a change. Mysouf, named after French novelist Alexandre Dumas’ cat, became my constant companion at night. I liked the idea that the original Mysouf walked Dumas halfway to his office each morning then waited for him at the same spot in the afternoon. But the novelist’s cat turned out to be a highly psychic feline and my Mysouf soon followed suit. I began having prophetic dreams every time he would sleep beside me. The problem was that the dreams were filled with death and sickness and they would come true within a day or two. I lost sleep, or more precisely, I began to fear sleep. So Mysouf was banned from my room and the dreams stopped.
Seeking safety in the energies of philosophers, I named the next white little furball Aristotle. To counter his sickly nature and near brush with death, I renamed him Master Yoda after the 700-year-old warrior in George Lucas’ movie Star Wars. Master Yoda’s personality changed overnight from weak to strong and daring. When his family refused to tolerate his fighting stance, he became my Angel. Now, he’s a sweet and loving cat who stands his ground when challenged.
Runi the healer cat must have inherited the personality of an American Indian character in a movie I saw years ago. Runi is the perfect mother who always makes sure her kittens are safe and in perfect form. She also has some healing abilities because when she gets sick, she’s able to bounce back to health with little help from me.
Then there’s Tenoch, namesake of the Aztec high priest and leader who saved his people and led them to Tenochtitlan, the city he founded in Mexico. More importantly, Tenoch the cat got his name from the young and dashing character in the Mexican movie Y Tu Mama Tambien. Tenoch the Mexican turned out to be a horny young fellow. Tenoch the cat does nothing else but follow the ladies all day.
I guess the act of naming pets is an art in itself. Imagination, the right feeling, and intensive research are all woven together to give the pet the right energies that will help him deal with his genes and his environment.
According to Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, everything in the universe is a source of energy that vibrates at a certain level. Words, syllables, and names, therefore, all give out certain vibrations which may set off either positive or negative reactions. In his Book of Divine Magic, Bulgarian master Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov describes a word as "a rocket that goes all over space, unleashing its forces, exciting entities and triggering irreversible effects."
And what of animals? Do they feel these vibrations too and react accordingly? My cats seem to do so. Animals are apparently more attuned to the subtle vibrations in the atmosphere because some of their senses are more developed than ours. Experts say that’s because they maintained their closeness to nature while we created cities and civilizations.
Pet names can make or break a home. Try it if you wish. Background research into the history of a name will do no harm. As for me and my cats, we’ll be sticking to "safe" names that will bring no unwanted influences to our home. Take eight-month-old Takara, for instance. Takara means treasure in Japanese and my Takara is a precious bundle of joy to us and to everyone who meets her.