Find My Cat Name

Disney and Pixar cat names: from screen cats to borrowed characters

A guide to cat names drawn from Disney and Pixar's own animated cats, plus other characters whose names fit a cat surprisingly well.
By Find My Cat Name#disney#pixar#themes#movie-names#guides

Disney has been putting cats on screen for nearly a century, which means there’s a deep bench of names to raid — some obvious, some you’d forget were cats at all. There’s also a second, richer vein: non-cat characters whose names just happen to work beautifully on an actual cat, usually because they’re short, a little regal, or built around a sound cats respond to.

This list splits the difference. Some of these are literally the name of an animated cat. Others are Disney and Pixar characters who were never feline but should have been.

The actual on-screen cats

Start with the source material — the cats Disney and Pixar already named for you, which carry built-in personality whether you want it or not.

Duchess (the elegant white mother cat from The Aristocats, good for a cat who acts like she’s slumming it), Thomas O’Malley (shortens to O’Malley or Malley, suits a scrappy alley cat with charm), Toulouse, Berlioz, and Marie (the kittens, all usable solo, Marie especially for a prissy white cat), Lucifer (Cinderella’s cat, a gift of a name for anyone who wants their cat to live up to it), Figaro (Pinocchio’s kitten, also reused in other shorts, good for a fussy cat who sulks easily), Si and Am (the Siamese cats from Lady and the Tramp, best as a bonded pair), Oliver (the orange kitten lead of Oliver & Company, a safe, classic choice for an orange cat), Rajah isn’t a cat but is often mistaken for one on this list — skip it unless you actually have a tiger-striped tabby the size of a tiger, and Scat Cat (the jazz cat from The Aristocats, works as a nickname for a cat who’s always underfoot).

Villains and sidekicks worth stealing

Disney’s side characters and villains tend to have sharper, punchier names than its heroes, which happens to make them excellent cat names — a cat with a villain’s name is funnier precisely because the cat is nine pounds and asleep on a heating vent.

Maleficent (shortens to Mal or Leficent, for a black cat with a flair for drama), Ursula (good for a large, confident cat who takes up the whole sofa), Hades (short, sharp, suits a black or dark grey cat), Scar (works literally if your cat has a nick in one ear, otherwise just a good moody name), Yzma (from The Emperor’s New Groove, for a cat with a withering stare), Gaston (for a cat who is handsome and knows it), Iago (the parrot from Aladdin, but the name scans fine on a cat, especially a talkative one), and Hook (as in Captain, for a cat who’s handsy with his paws).

Pixar names that work off-screen

Pixar’s character names skew a little more ordinary and a little more inventive at once — fewer kings and queens, more oddly specific nouns and compound words, which gives you more to work with for an everyday house cat.

Dory (short, cheerful, good for a cat with a terrible memory for the rules about countertops), Remy (from Ratatouille, suits a food-obsessed cat, which is to say any cat), Russell (from Up, a solid name for a round, earnest cat), Edna (from The Incredibles, for a small cat with an outsized, imperious personality), Mater (from Cars, works best on a scruffy, good-natured barn cat), Arlo (from The Good Dinosaur, gentle and a little old-fashioned, suits a nervous cat), Bo (from Toy Story, clean and simple, good for a female cat who’s tougher than she looks), and Forky (from Toy Story 4, only for a kitten with an anxious, slightly deranged energy).

Princes, princesses, and royal leftovers

Disney royalty gives you names that read as elegant without being overused, especially the ones who aren’t the title character — nobody’s cat is named Ariel’s sister, which is exactly the appeal.

Anna and Elsa (from Frozen, fine individually or as a sibling pair, Elsa in particular suits a white or cream cat), Merida (from Brave, good for a ginger cat with a temper), Mulan (strong and two syllables, suits a brave, independent cat), Moana (works well shortened to Mo, for an adventurous or outdoor-leaning cat), Rapunzel (long formal name, shortens naturally to Punzel, for a fluffy longhair), Tiana (from The Princess and the Frog, elegant and underused), and Belle (simple, classic, and already sounds like something you’d call across a room).

Objects, places, and things that became names

Some of Disney’s best names were never characters at all — they’re places, objects, or concepts that got turned into proper nouns, and they tend to make unusually distinctive cat names because nobody else is using them.

Zootopia is too long on its own, but its city districts aren’t: Sahara (for a warm-toned desert-colored cat) and Tundra (for a grey or white one) both work solo. Wakanda shortens nicely to Waka for a confident cat. Arendelle is a mouthful, but Elle pulled from it works as a soft, easy nickname. Agrabah gives you Aggie, a warm, old-lady name for a scrappy cat. And Monstropolis, from Monsters, Inc., is unusable whole but hands you Mons as a strange, likable one-off.

Specific picks by Disney cat type

If you want a quick shortlist by the kind of cat you’re naming:

  • Elegant white or cream cat: Duchess, Marie, Elsa, Tiana
  • Scrappy orange or tabby cat: Oliver, O’Malley, Thomas, Mater
  • Dramatic black cat: Lucifer, Maleficent, Hades, Scar
  • Fluffy, imperious cat: Rapunzel, Edna, Yzma, Ursula
  • Kitten with chaotic energy: Forky, Figaro, Toulouse, Berlioz

Browse more by theme

For more character-driven inspiration, these collections go further:

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