Cat is one of the most popular house pets in the whole wide world. The scientists say that cats have been living with humans for about 12,000 years! Before cats were domesticated, they were worshipped as one of Egyptian goddesses. Dogs were actually domesticated first because they could be used to help with hunting when humans were still nomadic. Cats only came into the scene when humans started to settle down and storage crops. Mice would spoil the corps and wild cats that wandered into the area would find the abundance of mice as an exciting reason to stay. People were definitely happy with how the cats helped them to control the pest and let them to stay.
Different from dogs, cats can’t be “owned”. Even from the process of domestication mentioned before, we could tell that they kind of domesticated themselves. Cats have unique personalities that make them great companies that will keep the humans from feeling bored but could be quite a challenge for patience at the same time. It is fair to say that cats choose who they want to live with, and not the other way around. People have been giving their cats cute names to fit the way they look or strange ones to fit their personal traits. They think by gifting names to cats would make them easier to be trained or come when called – these facts don’t always happen, because cats love to ignore what the humans want from them although they know their names well.
If you are about to adopt a cat and still selecting names for it, here are some popular Russian names with their meanings that may be suitable for either its personality or the way it looks – these names may sound perfect for Russian cats like the Siberian cat, the Russian blue, the Donskoy, the Peterbald or Kurilian Bobtail but any cats deserve these beautiful names just the same:
Names for male cats:
1. Boris – a fighter
3. Czar – emperor
4. Dmitry – name of kings and early saints
5. Igor – warrior of peace
6. Ivan – gracious gift from God
7. Maximilian – the great, can be shortened to Max
8. Nikolai – victorious
9. Orion – the name of a mighty hunter in astronomy
10. Rasputin – a word associated with inner power
11. Sergei – the protector
12. Vladimir – a Slavic name associated with the founder of the Soviet state, Vadimir Lenin
13. Viktor – the conqueror
14. Yuri – taken after Yuri Gagarin, the first man to travel out of space
If your cat is a female, then one of these Russian names may go well with her:
1. Anastasia – resurrection, also the name of Tsar Nicholas II’s daughter
2. Angelika – angel-like
4. Eva – the living one
5. Guinevere – the name of King Arthur’s wife
6. Karina – pure, from Scandinavian word, associated with the free spirits
7. Katja – also means pure, but it has Greek origin and associated with love
8. Kira – ruler or beloved
9. Nina – dream or dreamer, a Slavic word
10. Olga – holy
11. Oxana – a popular Russian name with Ukrainian root
12. Sveta – saint
13. Vera – faith
14. Yelena – Russian for “Helen” which means the sun
Do Cats Know Their Names?
Of course! A Japanese cat expert, Atsuko Saito, and her colleagues ran an experiment in a cat cafes around Japan with total 78 housecats and felines involved. Saito asked the owner of the cats as well as strangers to call them by their names while she videotaped the responses. The result showed that, when called, cats would show recognition such as swishing tails and moving their ears and heads. Each cat would respond to its own name accordingly, which is not a wonder since cats are very bright and intelligent animals.
These responses are possibly made by the cats because they have learned to associate the sounds of their names with joyful things like their favorite snacks, food, or scratches that they are crazy over. But, cats also tend to ignore the calls when they are already content and don’t feel like needing anything from the humans. You definitely can’t win over them.
Russian Cats
There are beautiful Russian names for your cats and there are beautiful cat breeds native to Russia you need to get to know. Here are 5 of them:
- The Russian Blue. This cat has short hair that is actually grey but seems slightly blue under the light – hence the name. Originally from a port city in northern Russia, the Russian Blue cat is also spread widely in England.
- The Kurilian Bobtail. Once domesticated, this breed of cat managed to run wild again and the traits linger. This cat loves to climb tree, hunt, and not afraid of water. The fur is quite long with bushy tail and marble pattern over the body.
- The Nevskaya Maskaradnaya. The name is given to this breed due to the color of the fur that makes it looks like wearing a permanent mask – like Siberian Husky dogs. This color-point cat has long hair and belongs to the same family as Siberian with blue eyes and pink nose.
- The Donskoy. This breed was first found by the Russians in 1986 in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Very much like the common Sphynx cats, Donskoys are hairless and have narrow head with big ears.
- The Peterbald also known as Petersburg Sphynx. The appearance of Peterbald cats is very unique; long and narrow head, almond-shaped eyes, large ears, with no hair to very little of it. The hairless gene comes from the Donskoy, while the shape of the body from Siamese.
Have you decided now which of the Russian name above would be perfect for your cat? Keep in mind that it matters, even though cats may not seem to care when they are called on. Just make sure you have a bag of treats in your hand for it.