Black Cat Name Generator

Black cats collect names from a handful of reliable sources. The biggest is darkness itself: Midnight, Shadow, Onyx, Ebony, Jet and Raven top every shelter's list, followed by things that are black in the kitchen (Pepper, Espresso, Licorice, Oreo, Guinness) and in the sky (Luna, Nova, Eclipse, Orion). Then come the famous ones. Salem from Sabrina, Binx from Hocus Pocus, Jiji from Kiki's Delivery Service and Bagheera from The Jungle Book are so popular that your Salem will probably meet another one at the vet.

The witchy and gothic end of the spectrum is where black cat names get interesting. Hecate, Morticia, Lilith, Nyx, Poe and Lenore all lean into the old folklore of the witch's familiar, while Cat Sìth, Matagot, Grimalkin and Pyewacket are actual names for magical black cats from Scottish, French and English legend. If you would rather play against type, ironic names like Snowball, Casper, Marshmallow and Lucky are a long-running tradition, as are human names that literally mean dark, such as Blake, Cole, Kieran, Ciara, Layla and Melanie.

Names that stick are short, easy to call across a room, and matched to personality rather than coat: a lanky, dignified black cat can carry Bagheera or Nero, while a tiny chaos gremlin is a Jinx, Soot or Bean.