14 Cat Names Based on Sherlock Holmes Characters

As part of my continuing mission to inspire you humans to give your cats names more interesting than “Fluffy” or “Kitty,” I, Miss Cuddlywumps, have compiled this list of potential names based on Sherlock Holmes characters. You're welcome.

1. Sherlock (for the brilliant cat who can deduce your entire personal history from the soles of your shoes and the lint on your sweater)
2. Holmes (for the abovementioned brilliant cat, if for some reason you do not want to name him Sherlock)
3. Watson (for the down-to-earth, sidekick type of cat)
4. Mrs. Hudson (for the homey cat who worries over your propensity to make messes and do inexplicable things in your room)
5. Mycroft (after Holmes’s brother; for the powerful cat who pretty much “is” the government—at least in your home)
6. Moriarty (after Holmes’s nemesis; for the most dangerous cat you know)
7. Sebastian (after Sebastian Moran, the “second most dangerous man in London”; for the cat who is not quite as dangerous as Moriarty)
8. Irene or Adler (after Irene Adler, the woman who outsmarts Holmes in “A Scandal in Bohemia”; for the cat who is as brilliant as Holmes, but far prettier)
9. Hatty (after Hatty Doran, the missing wife in “The Noble Bachelor”; for the cat who is often "missing" because she is hiding in a whole new place you never even thought of)
10. Violet (after Violet Hunter, the client in “The Copper Beeches”; for a dilute tortie, maybe?)
11. Basil (after Basil Rathbone, the actor who played Holmes in film and on radio from 1939 to 1946; for the cat who fears that being named Sherlock or Holmes will hurt his acting career)
12. Benedict (after Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor currently playing Holmes in the BBC show Sherlock; for the cat who would not mind being called Benny)
13. Toby (after a dog in The Sign of the Four; for the cat who would not be embarrassed to be named after a dog)
14. Birdy (after Birdy Edwards [aka John Douglas or John McMurdo] of Pinkerton’s American Agency in The Valley of Fear; for the cat who would not be embarrassed to be named Birdy)

Picture credit: © Pinkleon | Dreamstime.com - Red Cat Detective Sherlock Holmes Photo 

Video: Author Elizabeth Peters on Ancient Egypt, Research, and Cats

My paws are too tired to write an actual post this morning, so please enjoy this informative short video of Elizabeth Peters, another of my favorite authors. About the Amelia Peabody mysteries she says, “I think they wouldn’t be Amelia books without a cat.” So true. What would anything be without a cat? Answer: less beautiful and more boring.

The Most Important Thing the Ancient Egyptians Knew About Cats

You modern humans do not understand cats and have no idea how to properly treat us. Some of you ignore us, some of you persecute us, and some of you demean us by posting so-called “funny” photos and videos of us on the Internet.* I, Miss Cuddlywumps, am here to tell you that you could all take a lesson from the ancient Egyptians, who knew a thing or two about the true nature of cats.

What did the Egyptians know? They knew that cats could stalk and kill the mice and rats that ate the humans’ grain. They also knew that cats had the seemingly supernatural ability to kill venomous creatures such as scorpions and snakes. The Egyptians did not take these extraordinary abilities for granted. Rodents could destroy a food supply, and scorpions and snakes could be deadly. So to the Egyptians, cats embodied a divine power of protection.

If you learn only one thing from the ancient Egyptians, learn this one most important thing:

Cats are divine creatures. Bow to us.

[*She of Little Talent can often be found guffawing at so-called “funny” cats on the Internet. You see how I must suffer.]

[Old SoLT is in the corner muttering to remind me that information for this post came from the fascinating book Classical Cats by David Engels, pp. 23-4.]

Cat Classics: "The Cyprian Cat" by Dorothy L. Sayers

A Cyprian cat?
Photo by AlienCat via Adobe Stock.

Over the weekend She of Little Talent read me a Dorothy L. Sayers story called “The Cyprian Cat.” I was disappointed at first because I thought the story would be about an ancient cat from the island of Cyprus, which it is not. It turns out “Cyprian cat” is a local term for a tabby cat in parts of England.

What the story is, is a sort of mystery/horror tale that is not terribly mysterious but is terribly horrific, especially for cats. It is narrated by a frighteningly violent man who has shot a cat. “It’s funny that one should be hanged for shooting at a cat,” he says.

No, narrator, that is not so-called “funny” at all. That is perfectly reasonable.

This narrator has such an aversion to cats that he cannot stand being in the same space with one. He becomes nauseated and his flesh crawls whenever a cat is close to him. (He is a psychiatric case, if you ask me.) So you can imagine how out of sorts he becomes when he checks into an inn in this fascinating village that has some mysterious connection to cats:

“It’s a tiny hamlet quite at the other end of nowhere; lights out at ten, little thatched houses with pinched-up attic windows like furry ears—the place purred in its sleep.”

When a by all accounts beautiful tabby cat with lovely green eyes appears one night at his window, he calls her a monster and soon buys a revolver “to take a pot-shot or two at the cats.” Well, eventually he does take a shot at the beautiful, completely innocent cat, and moments later he finds he has shot not a cat but his friend’s wife. (By the way, the reason it is wrong to shoot at cats is not that they might be shape-shifters that are also people; it is wrong because cats, like all creatures, deserve to be treated with kindness and respect.)

I think someone should write a story like this from the cat’s point of view. That would be so interesting. I would ask She of Little Talent to write it, but she would make lots of mistakes and would probably write about an octopus instead of a cat. You see how I must suffer.

[“The Cyprian Cat” can be found in the collection In the Teeth of the Evidence by Dorothy L. Sayers.]