“Russian names are a kind of a game!” goes a little ditty from the cartoon Road Rovers. It not only explains Russian naming conventions, it shows just how far a children's show can go before irritating the censors. (“The kid's middle name is Sonovovitch!”)
Perhaps you'd like a Russian name because either you or your cat has a Russian heritage. Maybe you want Russian cat names for those felines runs around a lot. She's always “rushin‘”! Yeah, bad pun is bad.
Picking the Perfect Name For Your Russian Cat
Road Rovers might have just been seeing if they could get away with a dirty joke on a kid's show, but their lyrics weren’t inaccurate. The first name is anything the mother likes with the father's first name as a middle name. For a boy, this name has “-evitch” or “-ovitch” added. For a girl, “-ovna” or “-evna” is added.
The family name follows, though generally a girl will put an A at the end of her family name. Take Putin…please! (Rimshot) His full name is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. He was clearly named after his father. His daughter is Mariya Vladimirovna Putina.
A married woman might take her husband's name and add an A to it, or just keep her family name as cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova did.
You may want to do some Russian fortune telling rituals to help you come up with a name. (Most of these rituals are for finding a husband, but they could work anyway.) You could try putting a branch from a fir tree (a small one, of course) under your pillow on a Monday night.
Then you can quite literally sleep on it and have a dream about what your cat's name should be. Another method is to take a sheet of paper, crumble it loosely, put it on a plate and burn it. After it's burnt out, you put a candle next to it and interpret the shadow image to decide your cat's name.
You could drop melted wax into cool water and let the shape it takes inspire you. For best results, you're supposed to use a brass bowl. You could also go outside at midnight (safe neighborhood, we hope) and ask the first person you see for their name.
Male Russian Cat Names
You could name him Czar after a former title used for the ruler of Russia. The best known czars were named Ivan, Pyotr and Nikolai. If Czar seems a bit strong, you can name him Vladimir meaning “prince”. If you've had quite enough of the monarchy, comrade, you could name him Kremlin after the home of the modern Russian president.
Russian cities like Petersburg, Minsk and Moscow can make inspiring names. Other inspirations can be Russian foods like Borsch, Bliny, Kasha or Solyanka. Thanks to the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, Boris has become a well known Russian name. It means “snow leopard” so it actually makes a good name for a cat. Alexander means “helper of man” and Fyador means “gift from God”.
They say a cat has nine lives. Rasputin would be a good name for a cat who seems to survive anything. If you liked the animated film Anastasia and your cat is white with big ears, you can name him Bartok after the bat used as comic relief. For a more positive role model, you could name your cat Yuri after Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space or after composer Tchaikovsky or writer Dostoevsky.
As St. Basil's Cathedral is one of the most ornate buildings in Russia, you might name him Basil. Sputnik is for an out of this world cat. Orel means “eagle” and Medved means “bear”, the two animals that most commonly symbolize Russia.
- Alexi
- Alyosha
- Albs
- Adrian
- Maksimilian
- Adrik
- Mark
- Afanasi
- Marko/Markov
- Afanasy
- Anatole
- Arden
- Barnes
- Barrington
- Bates
- Beasley
- Beck
- Benson
- Berkeley
- Biff
- Azhur
- Modest
- Azik
- Moriz
- Baikal
- Motya
- Barhat
- Mstislav
- Bimka
- Blake
- Bogdan
- Boris
- Bowie
- Boyce
- Buster
- Byron
- Cadman
- Calhoun
- Chauncey
- Colvin
- Chekhov
- Nikolai
- Chernouh
- Nikolai
- Chernysh
- Ohotnik
- Cheslav
- Conrad
- Dax
- Dmitry
- Dewey
- Duke
- Egor
- Elvin
- Farley
- Forrest
- Fyodor
- Felix
- Gavriil
- Igor
- Ilya
- Elbrus
- Pirs
- Elisei
- Ponchik
- Ermolai
- Isaac
- Ivan
- Jai
- Jalen
- Jasper
- Jax
- Kazimir
- Kir
- Kolya
- Gerasim
- Sezja
- Gleb
- Shurik
- Gregory
- Spyridon
- Grigori
- Konstantin
- Kuzma
- Langston
- Leo
- Lester
- Lyosha
- Max
- Melvin
- Mikhail
- Milton
- Innokenti
- Vanya
- Ioann
- Varfolomei
- Iosif
- Nikolai
- Norton
- Oliver
- Oscar
- Oswald
- Ogden
- Pasha
- Palmer
- Petya
- Phineas
- Poe
- Prince
- Pyotr
- Radley
- Ranger
- Irinei
- Venyamin
- Isidor
- Viktor
- Ivan
- Riley
- Ridley
- Sasha
- Sammy
- Sawyer
- Sebastian
- Sergei
- Leonid
- Yuri
- Leonti
- Zakhar
- Leonty
- Zasha
- Lesta
- Simon
- Tobias
- Tyler
- Vadim
- Vanya
- Vladimir
- Lyutyi
- Macario/Makari
- Vova
- Wiley
- Yuri
Female Russian Cat Names
Due to an animated movie based (very loosely) on true events, Anastasia has become a popular name. (It's not a Disney feature, by the way. Don Bluth directed it through Fox Animation Studios.) Baba Yaga is the name of a witch in Russian folklore.
Firebird, after a Russian folktale turned ballet, is a romantic name for a red furred lady. Nikita is actually a boy's name in Russia, but TV's La Femme Nikita and a certain Elton John song have made it into more of a girl's name.
If you like the association of witches with cats, you could name her after some good witches. In World War II there was a regiment of young ladies known as The Night Witches for their stealthy air raids on German targets. Names that would honor these brave ladies would be Yevdokia, Irina, Serafima, Tatyana and Nadia.
There's also the famed sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko and Mariya Oktyabrskaya who bought a tank to avenge her fallen husband. To go further back in Russian history, there was Tirgatao, a warrior queen who rescued herself when locked away.
- Alexandra
- Alina
- Anastasia
- Aglaya
- Mariya
- Agnessa
- Mary
- Agrafena
- Anna
- Asia
- Audrey
- Ava
- Babushka
- Callie
- Camellia
- Aleksandra
- Milena
- Aleksandrina
- Miroslava
- Alina
- Misha
- Alyona
- Molniya
- Anastasia
- Celeste
- Claudia
- Clementine
- Daria
- Dasha
- Diana
- Dominique
- Elena
- Eve
- Fay
- Gloria
- Anya
- Nastya
- Anzhela
- Natalya
- Anzhelika
- Natasha
- Arisha
- Gracie
- Gypsy
- Harley
- Harper
- Haven
- Holly
- Hope
- Barynya
- Oka
- Baryshnya
- Oksana
- Bella
- Olenka
- Biryuza
- Heather
- Inga
- Irina
- Isolde
- Ivy
- Jazz
- Joy
- Katerina
- Kiana
- Klara
- Kimber
- Kristina
- Larissa
- Changa
- Pyshka
- Charodeika
- Rada
- Chita
- Lily
- Leia
- Lola
- Lucy
- Ludmilla
- Lydia
- Madison
- Margarita
- Marina
- Marley
- Darya
- Razluka
- Dasha
- Rifma
- Desna
- Roksana
- Diana
- Maya
- Mishka
- Nadia
- Natalya
- Natasha
- Nina
- Nika
- Nikola
- Odessa
- Olga
- Oksana
- Olesya
- Paige
- Dusha
- Sasha
- Ekaterina
- Sashenka
- Elena
- Paulina
- Piper
- Raven
- Regina
- Riley
- Sadie
- Sabrina
- Serena
- Evdokiya
- Shumka
- Fayina
- Shusha
- Fedora
- Siren
- Frosya
- Shelby
- Sofia
- Sonia
- Stella
- Svetlana
- Sydney
- Glafira
- Stanislava
- Grafinya
- Stasya
- Grusha
- Strela
- Hurma
- Tanya
- Tasha
- Vera
- Veronica
- Victoria
More Cat Names: Hawaiian Cat Names?
Names for A Russian Blue Cat
Another name for the Russian blue cat is Archangel cat. You could give him a name of an archangel in Russian such as Mikhail, Gavriil or Rafail. Add an A to make them girls' names.
Siniy means “blue” in Russian. Russian Blues have emerald green eyes so Zeleny from the word for “green” is also appropriate. Izumruda would make a good name for a girl with eyes like emeralds.
Hopefully, this article has given you some good ideas on what to name your cat. Proshchay!
- Celeste
- Czarina
- Leonti
- Zakhar
- Leonty
- Esme
- Ghost
- Gorky
- Valentin
- Hunter
- Heathcliff
- Yaromir
- Yasha
- Yefim
- Isis
- Juno
- Koschei
- Koshka
- Kotyenok
- Loki
- Kaluga
- Tigra
- Kama
- Toma
- Karelia
- Luchik
- Mazarine
- Muse
- Spyridon
- Nightingale
- Samoyla
- Ninotchka
- Onegin
- Otto
- Pushkin
- Rurik
