Paris is indeed splendid! The mildness of the language is enough to make anyone melt. The Eiffel Tower, the Champs Élysées, and the Notre Dame Cathedral are all architectural marvels. You can spend an entire day at the Louvre and still not see all the artistic wonders it holds. Ever fancy giving your pet a foreign name? French cat names is one way to go.
Of course, France isn't just Paris! There's a bucolic countryside to visit where you can sample the world's best wine and cheeses. The animated films The Aristocats and Gay Purr-ee and the old Pepe Le Pew cartoons show a cat's life in the city of Paris, but it's the countryside where some of the French cats were bred to chase off the mice.
The Chartreux, for example, is prized by farmers for their great hunting skills. The Birman, as the name suggests, has origins in Burmese monasteries. However, it was bred in France, where they became scarce after World War II. The serrade petit cat is a newer breed with a slight build and playful personality.
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How to name Your Cat (La Cat is taken:)
A pedigreed Chartreux or Birman has her birth year to credit for her name's inspiration. The code letters rotate through the years, omitting the K, Q, W, X, Y and Z. A French cat born in 2011 would have a G name like Gabrielle, Gavroche, Geraldine or Georges.
A French cat born in 2012 would be named something like Helene, Héloïse, Hervé or Henri. The year 2013 would be the year of Irene, Imogene, Ibrahim and Ives and so forth. If your chaton was born in 2018, go with an O name like Olivier, Olympe, Orson or Orianne.
You could give your cat an unconventional name that was inspired by France or the French language. Marseille is a French city and the name of France's national anthem. Versailles is home to a great palace where cats rumored to be descended from Marie Antoinette's pampered pets tend to roam about.
Lyon is a city in France that sounds a bit like “lion”. You may try one of the three words of France's motto “Liberté, égalité, fraternité.” A cat with white feet can be called Chausette if Socks seems too jejune. Throwing in a title like Madame or Monsieur is an option.
France is a country known for culinary delights. The dessert Crepes Suzette is cute for a cat who's both sweet and fiery. A cat that's long and slender or has chocolate brown fur can be named Éclair. A cat that's very slow and doesn't move around much can be called Escargot.
Related: Check out this list of Unique cat names
Spice rack inspired names would be Poivre (Pepper), Gingembre (Ginger), and Cannelle (Cinnamon). France is also known for the grace of ballet. Ballet terms like Plié, Arabasque, Cabriole or Jeté would make interesting cat names.
Female French Cat Names
The best known Frenchwomen to name your cat after would be Jeanne d'Arc, Marie Antoinette and Coco Chanel. There was also Isabella, known as the She Wolf of France. Napoleon's beloved wife was named Josephine, where the pet name Fifi comes from. They say well behaved ladies never make history and no lady was less well behaved than Julie d'Aubigny!
Her professional name was La Maupin, a good name for a girl cat who's a bit reckless. Geneviève is the name of the patron saint of Paris. Marianne is the name of the feminine personification of France.
French ballets suggest good names like Giselle, Coppélia, Lise and Odette. (And her evil twin, Odile) The Jean-Paul Sartre existentialist play No Exit features two women named Inés and Estelle. Here is also an entire list of girl kitty names for you.
The French novel by Victor Hugo titled Les Misérables (and its adaptations) gives us the names Fantine, Cosette and Eponine. Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities gives us the devious Madame DeFarge. If your literary tastes lean more towards the Kindergarten set, there's Madeline and Cèleste. (The elephant queen who's married to Babar.) Read on for more suggestions!
- Abelle
- Adele
- Adeline
- Adrienne
- Béatrice
- Aenor
- Agathe
- Aglaé
- Alberta
- Alice
- Amaline
- Amélie
- Anabelle
- Anaïs
- Angèle
- Audrey
- Aurore
- Aurélie
- Barbara
- Bénédicte
- Bernadette
- Bernadine
- Brigitte
- Béatrice
- Camille
- Carine
- Caroline
- Catherine
- Cécile
- Céline
- Celestine
- Chantal
- Charlotte
- Chloé
- Claire
- Claudine
- Clémentine
- Colette
- Coralie
- Danette
- Delene
- Delphine
- Denise
- Élise
- Élodie
- Éloise
- Émilie
- Fantine
- Fifi
- Fleur
- Gabrielle
- Geneva
- Geneviève
- Hélène
- Heloise
- Hermine
- Huguette
- Jacqui
- Jeanette
- Jeanne
- Jolie
- Julie
- Juliet
- Karine
- Laudine
- Laure
- Laurence
- Liliane
- Lilou
- Louane
- Louise
- Lourdes
- Madeleine
- Maëlys
- Magali
- Manon
- Marceline
- Margot
- Marie-Odile
- Marielle
- Marine
- Maud
- Michel
- Mirabelle
- Mireille
- Monique
- Murielle
- Natalie
- Nathalie
- Nicole
- Nikoleta
- Ninon
- Noelle
- Océane
- Odette
- Odile
- Patricia
- Paule
- Paulette
- Pauline
- Radelle
- Renée
- Reva
- Simone
- Simonette
- Stéphanie
- Suzanne
- Tatienne
- Tilde
- Valentine
- Valérie
- Véronique
- Veva
- Yvette
- Yvonne
Male French Cat Names
Fun fact: It is illegal in France to have a pig named Napoleon. In French editions of George Orwell's Animal Farm, the pig character named Napoleon has his name changed to César. No rules about naming your cat Napoleon!
It should be pointed out, though, that cats were about the only thing Napoleon was afraid of. Fans of the musical Hamilton might like a cat who can say “Oui, oui, je m'appelle Lafayette.” after the French Marquis who aided America in the Revolutionary War.
The legendary knight Lancelot was actually French. Louis is a popular name for kings, princes and one rather emo vampire. His friend Lestat was a more carefree vampire. Charles de Gaulle named his Chartreux Gris-Gris.
Victor Hugo wrote another novel called The Hunchback of Notre Dame which gives us the names Quasimodo, Phoebus, Djali and Clopin. Claude makes a good name for a cat, if you don't mind the puns about being clawed by Claude.
The film Casablanca ends with Rick walking away with the French gendarme Captain Renault saying “This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Renault could be a good name for a friendly cat.
There are many great French artists to name a cat after like Renoir, Degas, Monet and Ingrés. Seurat would be appropriate for a cat with a dotted pattern. Read on for more suggestions!
- Abel
- Abélard
- Abelin
- Abraham
- Achille
- Adam
- Adolphe
- Adrien
- Alain
- Albert
- Alceste
- Alex
- Alexandre
- Alexis
- Alfred
- Alphonse
- Amadieu
- Amadou
- Amand
- Baptiste
- Barnabé
- Barthélemy
- Basile
- Bastien
- Baudouin
- Beaumont
- Benjamin
- Benoît
- Bernard
- Bertrand
- Cesar
- Charles
- Christian
- Christophe
- Christopher
- Claude
- Clément
- Constantin
- Cosme
- Cyprien
- Dany
- D’artagnan
- David
- Davy
- Désiré
- Didier
- Dimitri
- Djeferson
- Dominique
- Édouard
- Égide
- Élie
- Élisée
- Éloi
- Émeric
- Émile
- Émilien
- Ernest
- Esclados
- Estienne
- Étienne
- Eugène
- Évrard
- Fabien
- Fabrice
- Felicien
- Félix
- Fernand
- Florent
- Florentin
- Frédéric
- Frery
- Gaël
- Gaétan
- Gaëtan
- Galehot
- Gaspard
- Gaston
- Georges
- Gérald
- Gérard
- Germain
- Gérôme
- Gervais
- Ghislain
- Gilbert
- Gilles
- Godefroy
- Hector
- Henri
- Henry
- Hercule
- Hervé
- Ignace
- Ilbert
- Isaac
- Isaïe
- Jacob
- Jacques
- Jasmin
- Jean
- Jérémie
- Jérémy
- Jérôme
- Jocelyn
- Joël
- Kévin
- Laurent
- Léo
- Léon
- Léonard
- Léopold
- Lilian
- Lionel
- Loïc
- Lou
- Louis
- Manuel
- Marc
- Marius
- Martial
- Martin
- Mathéo
- Mathias
- Mathieu
- Mathis
- Matthias
- Napoléon
- Nathan
- Nathanaël
- Néo
- Nicolas
- Nihel
- Olivier
- Omer
- Otes
- Pascal
- Patrice
- Patrick
- Paul
- Paulin
- Pepin
- Phil
- Raoul
- Raphaël
- Raulf
- Raymond
- Régis
- Remi
- Serge
- Séverin
- Silvain
- Simon
- Timothée
- Tobie
- Tristan
- Valérian
- Valéry
- Victor
- Xavier
