Life at Home

What 2025's Trending Cat Names Say About Cat People

Rover's trending cat names for 2025 are a grab bag of pickles, pirates, and dead poets. Look closer and they reveal exactly how cat people name differently from dog people.

By Jordan Ellis, Certified Dog Trainer

November 13, 2025 · 5 min read

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Every year the pet-services site Rover mines its database of more than a million pets and tells us what people are naming their animals. The headline names never change: it is Luna and Milo at the top again, the way it has been for years. The fun is in the trending list, the names climbing fastest, and this year’s feline edition reveals something the dog list does not. Cat people and dog people name their animals for completely different reasons.

Dog parents chase the box office. This year’s surging dog names leaned on Elphie and Rumi, straight out of Wicked and KPop Demon Hunters. Cat parents, meanwhile, are doing something stranger and more telling: they name for irony, nostalgia, and the deep cut. The classics are roaring back, Snowball among them, alongside literary deep cuts like Gatsby and Milton. When pop culture does sneak in, cat people reach decades into the past rather than grabbing what is current. Bill Murray is up 1,031 percent, Mary-Kate is up 531 percent, and Edward Scissorpaws (yes, paws) is up 231 percent. Nobody names a cat after a movie that is still in theaters. They name a cat after a vibe.

The food-name takeover

The loudest trend on the 2025 list is edible. Tater, Pickle, and the not-quite-food-but-close Martini all surged, and they are not outliers. Rover’s broader 2025 data shows snack names flooding the top 100: Mochi, Oreo, Bean, Mango, Tofu, Chai, and Sushi all cracked the rankings. It fits the cat-naming psychology perfectly, a food name is affectionate, a little absurd, and impossible to say without smiling, which is roughly the emotional register of living with a cat. Tater topped the trending kitten names of 2025 outright, with Milton, Stewie, Priscilla, and Gatsby rounding out the top five.

So this year’s trending names are an eclectic, slightly chaotic grab bag, exactly like the animals they belong to. Below are the top 10 trending male and the top 10 trending female cat names of 2025.

Tater — Adorable and bite-sized, and the runaway trending kitten name of the year.
Milton — A surname with British-aristocrat energy, or a nod to the Paradise Lost poet. Cats do radiate that lord-of-the-manor air.
Stewie — Almost certainly the scheming, posh-accented baby from Family Guy. Not a cat, but absolutely a tiny mastermind.
Gatsby — Your cat will chase a green laser the way Jay chased that green light, forever, longingly, just out of reach.
Snowball — There is a very specific cat that materializes in your mind the instant you hear it.
Caesar — Regal, elegant, classic. Also a salad.
Bones — For the household where Halloween never quite ends, or for the Star Trek faithful.
Asher — Made for the dusty-gray cats of the world.
Pepe — The cartoon skunk, the internet frog, or simply a spicy little Italian. Your call.
Zoro — Borrowed from the katana-wielding anime swordsman, and well suited to a cat who ambushes passing ankles.

Priscilla — A Latin name meaning “venerable,” ideal for a cat who clearly considers herself royalty, with a wink to Priscilla Presley.
Snowball — A genuinely gender-neutral pick. If the cat is white and fluffy, the name simply fits.
Pickle — Pickleball is everywhere, actual pickles are eternal, and the name is pure delight.
Sissy — A nickname for Cecilia, Frances, or Priscilla, or just short for “sister.” Pets are family.
Pippin — A Broadway musical or a Tolkien hobbit. Either way, undeniably cute.
Martini — Shaken, not stirred. (Please do not shake your cat.)
Eleanor — Dignified enough for Eleanor Roosevelt, or chaotic enough for The Good Place’s Eleanor Shellstrop. Dealer’s choice.
Marie — The white kitten icon from Disney’s Aristocats, and clearly beloved.
Khaleesi — Game of Thrones ended; the name lives on for any fierce, regal cat.
Kit — Short for Kitty, or Kit-Kat, or a nod to the American Girl doll. Maximum versatility.

A trend list is fun. A good name is practical.

Before you commit to Edward Scissorpaws, a few things actually matter once the novelty wears off. A name with a hard consonant and one or two syllables (Tater, Bones, Kit) carries better when you are calling a cat in from the porch than something soft and trailing. A name you can say in front of the vet, the cat sitter, and your in-laws without explaining the joke ages well. And distinct-sounding names help in multi-cat homes, where “Pippin” and “Pickle” called across a room will get you two confused cats and zero responses. The best cat name is the one you will still love saying at 2 a.m. when a small food-themed creature is standing on your chest.