Top Cat Names of 2023 [Infographic]

The results are in! We’re excited to announce the top cat names of 2023, as determined by the 1.4 million new cat owners who have used our site so far this year.

Daisy is the new number-one pick for female cat names, and Apollo skyrocketed to number-one for male cat names.

Are you curious to see what other names topped the charts? Check out the lists below to find out what is trending now.

The Top 100 Cat Names of 2023

Ranking Updates for 2023

Female Names

This year Daisy is at the top of the chart. It’s always been a popular name but has been climbing in the last two years. Nala had ranked number one for the past five years, and it’s finally dropped in popularity, probably due to Lion King being a less-featured title.

Bella was once the most popular cat name and a trendy dog name – but has moved down in rank.

Favorites Daisy, Luna, and Coco remain popular picks, and new to the list are Agatha and Aurora.

Male Names

Recently, Apollo enjoyed a meteoric rise and shot up to the top spot for males.

The previous winner, Simba, has dropped similar to its female counterpart, Nala. It had previously led the list for five years.

Binx, Bear, and Milo are continual feline favorites and remain on the most popular list. Cosmo, Bandit, and Atlas are rising in the ranks, all newcomers to the top 10.

Top Cat Names Video

Popular Cat Names by Category

What distinguishes Find Cat Names from other cat-naming websites is that it sorts names by categories relevant to you and your cat. As a result, we feel like this is a great way to find names without sorting through endless A-Z lists.

Top Cute Cat Names

Year after year, our most popular category is “Cute.” After all, cute cats deserve cute names!

1. Autumn
2. Opal
3. Amber
4. Bailey
5. Rose
6. Cleo
7. Arlo
8. Angel
9. Ava
10. Hazel

Top Tough Cat Names

Tough names is also a popular category, especially for boy cats. Many new kitten parents love strong-sounding names that reflect their kitten’s tenacious personality.

1. Raven
2. Bandit
3. Freya
4. Shadow
5. Roxy
6. Midnight
7. Jinx
8. Axel
9. Ebony
10. Lucifer

Most Popular Sports Names

The top sports names come from great athletes (Tiger from golf, Ali from boxing, Dotty from baseball) and general sports-related terms like Blitz.

1. Moon
2. Bear
3. Piper
4. Ali
5. Tiger
6. Bandit
7. Blitz
8. Fuzzy
9. Dottie
10. Blaze

Most Popular Food Names

Once again, it looks like cat owners love the idea of naming their furry pals after foods. Food names like Bacon, Buttercup, Biscuit, Kiwi, Waffles, and Skittles composed much of the list.

1. Biscuit
2. Oreo
3. Cookie
4. Kiwi
5. Pumpkin
6. Buttercup
7. Ginger
8. Mocha
9. Cherry
10. Olive

Popular TV/Movie Cat Names

Movies and TV shows always provide great inspiration, and Disney is usually top of mind, hence why Simba and Nala are consistently popular names. Those names aside, here are ideas inspired by TV shows and movies.

1. Nala
2. Felix
3. Rocky
4. Bambi
5. Figaro
6. Milo
7. Dixie
8. Belle
9. Alice
10. Jinx

Popular Geeky Cat Names

Our geeky names are taken from technology and media that is considered ‘geeky.’ Geeks are fantastic, and so are these names!

1. Finn
2. Gizmo
3. Yoshi
4. Buffy
5. Princess
6. Nebula
7. Neo
8. Xena
9. Java
10. Chewie

Infographic

Here’s our infographic from all the data we gathered. Feel free to reuse this with a link back to findcatnames.com.

Try running a cat name search to find even more great cat names!

How are the results determined? 
Our site allows users to save their favorite names as they search, so to determine the most popular names of the year, we pulled this data and compiled the results.

About Find Cat Names
Founded in March 2014, Find Cat Names provides a fun, interactive experience for new cat owners looking for just the right pet name. The site allows users to sort names by preferred style and interests. More than 2 million people use Find Cat Names each year when picking a name for their cat.

Kyle Larson

Kyle is a professional web designer and author who keeps our cat name search tools running. He's also a writer & researcher helping provide great feline content.