People are increasingly giving their cats people names
Sophie. Chloe. Zoe. Fluffy. Which one is the cat?
If you picked "Fluffy," then you're probably wrong — cats are increasingly being given "human names," with the top five most popular female cat names being Luna, Chloe, Bella, Lucy, and Lily, as determined by Rover.com.
Here's where it gets weird: At least two of the most popular female cat names are among the most popular names for baby (human) girls, too. The name "Lucy" was the 8th most popular girls name in 2015 and the name "Chloe" is among the "top 10 hottest girls names," having seen the biggest jump in popularity from 2014 to 2015.
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The same is happening with male names, too. Top male cat names include Oliver and Milo, both of which were among the top 10 baby names for boys in 2015. Overall, when Rover.com crunched the numbers, they found that a whole 52 percent of cats were being given human names, a leap from a mere 22 percent that were given human names in 2014.
What people naming their pets "John" and "Jill" clearly don't realize, though, is that naming a cat is one of the only chances you have in life to bestow the goofiest possible name on another living being with the benefit of not having to foot the therapy bill later. (This message brought to you by Mars' human.)
Check out the full list of the top 10 male and female cat names over at Today.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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