What's wrong with Earl?

How about Pearl?

Twirl?

Twirly?

It’s the rl combo that drives me crazy!

I mean nicknames will happen organically. My kitties are called all sorts. One is pretty sure his name is biggun because he’s huge, and then small beans and soft trongle (triangle boy) are all not their names. Just let the love flow and a nickname will follow.

It doesn’t roll off the tongue at all. The rl combo is taxing to me. Also, I knew an Earl once. I didn’t like him.

Earl twirls his pearls as a whirl of swirls twirl around him in the world.

Gahhh!

http://www.newkitten.com?

Oh hang on, that's URL, not Earl.

Yep, you done goofed. The name's adorable, your daughter's in love with it, and it really does seem to irk you. Good news is you only need to live with it for a decade or two.

So I guess “whirl” is out.

Look, if this is distressing to you, just try explaining it again to your daughter and find a new name together.

My cat was named Talia when I got her (a name I have bad associations with). It took about a week, maybe two at most, for her to understand that her name isn’t Talia anymore, it’s Riley.

Honestly I’d just make up a bunch of other things to call him, like “Early” or “Greyboi” and never call him the name you hate, only variations of it that still provide the reinforcement you’re looking for. Sorry your cat turned out to be named something you hate. Maybe it’ll change as he starts showing more personality, or you’ll grow to hate it less.

How about "Al"

>Any suggestions for nicknames that sound enough like Earl that he won’t be too confused?

Early.

E.G.

It doesn’t irk me at all! Where is that coming from?!

Early is the pretty clear answer here. I don’t know if the old notion that cats respond better to names ending in a long e sound is a myth or not but I stick to it with my cats and it works for me.

I’ve been calling him Early Bird. I think the y softens the rl. I was hoping someone would come up with something better, but I’ll probably stick with Early Bird. :)

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Call him Urkel Grey then, from that sitcom Family Matters.

Yes, that should help matters. :|

Sorry if I was unclear—“it” was referring to “the name” in my comment, and I was basing it (the comment) off of your responses about the rl combo being taxing to you and driving you crazy. But I’m glad you seem to like Early a bit more!

Oh, okay! I see. Sorry. I love that my daughter loves the name and the kitten. I just… This seems to be a quirk of mine, but some words bug me. I won’t say what it is, by my own beloved husband’s name is hard for me to say happily. I call him by a pet name, so it doesn’t matter much though. I prefer names that end in R or Y for ease of use. Or even just a single consonant! I’m not THAT difficult. Haha

Pearl Gray

Earl the Pearl

Early Pearly

Hey, My Name is Earl

Call him Toe Jam.

I would probably end up calling him Tea. But of course that doesn’t sound anything like Earl. :) Early Bird is really cute though, I say to stick with that.

We used to have a cat named Pearly. Purr-ly.

I’m sorry, Earl. Your consonant cluster just isn’t for me.

Call him Early.

Sirly (Sir Earl)?

This is both hilarious and painful. Well done!

My kids named my cats Josh and Pizza. Good luck.

Since when does any cat have just one name? Earl may be his official name for vet documents but he can have any nickname you feel like. My friend has a cat named Loki but usually I address him as Buddy or Kitty. Or Fucker if he bites me.

My son named ours “Pot Roast” 🤷🏼‍♀️

I think Earl Tea is awesome

I forgot about this duo until now 🤣🤣

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“Does that seem right to you?”

Before my cat died, we called her by like, 5 different nicknames, and over time she would recognize every single time and would sometimes come when mentioned. I don't know how common this is tho.

Think if it as a title and not a name. As in Earl Grey the wise. Maybe that context will help you out. Makes the kitten sound as he is descended from nobility. Cats act like that anyway, right?

Pearl

You're just going to call them by pss pss anyways

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"The naming of cats is a difficult matter. It isn't just one of your holiday games. You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter, when I tell you a cat must have 3 different names."

My cats name is Luna and she will turn when I say Luna, Luna tuna, Looney, my baby, Lil girl, I can't think of them all but she knows them as her name. When I call her sister she ignores me because she knows I'm not addressing her. Cats are smarter than most people give them credit. If a cat doesn't come when you call them or even acknowledge you then they are just being cats they ignore you when they don't want to be bothered or they are not in the mood. If my cat would always act weird or ignore me I would probably go get their ears check but yea unless they have a hearing problem they ignore when they want but they truly know their name or nicknames.

As long as you never call him late to dinner.

Call him Gravy. Gray-V

Just call him Gray

Dawg that's the funniest name for a cat on the planet. Earl???? Incredible. I would be grinning like a buffoon every single time I called him that. I understand you don't like it and I'm sorry but that name fucking rules.

thats what all the ladies call me ;)

Our cat we had back when my husband and I were newlyweds was officially Amidala, but we called her Ami, and eventually Amipunk cause she was a bit of a punk!! 😂😜😂

In my experience most cats are called kitty or kitty cat. Problem solved…😝

Suck it up

Call him "The Earl" as if it's a title, rather than a name.

Or give him any number of ridiculous nicknames because our cats don't respond to their names anyway, lol.

Our dog is named Molly. Her nicknames are: Git, No, Down, Molly-Mo-Molly, Queen Molly of her Holy Realm of All The Earth, and Dippitty-Doo and she answers to all of them

Our cat is named Bruce. His nicknames are: Batman, Batcat, Rat Bastard, His Royal Highness, Saint Bruce; and Saint Bruce Frankfurt the Third, Esquire. He answers to none of them. He does answer to cans opening, so maybe the problem is a language barrier…

Download a soundboard of Jean-Luc Picard phrases to your phone and use that instead of saying his name yourself.

Common

Call him: Purrl Grey

“DUKE”.
As in Duke of Earl

My one cat's name is Pip but I only call her Poop or Poopsie. She was really sick as a kitten with parasites and explosive diarrhea and even though she's been healthy for years, sometimes a tiny little turd randomly falls out of her butt while she's running.

It's not like the cat knows and will respond to the name (unless you're a very patient and dedicated trainer). One of our cats has gone through a bunch of names. She started as S'Mores, then became Mittens, then Nibbles (or Nibs for short), and now she's Moira Rose/Moira/Moimoi (pronounced moymoy if it's not obvious).

She had a bonus one day name of Nugget. She ran away and was missing for over a month before I got a text from SavethisPet (pet tracking chip company) that she had been found and taken to the shelter. I tracked down the people who found her to thank them. They said they called her Nugget because she looked hungry and they fed her a Chic-Fil-A nug.

CHIP YOUR PETS, people!

All my cats have known and respond to their names. I hear people say cats don’t know their names, but this isn’t my experience. One of my cats, Mervyn, LOVES his name. If you call him he’ll come to you, and if you say his name while petting him he gets all squinty eyed and purrs harder. It’s very cute.

https://candicehern.com/regency-world/glossary/titles-and-forms-of-address/

earl/countess: the Earl/Countess [of] Titlename, addressed as Lord/Lady Titlename

so Lord Grey

Color me jealous! That would be awesome!

I was in a similar situation when I was like 3. A stray cat adopted us, so eventually we made it official and got her shots and whatnot. Dad, jokingly, says we should name her Pizza Face. I wouldn't let him not call her Pizza Face.

Be grateful you're calling for Earl and not Pizza Face.

When she says he name does she say Earl Grey or just Earl if Earl Grey you could call him Mr Grey

Well now his name is Early or Eeg

Both, but mostly just Earl. I’ll try that and see if it sticks. Thanks.

Therapy, lady.

By that logic you should just leave this phrase on most of the posts on Reddit.

Teabag

Call him Grey? I personally don't Really like the name Earl anyways, so I'd probably the as a title or use the full name in a fun way. " Mr. Earl Gray, would you like some food?" something like that.

I think you just have to say it to them a lot. And reward them with petting and treats when they respond. Also, some cats are smarter than others. Although… hmm. We have one cat who is a little feather-brained, but even she knows her name. I must be accidentally good at reinforcing their names.

Your daughter's name isn't Maryann or Wanda is it?

My fats have various names such as Bubbles, Mr Bubbles, snugglemuffin, Mr muffin, big boy, fatso, Tina you fat lard, etc.

Bless your heart.

Bow to fate.

Earl is a title, like Duke or Prince.

Just insert a first name for mister Grey. You can find out how he behaves and see if his First Name manifests itself, or if you want to stick with the “grey” theme I can list a few names you might like:

Ash Silver Storm Smokey Steel Shade Alloy Pewter

If you want a less literal grey name, you can always use a traditionally human one. Many languages have names they mean “grey”.

Can't get over the name Josh for a cat.

Pizza is fine, but Josh is something else entirely and I can't stop laughing 😂

The best part is she was three when she named him that. We don’t know anyone named Josh. I have absolutely no idea where it came from.

I call him squash most of the time cause I agree, Josh is a ridiculous cat name lol. Squash isn’t much better though, maybe it would work if he was orange 😂

Call him Tea.

Tina you fat lard has me cackling. Thanks lmao

So just call him Grey, and she can call him Earl. The cat will figure out it's him.

You don’t have to share everything that comes to your mind, you know?

> Daughter says I should just make up a nickname and call him that instead, but I want him to know his name.

Why?

The name Early is going to morph 1000 times like all kitty names and he’ll end up with a cute name. Start with Eraly Baby and go from there.

Earls are nobles, just call him "Milord."

You’d be surprised how many names a cat can figure out are theirs. I have at least 3 for one of my cats. And any of those 3 will have her running to me if I call. Doesn’t matter which one. Cats are very intelligent. Make up a cute nickname that you like, call kitty that, and your daughter can still call him Earl/Earl Grey/whatever makes her happy. The cat will figure it out and understand.

What rl combo? In AmEng you can kind of hear some slightly suggested r, but just skip it and say the kitten has an English name!

Pronunciation of Earl

call him Jason Todd

Cats can't write lists.

Yupp, one of our cats growing up was literally just called Kitty.

Yeah he’d be “Early kitty, Early babies, or simply E.G or even Eggie.”

We had a cat named lumpy bc when we found him he had a herniated spleen, and you could see the lump poking out from his tummy. Friends of animals actually paid for the, at the time experimental surgery which the vet said he had a 30% chance of surviving. He survived and became a pet therapy cat for a 4-H club I was a part of. Great cat he lived to be 23

[Edit: spelling]

I named my cat who’s now a year old Lilith and I love that name for her; however one of my younger siblings often calls her “Lilly” and it drives me crazy for some reason 😅

But oh well, not much I can do about it lol. The important thing is that Lilith is a wonder family member, and the sweetest kitty I know!

https://preview.redd.it/7uft9idw4ifa1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=e951565f33361364bb765032232b9ca59b37f6ce

Considering you suggested a 2 name combo, might want to call him the latter? doesn't look that hard to figure thsi out...

Just adopt a stuffy British accent and call him Lord Earl Grey Fuzzbutt

E.G

Just call him egg

It’s a cat so it’s probably a goober. Earl grey goober or egg for short

To kill it more for you, think of the Dixie Chicks song 😈

Call him Tea, Earl Grey, Hot.

Or Picard once he learns his name.

My friends adopted a stray cat and called him Earl - short for feral (pronounced fer- Earl) they said. I liked it. And he was a cool cat. So when I had a stray cat frequent my apartment years later I named him Earl too. I tried to bring him inside once but he just sprayed everything and scratched to get out so that was the end of that. But to me, a Earl is a great cat name.

So my cats actual name is Elvis. Things that we call him include: big kitty, baby angel, elveeess, sir, white cat. There are more to. He answers to what he wants to answer to.

We also have Gremylyn. Things we call her include Grumpy Lyn. Gremlin. Grem. Gremmy. Gremmy goo. Baby. Grumble. She will answer to anything said in the right tone. And she will often answer with her deep mer-rou.

I think its a safe bet that your baby will also answer to more than one name.

We have a cat named Mr. Grey. That's his whole name, but definitely an option here