What Was She Thinking?!

I brought the new cat home last night. He's an exotic shorthair (which is to say he's a shorthair Persian). The name on his CFA papers is M&M. I had misunderstood my co-worker and thought she was saying Eminem, the singer. Nonetheless, that's not a name for a cat. Sunny didn't take the newcomer as well as I had hoped he would and in fact moped around the house treating me like a cheating spouse. :-(

After spending a little time with the new cat last night (I kept him in his cat carrier in my bedroom after letting him out to explore a bit and attempt to meet Sunny), I've decided on a name for him. My original thought was to name him Dante, after the main character in my favorite movie, Clerks. But that just didn't seem right. Tobias came to mind and it seems to fit him. So Tobias he will be.

Here's a great poem by T.S. Eliot about cat names. And a few photos of Tobias. Enjoy!

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 THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, or George or Bill Bailey -
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter -
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum -
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover -
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.