Eva enjoys sitting in the sink.

I’ll never forget the scene in Logan’s Run where Peter Ustinov tells Logan that cats have more than one name. He does, in fact, quote T.S. Eliot:

You know, they’ve each got three names. Yes. The naming of cats is a difficult matter, It’s just not one of your holiday games; You may think at first that I am mad as a hatter, When I tell you that each cat’s got three different names. See, they got their ordinary name and then they got their fancy name. And that makes two names, doesn’t it? And now it’s got a third name. Can either of you two guess what that third name is? Come on! Above and beyond, there’s one name that’s left over, and this is the name you never will guess. The name that no human research can discover, but the cat itself knows, and never will confess.

I think about the various names my cats have and how they choose the name they respond to. Matilda knows her name is Matilda, but she responds more frequently to “The Baby”. Oatmeal, same circumstance. He responds to his first name, but also comes when I call him “Oatsie” or “Oats”. For our amusement, we also call Oatmeal “Flambo” or “Sir Fluffbottom” and Matilda “Tillypants” or “Tilly”. They haven’t necessarily expressed fondness for any of those.

Eva, our recent addition to the family, at 3.5 years old, came to us with a name her previous owner had chosen. We didn’t think it was a good idea to give her a new name, but we noticed that she doesn’t respond to “Eva.” Her ears don’t perk up when we say it so it’s obvious she isn’t ignoring us. The other cats (as cats do) will ignore us, but their ears will (at the very least) twinge when any of their names are spoken. Not with Eva. Not even a twitch.

When she first came to us, we immediately started thinking of funny nicknames. Just ’cause it’s funny. As an added bonus, she makes the most adorable sounds that aren’t your every day cat sounds. They’re more like beeps, squeaks, or the sound a bicycle horn makes. One day, she came into the room and I said, “There’s Beeps!” and she ran up to me. It caught on. I noticed that when I called her “Beeps”, she was more likely to come to me or make her whereabouts known, even if she was hiding.

It’s not like we consciously chose the name “Beeps”. I said the word and she liked it. She decided she likes the name “Beeps”. I honestly don’t know why. It’s the strangest thing, the words or names cats latch onto. I’m so fascinated by it. They really do decide what they want to be called. I mean, if I were to change her name, I wouldn’t necessarily choose Beeps. It’s a cute name, but it’s not my first choice. I might have gone with something more formal, but that’s just me. She will always officially (and on record) be named “Eva”, but her nickname is Beeps and she likes it just fine. I guess I do too.

Photo: AJB