Four out of five orange cats are male, every one of them is a tabby, and most of them are named after food. The lists below are sorted so you can skip straight to the kind of name you want: the classics, the famous ones, boys' names, the rarer girls' names, the funny ones, the Spanish ones, and the short ones a cat will actually turn around for.
Why there are so many boys
The gene for orange fur sits on the X chromosome. A male has one X, so one copy of the orange variant makes him orange. A female has two, and she needs the variant on both to be fully orange, which is a rarer roll. That's the whole reason roughly 80% of orange cats are male, and why an orange female is worth a second look. Which gene it was stayed a mystery for a century; two teams, at Stanford and at Kyushu University, found it independently in 2024 and published in 2025: a deletion near a gene called ARHGAP36 that no other orange mammal uses. Orange cats are, genetically, doing their own thing. This surprises nobody who has met one.
They are also all tabbies. The orange gene doesn't hide the stripe pattern the way black can, so even the smoothest-looking ginger has the M on the forehead and the rings on the tail if you look. Which is why half the names on this page are also tabby cat names, and why "Tigger" keeps winning.
About the one brain cell
The joke is that all orange cats share a single brain cell and take turns. There's no study behind it. What there is, is a 2012 survey of 189 people that found we rate orange cats as the friendliest color of cat, with no evidence that they are. So the stereotype runs both ways: sweetest and dimmest, both unmeasured. Our unscientific position is that orange cats are braver rather than dumber, and bravery in a cat looks exactly like stupidity from the outside. Name him accordingly.
The classics: food
Every orange cat has been called one of these at least once by a visitor. Own it or avoid it, but know the list.
- Cheeto, Nacho, Mango, Pumpkin, Ginger, Marmalade
- Cheddar, Butter, Waffles, Tango, Apricot, Peach
- Carrot, Paprika, Toast, Biscuit, Caramel, Nugget
- Dorito, Cheeto Puff, Fanta, Honeycomb, Pretzel, Tater
The famous orange cats
- Garfield, Puss (in Boots), Crookshanks, Milo (from Milo and Otis), Goose (the Flerken in Captain Marvel), Jones (the ship's cat in Alien)
- Orion (the cat with the galaxy on his collar in Men in Black), Oliver (from Oliver and Company), Morris (the 9Lives cat), Heathcliff, Spot (Data's cat on the Enterprise), Toulouse and Thomas O'Malley (The Aristocats)
- Bob (from A Street Cat Named Bob), Hobbes, Tigger, Simba, Nala, Ron and Ginny (the Weasleys, for the whole litter)
Boys' names, since it's probably a boy
Orange cats age into old men faster than any other color. Name him for the man he'll be at twelve.
- Rusty, Copper, Red, Blaze, Sunny, Leo
- Harold, Walter, Gus, Otis, Murray, Stanley
- Frank, Bruce, Carl, Dennis, Marvin, Archie
- Rufus, Clyde, Boris, Rocco, Duke, Ernie
Girls' names, for the rare one
If you've got an orange girl, you've got the one in five. Skip the food names; she's already a statistic.
- Clementine, Peaches, Goldie, Amber, Autumn, Saffron
- Penny, Ruby, Poppy, Marigold, Tangerine, Rosie
- Sienna, Phoenix, Flame, Honey, Dahlia, Nectarine
Funny orange cat names
For the cat who fell off the windowsill and looked at you like you did it.
- Sir Nacho, Orange Julius, Goober, Bozo, Chaos, Doofus
- Meatball, Sausage, Bean, Potato, Pudding, Dumpling
- Cheese, Carrot Top, Pumpkin Spice, Nacho Libre, Lasagna, Big Orange
Spanish names
The orange cat of every Cuban block has a name that's half a joke, and it works in both languages.
- Naranjo, Mandarina, Zana (short for zanahoria), Canela, Sol, Fuego
- Durazno, Dorado, Miel, León, Tigre, Rojo
- Rubio, Calabaza, Papaya, Chispa, Candela, Melón
One-syllable names, for the cat who ignores long ones
An orange cat will answer to the sound of the treat bag and, on a good day, to one syllable. "Bartholomew" gets you a tail flick and nothing else.
- Rex, Tig, Flint, Clay, Dune, Ray
- Finn, Mac, Buzz, Jack, Sam, Cash
- Moe, Zed, Ace, Hank, Cy, Tug
Names for the orange cat who isn't the stereotype
Some orange cats are shy, careful, and slightly offended by the reputation. They exist and they deserve better than "Cheeto".
- Birch, Reed, Cedar, Ochre, Sorrel, Rowan
- Ember, Quill, Tawny, Russet, Fable, Alder
The orange cat test
Orange cats get named fast, usually within a minute of the first photo, and usually after something in the fridge. Before you commit, run the name through the two moments it has to survive. The first is the vet's reception desk, out loud, in front of strangers: "Cheeto Puff, here for his shots." The second is the moment he's on top of the fridge with something in his mouth and you need him to come down now. A name that works in both is rarer than you'd think, and it's almost never the joke you picked first.
Then give it a week. Orange cats learn their name quickly and admit it slowly, on principle.
Once he has one
An orange cat prints well. That's not true of every color (ask anyone with a black cat), and it's why the orange cat collection leans on t-shirts, where a ginger tabby reads from across a room. The rest of a mixed household is on the calico, black cat and tuxedo pages, and the calicos have their own names post, with her own rules. For the person rather than the cat, start at gifts for cat lovers or the home and gifts department.
And if the name you picked is a pun, the cat puns post will tell you which surface it belongs on. Not the vet's form.
One color, one brain cell, one name. If it's food, you're in good company. If it's "Sir Nacho", you're in better company than you know.