Louis Louie, or, how the kitten got his name

So, how did I settle on Louis for a name for the kitten, and how do you pronounce it anyway? Louis with the "ess" sounded, or Louie?



First things first. When I got my cat Bridie, I went through a few names in my head: Hiedi, because she hid from me for the first few days (she was a VERY timid creature in her early years, and while she warmed up to me and my then partner fairly quickly, it took her about a decade to really be comfortable with visitors outside regular family members). Glad I didn't—Heidi's a terrible name for anyone but Swiss children with plaits and brothel madams.

I also toyed with Holly, as she was more or less a Christmas cat (she came into my life at the start of the Christmas school holidays in 1989) but that didn't seem right either. (I have good friends who have a cat called Holly, who is now an elderly lady—they got her not long after I got Bridie.)

So I turned to A Book of Literary Days, which someone had given me as a gift, and looked up Bridie's birthday. According to the fellow who was giving her and her litter mates away, she was born on the Monday of the October long weekend, which that year was October 28, which was Evelyn Waugh's birthday and Evelyn Waugh wrote Brideshead Revisited and so—Bridie! (She did occasionally also get called Brideshead by my dad and my sister Alison, although the ex and I used to call her Bridget McGillicuddy for short. Don't ask me why—lost in the mists of time!)

So as I did with Bridie, I turned to my Book of Days for the Literary Year to name the new kitten. According to the paperwork the RSPCA had, he was born on October 1, which makes him 11 weeks old. I kinda doubt this, actually: he looks closer in size to 6 weeks to me, but what do I know? So with only the word of the good folk at the RSPCA to go on, October 1 it is and so the kitten was born on the same day as a US writer and editor named Louis Untermeyer.

Louis, I thought, although actually I thought "Louie". That's not a bad name for a rather wild young kitten. Louie (spelled Louis). I tried it out, it felt fine in my mouth and it seemed to suit him, but I wasn't entirely sure, partly because I didn't know anything about Louis Untermeyer, and I wanted to be sure he was someone I would want my kitten named for.

So I read about Untermeyer on Wikipedia and discovered that he married several times and edited collections of literature for children. Well, I liked the sound of the latter, if not so much the former, so I turned to my trusty friends on the child_lit listserve, because I knew that someone there (or several someones) would know more about him. And indeed they did. Turns out some of the poetry collections edited by Untermeyer for children had been deeply important to and influential on some of my colleagues on child_lit, and they encouraged to name the kitten for him.

(Also turns out Untermeyer appeared on What's My Line and was blacklisted by the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities, both of which immediately endeared him to me!)

And as it happens, I had another reason for liking the name Louis. Meet Me In St Louis is one of my favourite movies, especially at Christmas, and I always love the conversation between Tootie (Margaret O'Brien) and Mr Neely the ice man (Chill Wills) about the correct pronunciation of "Louis":

TOOTIE: Is Robin a girl horse or a boy horse?

MR NEELY: Girl.

TOOTIE: How old is she?

MR NEELY 4.

TOOTIE: She's awful big for 4. I'm 5. Is she strong?

MR NEELY: Strongest ice horse in St. Louie.

TOOTIE: Excuse me, Mr. Neely, but it's pronounced St. Louis.

MR NEELY: Is it, now? I've got a cousin spells it the same way, and we call him Louie.

TOOTIE: He's not a city, though, is he.

MR NEELY: No.

TOOTIE: Is he a saint?

MR NEELY: No.

TOOTIE: Then there's no comparison.

And so in the spirit of the kitten, like Mr Neely's cousin, being neither a saint nor a city, I decided he shall be Louis, spelled the way Mr Untermeyer spelled it, but pronounced Louie.

I had toyed with a couple of other possibilities: Ollie kept popping into my head, and then someone suggested Charlie, in keeping with the Dickensian theme of this blog, but by then Louis (Louie) had taken hold and then, lo! on Wednesday Louis knew his name.

And so Louis he is. And he has the name tag to prove it.


(No nametag pic yet, sorry!)

As for Cooper, well, that's his name. It was the name he came into the RSPCA with, and while for a day and a half I kept wanting to call him Jasper (I have NO idea why!), he clearly knows he's Cooper and is extremely responsive to his name and so Cooper he is. I felt kind of weird about changing his name anyway, and I think this photo expresses his opinion on the prospect perfectly!


Next post, what I know about Cooper—apart from the fact that he is a total sweetheart and a some-time escapologist!