Cat Names That Start With M

A name that's appeared out of thin air, in the same vein as such mystical favorites as Destiny and Nevaeh.

German philosopher and revolutionary socialist Karl Marx will be most people's immediate association with this uncommon name. The author of The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital is widely considered to be the father of international communism.

Modesty is a virtue name dating to Roman times, but never widely used, except for hot 1960s movie spoof heroine, Modesty Blaise, based on a comic strip.

Prime pert-teenager name in midcentury TV shows, replaced by Maggie.

Marjoram is a herb and flower. With nicknames like Margie and Jo at the ready, we think that if Marigold can make a comeback, why not Marjoram?

Maybellene is the true one-of-a-kind baby name that Taylor and Natalie Hanson chose for their daughter in 2020. It's a variation of Maybelline, which is itself an elaboration of the name Mabel. The Maybellene spelling makes it one step removed from the cosmetics brand.

Manzie was an obscure one-person name until Woody Allen used it for his young daughter, named after jazz drummer Manzie Johnson. Johnson played with another jazz musician, Sidney Bechet, whose last name Allen used for his other little girl.

Mandolin may seem like an outlandish choice for a name, but since BANJO has been used as a baby name, all the instruments in the band seem to be auditioning for a place on birth certificates. This one comes with a real name nickname, MANDY.

Maroochy Barambah, an Australian singer, brought this name into prominence in Australia.

Merilee and Merrilee were early respelled or word names, ahead of their time in some ways. Merrilee hit the Top 1000 for a couple of years in the 1940s, but last year no baby girls were given either version of the name in the US, which makes it more appealing.

The names from which Meja derived, including Meinhild and Magnhild, are long gone, but a Swedish singer called Meja (born Anna Pernilla Torndahl) has piqued interest in this modern derivative. Meja is now a Top 100 name in Sweden.

As a name, it's linked to Sir Mulberry Hawk, a character in Charles Dicken's Nicholas Nickleby.

When British rocker Steven Patrick Morrissey decided to use his last name alone, it became a viable option for baby namers, a lot cooler than Morris or Maurice, with the nice three-syllable lilt of of such other Irish surnames as Finnegan and Flanagan. It can also be spelled Morrisey.