Cat Names That Start With N

Ned is a gently old-fashioned Nancy Drew-Bobbsey Twins-era short form for Edward that sounds cooler than Ed and is enjoying a small style renaissance.

Noam is an underused modern Hebrew name with any number of attractive attributes attached to its meaning; it doesn't have the biblical weight of Noah, but could make a more distinctive alternative to that popular choice. Noam is a Top 10 boys' name in Israel.

When R & B singer Nivea made this highly original choice for her daughter's name, she claimed to have thought of it in terms of the color and not the seagoing armed service. You can look at it either way.

A name that Yanks might see as overly British, but combined with the right surname, it does have a measure of Sherlock Holmesian dash via Nigel Bruce, who played the original Dr. Watson to Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes.

A Disney name—Nala was the friend who became the wife of Simba, hero of The Lion King. It debuted on the US Top 1000 in 2015.

Has a pure, clean aura, but is also evocative.

Nyx is the name of the Greek goddess of the night. It's used for baby boys in small numbers.

Nikita – a masculine Russian name deriving from the Greek name Niketas, meaning "victory" – has come a long way from portly post-Stalin Soviet leader Khrushchev to the female spy/assassin in the movie and TV series La Femme Nikita.

An enchanting ancient Greek name belonging to the Greek goddess who was created from a cloud by Zeus and so became goddess of the clouds and mother of the centaurs. The name Nephele is not widely known but as among modern parents become used to Phoebe, Penelope, and Persephone, it may become one of the ancient Greek goddess names that's back in the mix.

Singer Nivea used this unusual color/seafaring name for her daughter, but it has possibilities for a boy too.

Projects an air of power and speed.

This rarely used New Testament name could make an unusual route to the cool nickname Nico. Nicodemus (Noddy) Boffin is a character in the Dickens novel Our Mutual Friend.

A wise ruler of legend--his sage advice helped the Greeks win the Trojan War--whose name is a possibility for the adventurous, though related in sound to the dated Lester-Hester family.

Pretty name that hit the popularity charts in England in the late 1990s.

Attractive, simple Japanese choice that, while not strictly unisex, could work even better for a girl, especially now that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West use it as the nickname for their daughter North. Nori is also the name of an edible seaweed used in wrapping sushi.

One of the best known early Nemos was the captain in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, while the more familiar modern one is the animated little orange fish in the Disney movie. Unusual name well worth considering. By the way, there is also a Shakespearean Nemo and one in Dickens's Bleak House. An enchanting early comic strip by Winsor McCay was called Little Nemo.

This Roman mythology (and planet) name would be very hard to handle. It derives from a root meaning cloud.

Invented for Bellini's opera, Norma had some star quality in the silent-screen and Marilyn Monroe days, but at this point it's a graying grandma in baby name limbo.

Australian writer Wendy Orr put this name on the map with her hit Nim's Island" series of children's books, about a smart young girl who lives on an island in the South Pacific. Abigail Breslin played Nim in a 2008 film adaptation of the book.

A much more dynamic nickname than Nicky for any of the Nic-names. Nico was chosen by Thandiwe Newton for her daughter.