There is someone I would like for you to meet.

Doesn’t this picture just break your heart? I went to the Brazos Animal Shelter today and picked him out. There were lots of sweet cats there, but this little one…I just couldn’t resist him.

I don’t know much about him. He is male. About 3 months old. And he understands Polish. I asked if he understood Polish, and he responded. This is great, I plan to speak to him exclusively in Polish.

My sweet kitten is still at the animal shelter. How this whole pet adoption thing works, is you go pick it out, then they send it to the vet to get neutered, and then I pick him up from the vet. So, I will bring him home on Monday!

So…my Polish cat needs a name!

I have a few favorites. But first, let me explain Polish names.

In Poland, there is a registry of names from which one must choose. You can’t name your kid anything you want (like Apple or Suri or Bronx Mowgli). The name has to be Polish. All names must identify the gender, so all female names end in -a (Mariola, Agata, Dorota, etc.)

Also, all names have diminutive forms. For example, in English we have the normal name Timothy, the common nick name Tim, and the cutesy nick name Timmy. In Polish this is Tymoteusz/Tymek/Tymuś. I plan on calling my cat by the common nickname, bolded below.

Anyways, here are my favorites:

Bolesław (BOWL-uh-suave)/Bolek (BOWL-ek)/Bolesławuś (bowl-uh-SUAVE-oosh). This is the name of the first king of Poland. It is the equivalent of naming a cat Roosevelt or Lincoln. This name is very self-important, which is the disposition of most cats. I love that about cats.

Piotr (pee-OAT-r)/Piotrek (pee-OAT-wreck)/Piotruś (pee-OAT-roosh). This is my favorite Polish name, but it is the Polish equivalent of Peter/Pete/Petey, which was the name of my last cat, and I want this little one to have his own identity. He is not a replacement cat or anything like that. But I LOVE this name.

Wociech (VOY-cheh)/Wojtek (VOY-tek)/Wojtuś (VOY-toosh). Remember this post about Wojtek? Oh, my sweet friend who is like my crazy Polish uncle. I described him as “the silly, strange, scrappy man we all love…Not only does Wojtek look like Rodeo Clown meets Sonny Bono, he laughs like Tigger.” It would be neat to name my cat after Wojtek.

Michał (MEE-how)/Michaś (MEE-hosh). This is the Polish equivalent of Michael. I like this name because it sounds like “meow”. I think that’s pretty clever.

After we get a little more acquainted, I will pick the name that I think suits him best.

So…leave your comments and tell me what you think! Which names are the easiest for a non-Polish speaker to pronounce? Which names do you like or not like? Any other suggestions??