I'm in a quandary. When I decided that the white kitten from the Rock and Roll litter was the baby I would adopt, at that point it was up to me to name him. Hurricane Harvey was already a thing, but at that point it was either still churning and yet to make landfall, or it had already come and gone. I figured the reference to Elwood P Dowd's best friend was a much stronger reference than a hurricane, and people would understand why I named a white bunny of a boy cat that name. The people in the family who have known me long enough to know how much I love the story of Harvey (the play/movie) thought it was great, and my daughter who is fostering his whole litter immediately started referring to him as a Pooka because of it.
But now, I have another negative connotation to the name Harvey to contend with. The serial predator in the news has me second guessing myself. Do I really want to think of Harvey Weinstein while I'm cuddling my new kitten? Can I compartmentalize and never associate the two?
When he was first born, and I got to go out to California and see all of the kittens at barely one week old, we decided on a Rock and Roll theme because of their mama. Without questioning her impulse, my daughter named her Billie Jean. It wasn't because of the tennis star, and it wasn't because of the Michael Jackson song. It was because it just seemed right. But the song inspired the names for the babies. My first contribution to the crew was to call the calico "Lida Rose." The name didn't stick once I realized she wasn't the kitten I was adopting, and I was fine with my neighbor's girlfriend renaming her River for River Song and River Tam. My first idea for the white kitten was Flash, for the Queen song. But everyone else had two names, and the song isn't Flash Gordon, it's just Flash. So the name became Richard Hell. I thought, sure, I always liked the song Blank Generation, so why not?
Over the weekend while I was there, I picked up all of the kittens to cuddle. I thought I would feel an instant connection with the calico, but as I found myself accidentally calling her Cricket (after my calico who died in 2014), I thought maybe I should not adopt her as a substitute. I couldn't stop picking up the white baby. I figured out he was the one. And now that I know it, I cannot wait to get him.
But the name. Do I stick with Harvey, after the two notorious Harveys that have broken the internet since he was born? Is it still okay? I don't want to go back to Richard. It felt awkward, especially since I have an uncle named that. I don't want to double up family names. Pooka is a great nickname, I admit, but the old man cat who died two months earlier than Cricket, was named Torden and nicknamed Poo. So that feels weird too. In my head I've thought of him as Flash many times. I still kind of like it, but it feels like a nickname too.
Oh, what is a crazy cat lady to do?
No comments:
Post a Comment