If you’re looking for the best French cat name for your kitty with that “je ne sais quoi, check out this list: From French celebrity names to French food-inspired names and everything in between, find the perfect one that best fits the personality of your furry feline friend. (+ the meanings where appropriate.)
Male & Female French Cat Names: Organised by Character & Personality
Instead of making an endless list of random French names for cats organized alphabetically, I decided to group names by Personality or interest. My goal was to make it easier to find the Best French cat names.
- Love a certain city? What about naming your cat after a French city like Paris or Marseille.
- Does you cat love to scratch a lot? What about Griffeur (scratcher)
- Love cheese? What about
Camembert ? - etc. etc. etc.
Nicknames for a cat in French
The french word for cat is chat and kitten is chaton.
- The Cat: Le chat \Luh-Shaw\
- The Kitten: Le chaton \Luh-Sha-Tonh\
But there are many more ways to refer to a cat or kitten in French. Here are some cute cat nicknames and terms of endearment you can use not only to call your cats and kittens but people too. Their English equivalent would be something like “kitty”.
- Minou:
- Minouche:
- Minette :
- Chatoune:
French words that begin with CHAT…
These are words that start with “Chat,” the French word for cat. My favourite is Chateaubriand.
- Chateau: Castle
- Chateaubriand: large center-cut filet mignon, roasted and served alongside potatoes and a sauce
- Chatouille: Tickle
- Monsieur Chatouille: Mr. Tickles
- Chataigne: Chestnut
- Chatou: a french town near Paris.
- Achat: To buy
- Galuchat= shagreen (a natural hide, typically from shark, stingray or dogfish)
Chapeauté: A fun name to give your cat if you’re a fan of “cat in the hat”, which in French is “Chat chapeauté”
French Body Parts
Childish names for male and female genitalia are popular terms of endearment and considered cute words.
Try out these two names, which roll off the tongue and are so fun to say.
- Zézette: kid name for female genitalia. Is also the name of a pastry from Sète.
- Zizi: kid name for penis, like Willy or wiener.
Historical Famous French People names for male cats
- Napoleon
- Bonaparte
- Louis or Lous IVX
- Louis Pasteur
- Jacques Cousteau
- Matisse
- Monet
- Rimbaud
- Renoir
Historical Famous French People Cat names for Females
- Marie Antoinette
- Madam Curie or just Curie
- Mona Lisa: not French, but she is located in the Louvre.
- Coco
Chanel - Coco
Chanel - Dior
- Jeanne d’Arc
French people names For Cats
The list of French names you can choose for your cats is endless. I’ve only included a few stereotypical names as possibilities for female and male cat names.
Male French Cat Name
- Beauchamp
- Beauregard
- Bouvier
- Didier
- Dominique
- François
- Gaston
- Guillaume
- Jacques
- Jean-Louis
- Jean-paul
- Marcelle
- Pascal
- Pierre
- Sergio
Female French Cat Names
- Amandine
- Amelie
- Charlotte
- Delphine
- Elle
- Fifi
- Frostine
- Lilou
- Margot
- Odette
- Ophelie (popular cat name)
- Suzette
French City Names:
If parents can name their children after famous cities like Paris, why not?
- Nîmes: this is where the English word for denim comes from (de Nîmes) from Nimes.
- Paris
- Provence
- Dijon
- Marseille
- Toulouse
French Names For Mean Cats & Grumpy Cats too
- Clochard: Hobo
- Mechant: Mean
- Mordeur : Biter
- Griffeur : Scratcher
- Malain : Sly, cunning
- Mégot: Cigarette butt
- Bêtise: bête can mean both “beast” and “stupid.” Bêtise has a wide range of meanings, crazy, stupid, nonsense, mischief.
- Bouffon: Joker
- Lagaffe: The mistake
French names for Gourmand Cats
Does your cat have a sweet tooth? Will they eat anything you put in front of them?
Here is a collection of French cat names based on French food and cooking terms.
Savoury Food Names For Gourmand Cats
- Croque monsieur
- Croque madame
- Escargot: Snails
- Kebab: A popular type of fast food in France that looks like a burrito
- Calisson: Almond paste candy from Provence
- Quenelle \KA-Nell\: Football-shaped poached dough, a specialty from Lyon.
- Boudin: A type of sausage, usually blood sausage.
- Cornichon: Looks like a miniature cucumber.
- Patate: another name for a potato in French
- Truffe:
Truffle - Soufflé: means puffed up or puffy as in chocolate or egg soufflé.
- Moutarde: Mustard
- Mayonnaise
- Caviar:
- Ravioli
- Sardine
Sweet Food Names For Gourmand Cats
- Bonbon: Candy
- Canelle: Cinamon
- Caramel
- Cassonade: Brown Sugar
- Chocos: A chocolate breakfast cereal sold in France and other European countries
- Gâteau: Cake
- Chantilly: Whipped cream
- Choquette: a typical French puff pastry made with pâte à choux
- Guimauve: Marshmallow
- Haribo: Brand of candy popular in France.
- Tagada: well known pink candy
- Chamallow: Marshmallow name by Haribo candy brand.
- Kinder
- Nutella
- Miel: Honey
- Pâte à choux \Pata-shoe\: A pastry dough used in many recipes such as profiteroles, cream puffs, and eclairs.
- Sucette: lollipop/sucker
French Fruit and Nut Names For Cats
If you have a nutty cat who acts like a fruitcake, try these names out for size.
- Cacahuète \Caca-wet\: Peanut
- Clementine: A small citrus, like a cross between a tangerine and mandarin orange.
- Noisette: Hazelnut, the same stuff Nutella is made out of.
- Pistache: Pistachio
- Mirabelle: a small sweet yellow plum most commonly grown in the Lorraine region of France.
- Prunelle: Small blue prune. The French expression “Prunelle de mes yeux” is the equivalent to “apple of my eye”
French Cooking Terms As Cat Names
- Croquer: to take a bite
- Popote: Mess hall where soldiers eat. It has come to mean a simply cooked meal with no frills, like one would eat in a mess hall.
- Papillote: “in paper” refers to a cooking technique that uses built-up steam inside a folded piece of parchment paper.
- Roux: French cooking term for flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces.
French Wine And Cheese Names For Cats
French Cheese Names
Camembert Brie - Beaufort
Cantal Raclette Roquefort
Wine Names
- Rosé
- Pineau
- Beaujolais
- Champagne
- Pastis: an anise-flavoured liqueur invented in France in the 1930s, often served as an aperitif drink
- Chardonnay
- Grenache: one of the most widely planted red wine grape
Cartoons
- Pepe le pew:
- Pépé le putois: French name for Pépé Le Pew
- Gaston
- Spirou
- Tin Tin
- Madeleine
- Asterix
- Nicolas \Nik-Olah\
- Lucky Luke \Looky-luke\
- Babar
- Cendrillon: Cinderella
Cute & Cuddly French Cat Names
- Bobo: a boo-boo or owie
- Bisou; bisou is a
kiss - Câlin: Cuddle
- Doudou: Teddy Bear
- Doudoune: big puffy jacket
- Mignon \Min-Yonh: Cute
- Papouille: a very tender or light tickle
- Peluche: Stuffed animal
- Poilu: Hairy
Fat Cat? Fat French terms of endearment.
- Bouboule: French slang for fatty
- Boulotte: Big and short.
- Ourson: Diminutive of bear
- Pérpère: Gramps, grandpakids. Has another connotation: tubby, chubby.
- Rondelet: Rotund, chubby
Classy French Cat Names
- Monsieur / Madame / Mademoiselle
- Bijou: Jewel
- Chic
- Duchesse
- Diva
- Lafayette: as in the famous department store in Paris and other major French cities.
- Mystique
- Panache: Flamboyant, with a classy flair. In French, this has a second meaning. It’s the name of a fancy feather that gets bigger towards the tip usually worn in hats or helmets. This is where the English term comes from because these feathers were very flamboyant and fancy.
- Prince / Princesse
- Pirouette: A ballet move (a complete turn on the toe or ball of one foot.)
- Pompon: decorative Pom-pom balls
- Paillette: Sparkly and glittery things used to decorate clothing or crafts.
- Rococo: Elegant 18th century France architecture and decoration style
- Satin:
- Velours: Velvet
- Clochette: Bell
Flour Power Cat Names
- Orchidée: Orchid
- Coquelicot \Coco-Leekoe\: Poppy flour
- Rose:
- Fleur: Flower
- Fleurette: a little flower
- Soleil: Sun
- Papillon: Butterfly
Energetic and Rambunctious Cats
- Galipette: Somersault
- Polisson: Prank
- Coquette: A flirt or tease
- L’Ouragan: The hurricane
- Filou: Trickster
- Polisson: prank
- Cancan: As in the French cancan dance.
- Miauleur : Meaower, meaows a lot
- Moustique: Mosquito
- Abeille: Bee
- Papoter: someone who talks a lot about anything and everything. Similar to a chatterbox.
- Oulah: French Exclamation, like saying “oh wow.” The other way of saying this is Oh la la!
Lazy Cats
- Flagada: an informal way of saying you’re exhausted
- Pouf: Type of bean
bag - Dodo: A childish way to say sleep
- Dormeur: sleeper
- Mémère: Granny
- Polochon: a mariner style duffle
bag - Pantoufle: House Slipper
Pretty cats
Whether you have a male cat or a female cat, here are some French cat names that highlight their good looks.
- Belle: Beautiful
- Jolie: Pretty
- Beau: Handsome
- Beauté: Beauty
- Poupée: Doll
- Poupette: Diminutive of Poupée
- Magnifique: Magnificent
French terms of endearment
These are names you call your close friends and loved ones.
I have a whole list of 101 French terms of endearments here.
- Chouchou \Shoo-shoo\: Chou and chouchou are extremely popular French terms of endearment in France.
- Chouchoute \Shoo-shoot\: Pampered or preferred one. A teacher’s pet is “chouchoute de prof,” for example.
- Pitchou: Little one. Used primarily in the south of France from the Occitan language where pichon means “little.”
- Choupette: This was also Karl Lagerfeld’s cats’ name
Onomatopoeia: French cat names that are sounds
Onomatopoeias make great cat names because they’re fun to say.
- Ouistiti \Weesh-teetee\: The equivalent of saying “cheeeese” in English for photos.
- Plouf Plouf: Splish Splash
- Glou-Glou: Glug Glug
- Cocorico: Cock-doodle-doo
- Poêt-poêt: honk honk or beep beep
- Poum-Poum: Sound of beating heart
- Miam-Miam: Yum yum
- Cui-Cui: tweet tweet
- Pan-Pan: Bang- bang
Day of the week,
- Lundi: Monday
- Mardi: Tuesday
- Mercredi: Wednesday
- Jeudi: Thursday
- Vendredi: Friday
- Samedi: Saturday
- Dimanche: Sunday
That’s all, folks.
Have fun choosing a name for your cat or kitten.