A calico is a cat with three colors, white plus orange plus black, and she is almost certainly a she. The names below are sorted by what your calico is actually like, because "Patches" fits a cat with patches and nothing else, and the loud one in the kitchen needs something she'll answer to across a house.
The one fact everyone gets wrong
Calico isn't a breed. It's a coat pattern, and it shows up in dozens of breeds and in every alley. What makes it interesting is why it's nearly all female: the genes for orange fur and for black fur both live on the X chromosome, and a cat needs two Xs to carry both at once. Females have two. Males have one, so a male can be orange or black but not both. The exceptions are males born with an extra X, which is rare and usually leaves them sterile. So if someone tells you their calico is a boy, either they've got a very unusual cat or they haven't checked.
There's a second thing people get wrong, and it's about temperament. A 2012 study asked 189 people what they assumed about cats by color; they rated tricolor cats as the most "intolerant" and "aloof". The researchers were clear that there's no evidence the cats are any of that. "Tortitude" is a thing people say, not a thing cats have. Name her for the cat in front of you.
Names for the patches
If she looks like someone spilled three paints, start here.
- Patches, Callie, Marble, Mosaic, Puzzle, Pixel
- Freckles, Speckle, Dapple, Confetti, Splotch, Motley
- Quilt, Scrap, Paisley, Harlequin, Trixie, Penny
- Autumn, Maple, Amber, Sienna, Rusty, Ember
Food and spice names
The orange patches make people hungry. Calicos have been named after the pantry for as long as there have been pantries.
- Butterscotch, Toffee, Caramel, Honey, Cinnamon, Nutmeg
- Paprika, Saffron, Pumpkin, Peaches, Marmalade, Truffle
- Biscotti, Waffles, Pretzel, Tortilla, Nacho, Mochi
Japanese names
Japan is where the calico became a symbol. The word for the pattern is mi-ke, "three fur", and the maneki-neko, the waving cat in the window of every restaurant, is a calico Japanese Bobtail more often than not. The most famous calico who ever lived was Japanese too: Tama, appointed stationmaster of Kishi Station in Wakayama in 2007, who is credited with saving the railway line from closure and was given the title Honorary Eternal Stationmaster when she died in 2015. Her successor, Nitama, is also a calico. Of course she is.
- Mike (say it mee-keh), Tama, Momo, Hana, Sakura, Kiko
- Yuki, Aiko, Suki, Koko, Nori, Sora
- Emi, Hoshi, Umeko, Chiyo, Miyu, Rin
Spanish names
Some of us grew up with cats that had two names, the one on the vet's form and the one the house used. These work in both.
- Canela, Lola, Frida, Pepita, Chispa, Paloma
- Mancha, Manchitas, Pintada, Colorina, Tres, Reina
- Luna, Coco, Nena, Dulce, Bonita, Catalina
Names for the loud one
You already know if this is your cat.
- Diva, Opera, Siren, Soprano, Trumpet, Banshee
- Mariah, Aretha, Dolly, Cher, Karaoke, Alarm
Names for the shy one
The one who lives under the bed for the first month and then owns the house.
- Fern, Wren, Moth, Willow, Whisper, Mouse
- Sage, Dove, Hazel, Clover, Pebble, Juniper
- Ivy, Lark, Fawn, Misty, Wisp, Pippa
Old-lady names
Calicos are almost all female and they carry themselves like they've been running the parish for forty years. Give her a name to match.
- Agnes, Dorothy, Mabel, Edith, Gladys, Pearl
- Ethel, Beatrice, Marjorie, Harriet, Muriel, Opal
- Winifred, Ruth, Bernice, Ada, Maude, Ida
One-syllable names, the ones cats actually answer to
Our unscientific rule: short names with a bright vowel get a head turn. "Persephone" does not.
- June, Bea, Ren, Fig, Tess, Nell
- Bess, Fay, Pip, Kit, Mae, Jo
- Peg, Zee, Bo, Dot, Lu, Vi
Names with a story behind them
Maryland made the calico its official state cat in 2001, because her three colors match the Baltimore oriole, the black-eyed Susan and the Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly, which are the state bird, flower and insect. That's a whole set of names in one law.
- Oriole, Susan, Checkers, Baltimore, Maryland, Chesapeake
How to test a name
Say it at the door, in the voice you'll actually use, twice. Then say it in the vet's waiting room and see whether you'd be embarrassed. Then say it angrily at 5 a.m., because you will. If it survives all three, it's the name. Most of them fail the third one, which is why so many cats end up called something two syllables long that ends in a vowel.
Give it a week before you decide it hasn't stuck. Cats learn a name from the tone and the timing, not the syllables, and they take their time admitting it.
Once she has one
If her sisters are a different color, there's an orange cat page and a set of orange cat names to go with it, and the tabby, black cat, tuxedo and Siamese pages for the rest of the household. Everything for the person rather than the cat is on gifts for cat lovers and in the home and gifts department.
If you're reading this because a friend just lost a calico and is thinking about a next one, that's their timing to choose. In the meantime, what to write in the card is one post over.
Three colors, one cat, one name. Pick the one you can shout across a parking lot without looking away from the cat.