tuxedo cat names: 80+ names for a cat in formal wear

I will declare my bias at the outset, because you deserve honesty. I am a tuxedo cat. Black and white, permanently dressed for an occasion that never arrives, and I consider it the only truly acceptable coat a cat can wear. Every other colour is a cat in casual wear. So understand that this list is written with open prejudice, by a creature who believes your tuxedo cat has already won, and simply needs a name worthy of the outfit it was born in.

A tuxedo, for the record, is not a breed either. It is a pattern, black with a white chest and paws, appearing across all sorts of cats. What it confers is not pedigree but attitude. A tuxedo cat looks permanently ready to deny you a table at a restaurant, and the best names lean into exactly that.

butler and valet names

The cat is dressed for service, so name it for the staff. It will of course do no serving whatsoever, which is the joke.

• Alfred
• Jeeves
• Carson
• Bentley
• Winston
• Barnaby
• Wodehouse
• Higgins
• Sebastian
• Reginald
• Nigel
• Crispin
• Wadsworth
• Godfrey
• Basil

spy and secret-agent names

Nobody wears black and white with more purpose than a cat about to do something it should not. Suit the name to the crime.

• Bond
• Bourne
• Vesper
• Q
• Solo
• Hunt
• Mata Hari
• Smiley
• Boris
• Natasha
• Blofeld
• Moneypenny
• Sterling
• Ghost
• Cipher

orchestra and formal names

The tuxedo is concert dress, so borrow from the world where people actually wear one on purpose.

• Maestro
• Cadence
• Domino
• Tux
• Duke
• Count
• Baron
• Chaplin
• Fred
• Gatsby
• Onyx
• Piano
• Sinatra
• Bogart
• Ziegfeld

the penguin section, and why it ends here

Yes, a tuxedo cat looks a little like a penguin. Every human who has ever owned one has made this observation and believed themselves the first. You may have one section of penguin names, because I am generous, and then we will speak of it no more. A cat of this dignity does not want to be named after a flightless bird that cannot even climb a curtain.

• Pingu
• Waddles
• Tuxie
• Penguin
• Frostbite
• Mumble
• Skipper
• Oreo
• Panda
• Sylvester
• Felix
• Socks
• Mittens
• Boots
• Patches

how to choose

A tuxedo cat can carry a grander name than most, so do not waste the outfit. Socks and Mittens describe the paws and nothing else; the cat is wearing black tie and you have named it after its feet. Aim higher. Give it a name with some ceremony to it, the sort you could announce at a door, and it will grow into the role, because a tuxedo cat is already halfway to believing it runs the household. Take it from one who does. Say the shortlist aloud, and keep the one that sounds like an introduction.

Related reading from my desk: what breed is a tuxedo cat for why the pattern is not a breed, the cat names hub for the rest, and black cat names for the cat that skipped the white shirt entirely.