Imperial Names for ‘Practical Cats’: Establishing a Distinctly British Pride in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats

Abstract

T. S. Eliot provides three categories — the familial, the particular, and the secretive — to delineate the naming of cats in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats; however, the poet’s categories fail to explain completely his onomastic decisions. Instead, Eliot’s naming process reflects the Anglophile’s acquired British tastes. London, a city of Anglican churches and secular theatres, is home to Eliot’s fictional cats and an influence upon many of his name choices. Literary sources, in particular British Nonsense poets, provide additional inspiration for the 54 cat names mentioned in Eliot’s volume.

Keywords:

• T. S. Eliot
• Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
• feline names
• nonsense names
• British names

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dorothy Dodge Robbins

Dorothy Dodge Robbins, PhD, is Charlotte Lewis Endowed Professor of English at Louisiana Tech University, where she teaches courses in British Literature and Technical Writing. She is volume editor of Critical Insights: Mrs Dalloway (Salem Press, 2012) and co-editor of Christmas Stories from Ohio (Kent State University Press, 2010), recipient of the USA Book News Best Book Award 2010 for Literary Anthology. She has reared two Midwestern barn cats, the practically named Harvest and Oz, who inspired her foray into feline Onomastics.

Correspondence to: Dorothy Dodge Robbins, Department of English, Louisiana Tech University, PO Box 3162, G. T. Madison Hall, Room 236, Railroad Avenue, Ruston, LA, 71272, USA. Email: [email protected]’