836 cat names end in -y or -ie, and they average 245 registrations each. That is the highest figure any slice on this site produces — higher than the popular band's own shape, higher than any origin, higher than any theme.
Why this ending and cats in particular
The diminutive is what English does when it wants a word to sound small and fond, and a cat is the animal people are most openly fond of. Whatever the cause, the effect is measurable: this ending is used more heavily on cats than any other shape in the catalogue.
499 of them classify playful-sounding and 708 are two syllables, which is the shape the ending forces.
The crowding that comes with it
Density cuts both ways. A slice averaging 245 registrations is a slice where your cat's name is shared, and the top of it — Lucky, Penny, Lily — is shared with thousands.
If you want the ending without the company, 93 of these are four letters or fewer and the archive's rare band will thin the list further. Both are one click from here.
Why do cat names end in -y so often?
It is the English diminutive and it lands on two-beat names — 708 of these are two syllables. In these registers it is the most heavily used shape on cats, at 245 registrations per name.
What are the most popular -y cat names?
Lucky, Penny, Lily, Riley and Ollie. The slice is the densest measured on this site, so those names are widely shared.
Are there short -y cat names?
93 of the 836 are four letters or fewer.
Every count on this site is a tally of real registrations: pet licences and shelter intakes published as open data by New York, Seattle, Austin, Montgomery County, Cambridge, Zurich, Basel and four Australian councils. Popularity here is the average share a name holds across those registers, so a name common in a small city is not buried by one common in a large one. Five of the eleven registers are North American and they supply 86% of the records, so read the ordering as naming in those places rather than worldwide. Browse the whole catalogue or read how the data is put together.