The Naming of The Q

People sometimes ask Frannie how I got my name. My full name is Cosmo Q Kitty, as you have likely noticed, but everyone knows me as “Q”. Or “Q-T”, or ”Scooby Q-bee Doo”, or “Q-rious”. Yeah, not cool. I think plain old “Q” is pretty cool though.

The quest for a name began the minute I came home to stay. A number of names were argued over by the three humans that live here. The ones that worried me were food names: Pumpkin, Ginger, Meatball. I didn’t want any hungry human thinking of me as food! In the end they spared me that and settled on my personal favorite.

Cosmo was the name of a quirky character on the “Seinfeld” TV show. Frannie wasn’t a fan of the show or the name, but she does love Sam. She also noticed that “quirky” starts with “Q”, which is her choice of names. She says she had three reasons for liking “Q” as a name.

First, and most obviously, is the patterning of stripes on my fur. The stripes circle around on my sides, and there is a crazy little cross stripe that makes me look like I have a furry “Q” tattooed on. It’s like a monogram, so it could be starting a great name like Quentin, or Quincy. Maybe even Quasimodo.

The “Q” stands alone, though, because of some kid in some book written in the dark ages. Back then Frannie was a still a kitten. She read a Beverly Cleary book called "Ramona the Pest", in which Ramona learned to write the letter “Q” by turning it into cat. Since reading that, Frannie has always thought that “Q” is for “Qat.” Or something like that.

The third reason is Star Trek. The kids here love Star Trek, Frannie is a John de Lancie fan, and de Lancie played a character named “Q” on the show. Frannie said Wikipedia summed me up pretty well in a blurb. “The character Q is a mischievous, seemingly omnipotent being who has taken an interest in humans”. Works for me!

I don’t think this quite makes me a Trekkie, but I do plan to live long and prosper. With a name pedigree like mine, wouldn’t you love to name your kitten after me?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_(Star_Trek)