When you think back to your favorite outfit of 2004, chances are it looks a little different than what you’d pick to wear now. And the same thing goes for cat names: What was at the height of popularity a decade ago might not even make the Top 50 names this year.
We looked through our database of 425,000 cats named over the last year to determine which names had dropped the most in popularity since 2004. It’s not that these names have completely vanished — we still know plenty of felines named Nemo and Tigger — it’s just that they’re not nearly as popular as they were back when Britney Spears was topping the charts with Toxic and Lindsay Lohan was capturing the public’s hearts with a starring role in Mean Girls.
Several of the names from last year’s list showed up again this year, but not all — Pumpkin (for both male and female cats), Muffin, Sylvester, Sabrina, Tommy, Allie, Fluffy and Kiki all lost their spots, after their decline in popularity slowed. Are you surprised to see that some of these names are on the way out? Or are you relieved to hear some of them a little less often?
No. 10: Zoe and Junior
While many names on this list have clear reasons for their popularity in 2004 and fall from the top since then, others, like Zoe and Junior, seem to have just surfed a trendy wave in and are now being used a little less. Zoe, which was No. 7 last year, dropped 22 spots over the past decade and Junior dropped 29 places after placing at No. 4 last year.
No. 9: Roxy and Blackie
Roxy, which dropped 23 places in the last 10 years, likely ranked so highly at that time because of the main character, Roxy Hart, in the movie Chicago, which was released in 2003. The reasons for Blackie's rise to and subsequent fall of 29 spots is less clear.
No. 8: Sugar and Thomas
Sugar is the first of a few names on this list that also happen to be common nicknames. It's fallen 23 spots since 2004, while Thomas has fallen 30. Thomas was the No. 7 least trendy name last year.
No. 7: Emma and Garfield
Emma was not on the least trendy list last year, but fell 24 spots since 2004, which happens to be the year Garfield: The Movie came out, explaining why that comic cat's name would've been so popular a decade ago. Garfield has fallen 33 spots since that time.
No. 6: Sweetie and Snowball
The drop in the popularity of the name Sweetie won't affect how often we use it as a term of affection for our own cats, but as an official moniker, it's dropped 32 places. Snowball, the name of several cats belonging to the central characters of The Simpsons, has fallen 35 places in the last 10 years.
No. 5: Miss Kitty and Baby
Miss Kitty's slide in popularity (34 places in a decade) has slowed a bit — she was No. 2 last year. Baby has fallen just a smidge more (36 spots in 10 years).
No. 4: Katie and Cosmo
Katie was the top least trendy female cat name last year, and although her descent slowed a bit over the past year, she's still fallen 47 spots since 2004. Cosmo hasn't fallen quite so much — just 37 spots since then.
No. 3: Tigger and Spike
Tigger had clawed its way up to No. 42 most popular back in 2003, when Piglet's Big Movie came out, but it's bounced its way down since then, ranking as the No. 5 least trendy female cat name last year before hitting No. 3 this year. Spike has remained in the No. 3 spot now for two years, falling 43 places over a decade.
No. 2: Tinkerbell and Nemo
Both Tinkerbell and Nemo, which dropped 54 and 49 places respectively, owe their early 2000s surge in popularity to Hollywood. Peter Pan and Finding Nemo were both released in 2003.
No. 1: Samantha and Bailey
It's understandable that cat owners wanted to commemorate the end of the Sex and the City series in 2004 by naming their new kitties after one of the show's feistiest female characters, Samantha Jones. And, given that the SATC movies haven't done quite as well as the TV show, it's little wonder the name's popularity didn't stick around, leading to its 56-spot drop. Bailey was No. 2 on this list last year, and its massive 60-spot fall since 2004 earned it the title of No. 1 least trendy male cat name this year.
