Celestial Cat Names: 120+ Star, Moon & Astrological Ideas

Celestial cat names come from the night sky — the Moon, the stars and constellations, the planets, and the mythology humans have hung on all of them. No animal wears these names better: cats are crepuscular, wired for twilight, with eyes built for moonlight, and their association with the Moon runs back to ancient Egypt. Below are 120+ ideas organized by cosmic theme — with quick picks for female and male cats and a list for black cats — from Luna, the most popular female cat name in America, to Regulus, Hubble, and Umbra.

There's a reason the most popular female cat name in the country is Latin for Moon. Dogs got the Sun-adjacent names — loyal, golden, daytime animals. Cats claimed the night shift millennia ago and never gave it back. The Egyptians linked the cat goddess Bastet to lunar and protective symbolism; the Norse gave the goddess Freyja a chariot drawn by two cats; and every cat since has confirmed the casting at 3am.

So the sky makes an unusually good theme for cat names. This guide opens with quick picks for girls and boys, then works through the sky register by register — Moon names, star and constellation names, planets and phenomena, the astronomers who mapped it all, and night-sky mythology — before a list for black cats and an astrological section that matches the name to your cat's zodiac element. If you don't know your cat's sign yet, the free Cat Birth Chart Calculator finds it in seconds.

Female & Male Celestial Cat Names — Quick Picks

Most of the sky's names lean one way or the other. The feminine register is full of moons and the stars of the Pleiades; the masculine one belongs to the giant moons and the bright named stars that ancient astronomers ran their calendars by. Ten fresh picks on each side — everything else on this page is fair game for either.

For female cats:

• Elara — a small moon of Jupiter, named for one of Zeus's loves
• Capella — "little she-goat", the brightest star in Auriga
• Alcyone — the brightest of the seven Pleiades sisters
• Maia — the eldest of the Pleiades, and a name that sounds like a meow
• Electra — another Pleiad; for the cat that crackles
• Calypso — a tiny moon of Saturn, named for the nymph who kept Odysseus for seven years
• Titania — the largest moon of Uranus, queen of the fairies
• Ariel — the brightest moon of Uranus
• Ophelia — a shepherd moon that keeps one of Uranus's rings in line
• Thalassa — a moon of Neptune, Greek for "sea"

For male cats:

• Regulus — "little king", the brightest star in Leo
• Antares — the red heart of Scorpius, the "rival of Mars"
• Aldebaran — the red eye of Taurus; "Al" when he's in trouble
• Arcturus — the brightest star in the northern half of the sky, "guardian of the bear"
• Atlas — a moon of Saturn and the titan who holds up the sky
• Ganymede — the largest moon in the solar system, bigger than Mercury
• Triton — Neptune's largest moon, which orbits the wrong way round
• Oberon — the outermost big moon of Uranus, king of the fairies
• Hyperion — a sponge-like moon of Saturn that tumbles instead of spinning
• Phobos — the larger moon of Mars, Greek for "fear"; for the hallway ambusher

Moon Names for Cats — The Classics

The lunar register is the deepest one, and not only because of Luna. Several of these are real moons — Callisto, Europa, Phoebe, Rhea, Miranda, and Io orbit Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus right now. Others are Moon goddesses from three different mythologies. A cat's emotional life is famously ruled by the Moon in astrology — the cat Moon sign guide argues it matters more for cats than for any other animal — so a Moon name is the closest thing to naming the cat after its own inner weather.

• Luna — Latin for Moon; the reigning queen of cat names
• Selene — the Greek Moon goddess who drives the night sky
• Crescent — the Moon's most elegant phase
• Artemis — Moon goddess, huntress; extremely cat
• Chandra — the Moon in Sanskrit
• Mahina — the Moon in Hawaiian
• Aylin — Turkish, "halo of the Moon"
• Callisto — one of Jupiter's four great moons
• Europa — Jupiter's ice-covered moon
• Phoebe — Saturn's backwards-orbiting rebel moon
• Rhea — Saturn's second-largest moon
• Miranda — the strangest moon of Uranus
• Io — two letters, volcanic personality
• Portia — a moon of Uranus named for Shakespeare's sharpest heroine

Star Names for Cats: Stars & Constellations

Real stars, real constellations, zero effort required at the vet's office when someone asks what the name means. Mira, notably, is a real star in the constellation Cetus that brightens and fades on a cycle — the original diva star for the cat whose affection also has phases.

• Vega — one of the brightest stars in the northern sky
• Lyra — the lyre-shaped constellation Vega sits in
• Nova — a star that suddenly flares; you'll see why at 4am
• Stella — Latin for star, soft enough to whisper
• Astra — Greek for star, sharper on the tongue
• Cassiopeia — the throne-seated queen; "Cassie" for weekdays
• Andromeda — a princess and an entire galaxy
• Altair — the eagle star, one of the fastest-spinning known
• Rigel — the blue-white foot of Orion
• Polaris — the North Star; the one that never moves from its spot
• Mira — the pulsing "wonderful star" of Cetus
• Bellatrix — Orion's shoulder; Latin for female warrior
• Carina — the keel of the great southern ship constellation
• Draco — the dragon coiled around the north pole of the sky
• Perseus — the hero constellation with the demon star Algol
• Castor & Pollux — the Gemini twins, made for a bonded pair of cats
• Spica — the brightest star in Virgo, "ear of grain"
• Lynx — a faint northern constellation you need a lynx's eyes to spot
• Felis — the Cat, a constellation drawn in 1799 and later retired

Yes, there was once a cat in the sky. The French astronomer Jérôme Lalande, who wrote that he was very fond of cats, drew Felis between Hydra and Antlia in 1799; it did not survive the 1920s, when astronomers fixed the official list at 88 constellations. Today the sky's felines are Leo, its small companion Leo Minor, and Lynx — named by Johannes Hevelius because it is so faint you would need the eyes of a lynx to see it. Any of the three is a constellation name with a cat already inside it.

Planet & Cosmic Phenomena Names — For the Forces of Nature

Planets, dwarf planets, and the sky's special effects. If your cat's personality is less "gentle moonbeam" and more "astronomical event", this is the register.

• Venus — the brightest planet, the beauty
• Mercury — fast, clever, impossible to catch
• Pluto — small, distant, refuses to accept demotion
• Ceres — the dwarf planet of the harvest goddess
• Eris — the dwarf planet of discord; some cats earn it
• Nebula — a cloud where stars are born
• Aurora — the northern lights, on four paws
• Eclipse — for the black cat that blocks your laptop like the Moon blocks the Sun
• Solstice — the turning point of the year
• Equinox — perfect balance, twice a year, briefly
• Quasar — among the brightest objects in the universe
• Galaxy — "Gal" for short
• Stardust — what everything, including the cat, is made of
• Zenith — the highest point in the sky, i.e. the top of the fridge
• Saturn — the ringed one, for the cat with a perfect collar
• Juno — queen of the gods, and the probe that circles Jupiter
• Milky — short for the Milky Way; ideal for a white cat
• Magellan — after the Magellanic Clouds, two small galaxies visible from the south
• Sombrero — a galaxy shaped exactly like its name

Astronomy Names for Cats — Real Objects & the People Who Found Them

Astrology reads the sky; astronomy measures it. If you'd rather name the cat after the science — telescopes, probes, catalogues, and the people who spent their nights at the eyepiece — this is the list. Caroline Herschel is the quiet hero here: she discovered eight comets and became the first woman to be paid as a scientist, mostly while everyone else in the house was asleep, which any cat will respect.

• Hubble — the telescope; for the cat who watches everything
• Copernicus — "Nico" for short; put the Sun at the center, as cats do with themselves
• Hypatia — the mathematician-astronomer of ancient Alexandria
• Caroline — Caroline Herschel, comet hunter
• Tycho — Tycho Brahe, who mapped the stars before the telescope existed
• Leavitt — Henrietta Leavitt, who found how to measure the distance to the stars
• Vera — Vera Rubin, whose spinning galaxies revealed dark matter
• Sagan — for the cat who contains billions and billions of opinions
• Messier — catalogued the sky's fuzzy objects so he'd stop mistaking them for comets
• Cassini — the probe that ended its mission by diving into Saturn
• Voyager — the farthest thing humans have ever sent anywhere
• Pleiades — the Seven Sisters cluster; "Pleia" for every day
• Betelgeuse — the red supergiant in Orion; answers to "Beetlejuice"
• Kuiper — the icy belt past Neptune, where the strays of the solar system live

Night-Sky Mythology & Star Words From Around the World

Gods of the night, and the word "star" in languages that made it beautiful. Freya deserves special mention: in Norse mythology, the goddess Freyja's chariot is drawn by two cats, one of the few working roles cats were ever given in mythology.

• Nyx — the Greek primordial goddess of night
• Freya — the Norse goddess whose chariot is pulled by two cats
• Hecate — goddess of the crossroads and the dark of the Moon
• Astraea — the star-maiden who became the constellation Virgo
• Nott — the Norse personification of night itself
• Hoshi — star, in Japanese
• Seren — star, in Welsh
• Citlali — star, in Nahuatl
• Sidra — Arabic, "of the stars"
• Danica — the morning star, in Slavic languages
• Estelle — the French star, wearing pearls
• Celeste — "heavenly", the whole theme in one word
• Astrid — Old Norse, long associated with stars
• Tara — the star goddess of Hindu and Buddhist tradition

Celestial Names for Black Cats — The Dark Side of the Sky

A black cat is already half night sky, so the names can lean all the way in. These come from eclipses, darkness, and the parts of space that light doesn't escape. Nyx and Eclipse from the lists above belong here too.

• Umbra — the darkest, central shadow of an eclipse
• Penumbra — the softer shadow around it; for a dark grey or smoke cat
• Noctis — Latin, "of the night"
• Erebus — the primordial darkness of Greek myth
• Corvus — the crow constellation; black, clever, slightly sinister
• Void — the empty space between galaxies, and the space on the sofa he occupies
• Midnight — the classic, for good reason
• Horizon — after the event horizon of a black hole, the edge nothing escapes
• Lilith — the Black Moon of astrology, the point where the Moon swings farthest from Earth

Astrological Cat Names — Match the Name to the Sign

Here's where celestial naming stops being aesthetic and starts being astrological. Every zodiac sign belongs to an element — fire, earth, air, or water — and the element is the temperament's texture. A name that carries the right element fits the cat the way a well-matched sign description does. If you know your cat's sign, pick from their element. If you don't, the cat birth chart calculator takes an estimated birthday, and the guide to all 12 cat Sun signs lets you work backwards from behavior.

Fire-sign cats (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) — the bold ones, the door-darters, the ones that pick fights with dogs three times their size. Give them Sun names: Helios (the Greek Sun god), Sol (the Sun, in Latin), Flare (a solar eruption, domesticated). Nova and Bellatrix from the star list also run hot.

Earth-sign cats (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) — the steady ones who run the household through routine. Give them grounded cosmic names: Gaia (the Earth itself, as a goddess), Flora (what grows under the sky), or Ceres from the planet list — the harvest, made celestial.

Air-sign cats (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) — the talkers, the socialites, the eccentrics on top of the bookshelf. Give them sky names: Aura, Wisp, Cloud. Mercury and Zephyr-adjacent energy; light, quick, everywhere.

Water-sign cats (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) — the deep-feeling ones, moved by tides you can't see. This is Luna's home territory: Naiad (the freshwater nymph — also Neptune's innermost moon), Nerissa (from the Greek for sea nymph), Nix (a moon of Pluto, one letter from the night goddess). Selene, Crescent — anything lunar lands here.

This is the shallow end of a real system. The full version — why a Scorpio cat guards doorways, why a Gemini cat narrates the house — is in the cats as zodiac signs guide and the complete cat astrology pillar.

The Method, In Short

Pick the register that matches the cat, not the register you'd want for yourself. The 3am sprinter is a Nova, not a Stella. The window-sill philosopher is a Selene, not a Quasar. If you want the name to be genuinely astrological rather than just space-flavored, find the sign first and pick from its element — a two-minute detour through the cat birth chart calculator that turns a pretty name into an accurate one. Cats ignore their names either way, of course. But they ignore a well-chosen one with more style.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are good celestial cat names?

The best celestial cat names draw from four sources: the Moon (Luna, Selene, Artemis, Crescent), the stars and constellations (Vega, Lyra, Cassiopeia, Nova), the planets and cosmic phenomena (Venus, Pluto, Nebula, Eclipse), and night-sky mythology (Nyx, Freya, Astraea). Cats are crepuscular — most active at dawn and dusk — which is why sky-and-night names have always fit them better than any other animal.

Why is Luna such a popular cat name?

Luna — Latin for Moon — has topped the annual most-popular female cat name rankings published by pet platforms like Rover for years running. The fit is almost too good: cats are crepuscular animals wired for twilight, their eyes are built for moonlight, and the association between cats and the Moon runs back to ancient Egypt, where the cat goddess Bastet carried lunar and protective symbolism. It may also simply be the name that fits a cat best.

What are celestial female cat names?

The most-loved celestial names for female cats are Luna, Stella, Aurora, Nova, Selene, Vega, Lyra, Celeste, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Astrid, and Nyx. Moon names and star names dominate the feminine register — Selene is the Greek Moon goddess, Stella and Astrid both mean star, and Cassiopeia is the night sky's throne-seated queen.

What cat name means star?

Names meaning star exist in almost every language: Stella (Latin), Astra (Greek), Seren (Welsh), Hoshi (Japanese), Citlali (Nahuatl), Sidra (Arabic, "of the stars"), Danica (Slavic, the morning star), Estelle (French), and Astrid (Old Norse, "divinely beautiful", long associated with stars). Any of them puts a star in your cat's name without using the word itself.

Is there a cat constellation?

Not among today's 88 official constellations — but there used to be. In 1799 the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande, a self-declared cat lover, drew Felis, the Cat, between Hydra and Antlia; it did not make the official list of 88 that astronomers fixed in the 1920s. The modern sky still has felines: Leo, the lion of the zodiac, its small companion Leo Minor, and Lynx, a faint northern constellation that Johannes Hevelius named because you would need the eyes of a lynx to see it. Felis and Lynx both make excellent cat names.

What are good celestial names for male cats?

Strong picks for male cats come from moons and bright stars: Atlas, Triton, Oberon, Ganymede, Hyperion and Phobos among the moons; Antares, Aldebaran, Arcturus and Regulus among the stars. Regulus is the natural choice for a confident tom — it is the brightest star in Leo, and its name means "little king". Astronomer names like Copernicus, Tycho and Sagan work just as well.

What are celestial names for black cats?

Black cats suit the dark side of the sky: Umbra and Penumbra (the two shadows of an eclipse), Eclipse itself, Nyx (the Greek goddess of night), Noctis (Latin, "of the night"), Erebus (primordial darkness), Corvus (the crow constellation), Void, Midnight, and Horizon, after a black hole's event horizon — the edge nothing escapes, which is also roughly how a black cat moves through a dark room.

What are good astrological cat names by zodiac sign?

Match the name's element to your cat's sign. Fire-sign cats (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) suit solar names: Helios, Sol, Flare. Earth-sign cats (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) suit grounded ones: Gaia, Flora, Ceres. Air-sign cats (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) suit sky names: Aura, Wisp, Cloud. Water-sign cats (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) suit Moon and sea names: Luna, Selene, Naiad, Nix. The element carries the temperament, and the name should carry the element.

How do I find my cat's zodiac sign?

If you know your cat's birth date, the Sun sign follows the standard zodiac calendar — June 21 to July 22 is a Cancer cat, and so on. If you don't know the date, which is true for most adopted cats, a free pet zodiac calculator estimates the sign from an approximate birthday, and behavioral analysis in the Aetris app estimates Sun, Moon and Rising without any birthday at all.