Nala
Nala is Simba’s lioness friend in Disney’s The Lion King. Disney’s character reference identifies Niketa Calame as the young character’s voice and Moira Kelly as the adult character’s voice. This supports the film reference; it does not establish a linguistic meaning or language of origin.
- Meaning
- A single literal meaning has not been established. See the name-history notes above.
Sources and meaning notes
This page documents a Disney character reference. No African-language translation is claimed.
- Disney D23: Nala The Lion King character and voice credits
References checked .
Catalog grouping: Female. This is a browsing label and does not restrict which cats can use the name.
Popularity in cited datasets
Each position below belongs to its publisher’s sample and time period. These are not iCatNames registration counts or a combined ranking.
| Dataset scope | Position | Source |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. cat names — top 100 | #12 | Rover catalog (checked 2026-10-26; undated) |
| France — female | #1 | Rover 2025 country report |
An undated catalog checked in 2026 is not a 2025 annual result. Historical reports keep their published period. Source records on this page were checked on 2026-10-26.
Compare the checked ranking snapshotsNames in similar collections to Nala
These entries have source references and overlap with this name in the site’s editorial collections. The overlap does not measure pet-owner preferences or prove a shared linguistic origin.