Game of Thrones Cat Names: 120-plus Ideas from Westeros, Houses, and Dragons

Westeros is one of the few fantasy worlds where the cats are canon. Long before HBO put dragons on screen in 2011, George R.R. Martin had already written real, named housecats into the Red Keep — including one whose name a dragon borrowed. Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, Rhaegar’s small daughter, kept a black kitten she called Balerion, after Balerion the Black Dread, the greatest dragon the Targaryens ever flew. She liked to pretend the kitten was the true Balerion. Many readers, and Martin himself in scattered comments, suggest that the same cat survived the Sack of King’s Landing and became the torn-eared old tom that prowls the castle fifteen years later — the one Arya can never quite catch.

That makes A Song of Ice and Fire unusually good ground for naming a real cat. You are not borrowing a human name and hoping it fits an animal; you are often borrowing a name Martin already attached to a cat, a dragon, or a wolf that moves like one. A black cat answering to Drogon, a white one to Ghost, a sharp little huntress to Nymeria — these land because the source material is full of creatures that prowl, stalk, and refuse to be told what to do. Below, the names are sorted by house, by dragon, by direwolf, and by coat color, with notes on where the books and the HBO show differ so you know precisely which version you are quoting.

The actual cats of the Red Keep

Start here, because these are the rare names that are literally cats in the text. King Tommen Baratheon owns three black kittens, a gift from Margaery Tyrell to win the boy’s affection: Ser Pounce, Lady Whiskers, and Boots. The show altered the backstory so Tommen had Ser Pounce before meeting Margaery, and invented Joffrey’s threat to skin the cat — in the books the kittens are simply doted on. These names need no explanation to a fellow reader, and three of them are perfect if you adopt littermates.

• Pounce — from Ser Pounce, Tommen’s boldest kitten; for a cat that ambushes ankles.
• Whiskers — from Lady Whiskers, the second of Tommen’s three; classic and book-accurate at once.
• Boots — the third Baratheon kitten; ideal for a cat with white paws.
• Cat — Catelyn Stark’s own nickname, and the alias Arya takes in Braavos as “Cat of the Canals.”

House Stark and the wolf-blood names

The Starks suit cats better than you would expect, because half the family is described as quiet, watchful, and stubborn — and because Arya’s entire arc is tangled up with cats. Her training under the Braavosi swordsman Syrio Forel began with catching cats through the Red Keep, on the logic that every fighter should study how cats move: silent, low, and quick. She caught all the castle cats but one, the old torn-eared tom, and the skill later kept her alive. The single names below mostly do not exist as dictionary entries, so several are listed plain — but a few Stark-adjacent words do.

• Ned — for Eddard Stark, the steady patriarch; a calm, unhurried tom.
• Robb — the Young Wolf, eldest Stark son; for a confident leader of the household.
• Jon — Jon Snow, raised at Winterfell, bonded to a white direwolf; understated and serious.
• Stark — the house word made a name; suits a grey cat with a northern stillness.
• Arya — the cat-catcher herself, a small fierce huntress; plain text, but the most fitting Stark name of all for a scrappy female.
• Sansa — the auburn-haired eldest daughter; for a poised, elegant cat.
• Bran — the watcher who sees through animals; for a cat that observes everything and acts on little.
• Rickon — the wild youngest Stark, paired with the fiercest direwolf; for a half-feral kitten.
• Theon — the Stark ward turned Greyjoy; a complicated, conflicted name for an in-between cat.

House Lannister and the gold-and-crimson set

The Lannisters give you names with weight — clever, vain, dangerous — which is a fair description of most cats. The first names sit outside the dictionary, so treat them as spoken nicknames rather than links.

• Lord — the Lannister bearing, distilled; for a cat that expects to be served.
• King — for a Lannister-crowned household ruler who answers to no one.
• Tyrion — the sharp-tongued, underestimated youngest; for a small cat with outsized personality.
• Cersei — the green-eyed queen; for a beautiful, imperious she-cat who plots from the windowsill.
• Jaime — the golden swordsman; for a confident, athletic blond cat.
• Tywin — the cold patriarch; the same old tom that once snatched a quail from Lord Tywin’s fingers in Arya’s chapter.

House Targaryen and the blood of old Valyria

Targaryen names carry the most music — all those liquid vowels were built to sound ancient. The HBO show ran from 2011 to 2019; the prequel House of the Dragon, drawn from Martin’s Fire and Blood, premiered in 2022 and is full of additional Targaryens. For a pale cream-and-white or silver cat, this house is the obvious well.

• Daenerys — the Mother of Dragons; for a silver-pale, regal queen of a cat.
• Khaleesi — Daenerys’s Dothraki title, “queen”; popular precisely because it sounds like a name and isn’t.
• Rhaegar — the doomed crown prince, Rhaenys’s father; for a melancholy, dignified cat.
• Viserys — the entitled exiled brother; a vain, demanding cat that thinks itself royalty.
• Aegon — the Conqueror who rode Balerion; for a small cat with conquering ambitions.

Dragon names for a cat that thinks it’s bigger

Dragons are the strongest source of all, because every name is already a beast’s name. Daenerys named her three after the men who shaped and scarred her life: Drogon (black and red, for her late husband Khal Drogo), Rhaegal (green and bronze, for her brother Rhaegar), and Viserion (cream and gold, for her brother Viserys). The naming is deliberate — she carries her grief and her family into the air with her. The historical dragons add more options, including several that headline House of the Dragon, the prequel that draws on the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. None of these are in the dictionary as common names, so list them as the spoken names they are.

• Drogon — Daenerys’s largest dragon, black and red; the definitive name for a black cat.
• Rhaegal — the green-and-bronze dragon named for Rhaegar; for a green-eyed cat.
• Viserion — the cream-and-gold dragon named for Viserys; for a pale ginger or cream cat.
• Balerion — the Black Dread Aegon rode, and the name Rhaenys gave her real kitten; the literary cat name.
• Vhagar — Visenya’s mount and the oldest, largest living dragon by the Dance; for a big, slow, formidable cat.
• Meraxes — the dragon Rhaenys Targaryen the Conqueror rode against Dorne; an elegant, less-used pick.
• Caraxes — the Blood Wyrm, Daemon’s lean, serpentine, aggressive dragon in House of the Dragon; for a wiry, restless cat.
• Syrax — Rhaenyra’s yellow-scaled dragon, named for a Valyrian goddess; for a golden cat.
• Sunfyre — called the most beautiful dragon in the known world; for a striking gold-coated cat.
• Vermithor — the Bronze Fury, second only to Vhagar in size; for a large bronze tabby.

Direwolf names that move like cats

The Stark children’s direwolves are named like cats already — short, evocative, often tied to color or temperament. These translate cleanly, and several do exist in the dictionary.

• Ghost — Jon’s silent, red-eyed white direwolf; the single best name for a white cat.
• Lady — Sansa’s gentle direwolf, the first to die; for a refined, well-mannered cat.
• Summer — Bran’s loyal direwolf; warm and bright, for a golden cat.
• Wolf — the plain word for the whole pack; for a cat with an untamed streak.
• Nymeria — Arya’s fierce direwolf, named for a Rhoynish warrior-queen; for an independent female who runs her own life.
• Grey Wind — Robb’s battle-scarred direwolf; for a grey cat that fights its own corner.
• Shaggydog — Rickon’s wild black direwolf; for an unruly, half-feral long-hair.

Supporting cast and Valyrian words

The wider cast offers texture beyond the great houses, and a few Valyrian phrases double as names. Westeros also runs on sayings — “winter is coming,” “valar morghulis” (all men must die), “dracarys” — and those phrases give you names with built-in story. Most surnames and given names here sit outside the dictionary; the words and titles fare better.

• Onion — for Davos Seaworth, the Onion Knight, the honest smuggler; affectionate and a little odd in the right way.
• Spider — for Varys, the master of whisperers; for a cat that knows everything happening in the house.
• Knight — the rank Brienne earns and Davos holds; for a loyal, dutiful cat.
• Raven — the messengers of Westeros and the three-eyed raven of Bran’s visions; for a glossy black cat.
• Crow — what wildlings call the Night’s Watch; another fine black-cat name.
• Brienne — the towering, loyal warrior of Tarth; for a large, fiercely devoted cat.
• Bronn — the sellsword who fights only when paid; for a self-interested, capable street cat.
• Dracarys — Valyrian for “dragonfire,” Daenerys’s command to burn; a dramatic call for a fiery cat.
• Melisandre — the red priestess of the Lord of Light; for a striking red or copper cat with strange eyes.
• Margaery — the Tyrell queen who gave Tommen his kittens; fitting for a clever, persuasive she-cat.
• Missandei — Daenerys’s loyal translator from Naath; a soft, graceful name for a sleek small cat.

By coat color

If the cat is already in front of you, work backward from the coat. Westeros gives you a clean shortlist for almost every color, and most of these single words exist in the dictionary.

• Ghost — white; Jon’s direwolf, the canonical choice for a snow-white cat.
• Snow — white; the surname of northern bastards, and a literal description.
• Shadow — black; for the torn-eared tom and any sleek dark cat.
• Smoke — grey to black; for a smoke-coated or dark tabby cat.
• Frost — white to silver; northern and cold, for a pale cat.
• Storm — grey; from Storm’s End and the stormlands, for a grey cat.
• Ember — ginger; for a warm orange cat, dragonfire-adjacent.
• Ash — grey; quiet and apt for a dusty-grey coat.
• Honey — cream to gold; for a soft golden cat in the Tyrell vein.

Pairs and two-cat households

Westeros is built on rivalries and bonds, which makes it rich ground for pairs. The strongest two-cat sets come ready-made from the books. The Baratheon kittens give you a natural trio if you adopt three; for two, the great oppositions work best.

• Ghost and Shadow — a white cat and a black cat, light and dark, the simplest and strongest pairing.
• Drogon and Rhaegal — two of Daenerys’s three dragons; ideal for two black or dark-coated siblings.
• Jon and Daenerys — ice and fire, the two halves of the title; for a bonded tom and queen.
• Cersei and Jaime — the inseparable golden twins; for two matching blond or cream cats.
• Ser Pounce and Lady Whiskers — two of Tommen’s three kittens, book-accurate as a pair.
• Summer and Winter — the seasons of the realm, “winter is coming” made literal; for two cats of contrasting warmth.
• Tyrion and Bronn — the dwarf and his hired sword, the show’s sharpest double act; for two bonded toms.
• Snow and Shadow — bastard-white and night-black, a quieter version of the light-and-dark pairing.

The reason these names hold up is that Martin did the work for you: he named real cats, named dragons after them, and gave a whole pack of direwolves the kind of short, color-keyed, temperament-keyed names that cats have always carried. You can lean on the in-world cats for a wink only readers will catch — Ser Pounce, Balerion, Cat — or reach for a dragon when your cat clearly believes it is one. Either way you are quoting a story that took its cats seriously, which is more than most fantasy can say. Whichever you choose, you will eventually find yourself, like Arya in the Red Keep, chasing a small fast creature down a hallway and wondering who is really training whom.