Bunch of Tips ~ Warriors

Chapter first: Naming ceremonies ~ Choosing a warrior name

A/N: Following this guide could be considered as being necessary. It's here to serve you when you need it. Things in Avoid! section are related to cat names in stories and what you MUST avoid if you don't want to look like a mousebrain naming your kit/cat e.g. Starkit, Lemonkit or Destinywish (see why at Avoid! Section).

I am also very sorry if I offended you and your ideas in any way, but if you want to make an excellent story, naming your cats ridiculous won't help you much.

Let's say you're writing a story and you need a name for main character. Or you're brainstorming about perfect warrior name for your beloved kittypet. But you still have no bloody idea. This is chapter guide with purpose to help you with a perfect name for a cat.

• Choose something descriptive

Main purpose of any name, Twoleg's or Warrior's, is to describe something about person/cat. Our Twoleg names usually have some metaphorical meanings which describe our qualities (e.g. My real name means "to posses good").

Warrior names usually describe outer qualities of a cat (e.g. Cloudtail. On what does that name associate you? White, longhaired cat with fluffy tail? Correct.)

Best suggestion is that name is based on the cat's appearance. Like Bluepelt (she-cat with long, blue-grey fur), Sorrelfoot (Light brown tom with ginger paws), Cindercloud (dark grey she-cat) etc. etc.

• Simple isn't always bad

A common misconception is that in order to have interesting characters, you have to have a unique name. But, cats have simple minds. If newborn kit is black, they'll name it Blackkit, not Ebonykit, Coalkit etc. (You can add some note with Ravenkit, Sootkit, Nightkit, Shadowkit, which are acceptable, because they're more to the point).

Besides, young fanfiction writers want unique names, but can't think of any, because they dumped out simple ideas. I mean, what's wrong with good old Blackfur? It's kinda boring and may be a canon, but it's following the rule of describing physical characteristics of a cat.

• Renames

You've clearly met cats named Brokentail or One-eye. Before naming your kit Brokenkit, just put yourself in a position of queen. Would she name her beloved kit Brokenkit? No. It's just cruel. Like child in our world named "Damaged". And they haven't done anything to deserve those names (Brokentail is a exception. It described how Yellowfang felt, but also it points on his appearance -bent tail which seems to be broken-). So, names as Brokenleg, Nonetail (See the point? Did you ever find a kit named Nonekit, then Nonepaw?) and One-eye, must only be renames.

Avoid! Section

• Spiritual meanings

How much have you came over a kit with name Starkit? Although I've seen really nice names with prefix Star- (e.g. Starshade, Starfall, Starlight and even Starflame, which I use commonly for a dragon roleplay), think about naming a cat, especially a warrior, like that again. What happens if it becomes a leader? Starstar? It sounds like a parody, admit it.

Besides, your kit/cat is named by Starclan, which is very similar to a child named God. HIGHLY DISRESPECTFUL

Also, I've seen Angelkit. Cats don't know how to define angels. Only heavenly being to them are cats of Starclan. So I suggest to give up on names like Angelwing.

Other examples beside those two are Demonkit, Soulkit, Spiritkit etc.

• Gems and foreign objects

Most common mistake is naming cat Emeraldeye, Sapphirepelt, Diamondclaw... Well, cats unfortunately don't know what gems are. Remember, gems are found deep beyond their paws. And if cats accidentally found some, they'll not know how to name those things. Also for minerals and metals (e.g. Coalfur, Irontail, Copperfoot). There is also one beautiful name, Pearlflower, but cats don't know what pearls are, so it can't be used...

• Non-area plants

Common habit is to name a cat by a plant/tree (e.g. Birchcloud), but people go too far by naming kits Mangokit, Coconutkit, Bananakit, Cactuskit, Carrotkit, Tomatokit etc. People, pull yourself together! Your story setting must be out of regular forest, somewhere on Hawaii or in desert, so names would be reasonable. For last two, carrots and tomatoes can't be found anywhere but in Twoleg gardens, and warriors never go near Twolegs.

• Certain animal species

Some of the most common patterns is to name a kit/cat by a animal. Nothing is wrong with that, naming your cat by a squirrel, owl, vole, mouse, rabbit, toad, raven etc. But I've seen a certain name which made me kind of disappointed. Dogkit. Seriously? After all horrible things dogs have done, you name your kit Dogkit? A true queen won't do that, so you as a writer aren't supposed to do that either.

Also for cats named ridiculous things like Coyotepaw and Zebrapaw. Again, stick to the forest animals and think like cats.

(Tigerkit, Leopardkit and Lionkit are acceptable, because of ancient clans, so cats know what those three animals are)

• Weapons

Only "weapons" known to cats are their own: teeth and claws. Daggertooth, Swordclaw etc. are not acceptable names.

• Main silliness of name

These names don't break rules. They just sound ridiculous.

Favorite of all generations, I present you: Rosenose.

It rhymes, and sounds really awkward when you read it aloud.

Next is Destinywish. Admit it, no cat in Warriors is named Destinypaw. The name itself sounds unnecessarily exotic and stupid. Plus, she can't be more interesting than a regular cat, named Brambledrop (cat in my story), she just has ridiculous name.

Note: Read aloud names for your cats. If it sounds wrong, or you twist your tongue while pronouncing it, throw it away immediately.

• Seasons

I've seen a lot people naming their cats Autumnleaf, Springflower, Summersky, Winterbreeze etc.

Reminder, cats aren't Twolegs. They call seasons different. To you, it's Winterbreeze. To cats, it's Leaf-barebreeze.

• Dream names

I'm sure that you've seen cats named like Dreamkit or Swiftdream. However, in the warriors world, dreams are held in very high regard. They are messages from your ancestors, so it would be considered disrespectful to name your cats like this.

Again, I am sorry if I offended you in any way by criticizing your opinions. This is mainly for story purposes, but in order to prevent people making fun of you because you named your cat Silverhedgehog or something irrelevant. And if you broke some naming rules in your stories, you don't have to correct the names right now, but change them as soon as possible. This is for future purpose, to make sure you learned on your mistakes and avoid repeating them.

Thank you for reading.