Skip to content
NomezoNomezo

Black and white cat names: 180+ tuxedo cat names

180 names · Updated · By The Nomezo Editors · Save to Pinterest

The best black and white cat names play on formal wear, piano keys and chessboards, like Cummerbund, Sonata and Bishop. Tuxedo cats look dressed for a gala, so dapper names suit them, and so do seabirds, dolphins and stars of old black and white films.

Below are 180+ black and white cat names and tuxedo cat names in ten groups: classics, black tie names, piano and music, chess and games, animals, famous tuxedo cats and film stars, markings and words in other languages, food, ink and print, and funny names. Every name has a short note, with the meaning or a pronunciation where it helps.

Can't decide? Shuffle 6 random picks

  • Prom

    For a cat dressed up for the big dance

  • Heibai

    Mandarin for black and white; say HAY-bye

  • Ascot

    A silky neck scarf, and a famous English horse race

  • Harpsichord

    Many old ones had black and white keys reversed

  • Top Hat

    For a tall, dignified tom with a sense of occasion

  • Staccato

    Short, sharp notes, like a quick little meow

Want endless ideas? Try the cat name generator and generate new names in one click.

Classic black and white cat names

Crisp, simple names for a cat who always looks dressed for dinner.

  1. Tuxie: A cozy nickname for any cat in a natural tuxedo
  2. Tuxley: A dapper, butler-style name for a tuxedo tom
  3. Pied: Old word for black and white patches, like a magpie
  4. Two Tone: For a cat who never has to choose a favorite color
  5. Penguin Suit: Slang for a tuxedo, worn by a cat at all times
  6. Yin Yang: Two opposites in perfect balance
  7. Monochrome: All black, all white, no fuss
  8. Dapper: For a cat who looks sharp from every angle
  9. Ink Spatter: For a pale cat flecked with dark spots
  10. Pandy: A cuddly nickname for a cat with panda patches
  11. Splodge: For a cat with one big, perfectly messy patch
  12. Halftone: Printing that builds a picture from tiny dots
  13. Grayscale: Every shade between black and white

Black tie and tuxedo cat names

Formal wear and fine dining for a cat who was born in a tuxedo.

  1. Cummerbund: The pleated sash worn with a tuxedo
  2. Spats: Old-fashioned shoe covers, for a cat with white feet
  3. Top Hat: For a tall, dignified tom with a sense of occasion
  4. Tailcoat: A formal jacket cut short in front and long behind
  5. White Tie: The most formal dress code of all
  6. Maître D': The host who runs a fine restaurant's dining room; say may-truh DEE
  7. Waiter: For a cat who hovers near the table at every meal
  8. Opera Gloves: Long evening wear for the arms, for a cat with white legs
  9. Black and White Ball: Truman Capote's famous 1966 masked party in New York
  10. Valet: For a cat who greets every guest at the door
  11. Footman: A liveried servant of a grand old house
  12. Best Man: For the most loyal friend in the house
  13. Gala: For a cat dressed up for a fancy night out
  14. Ballroom: For a cat who glides across the floor
  15. Waltz: A graceful dance for a graceful cat
  16. Monocle: A single eyeglass for a distinguished old tom
  17. Ascot: A silky neck scarf, and a famous English horse race
  18. Cravat: The ancestor of the necktie, first worn by Croatian soldiers
  19. Shirtfront: For a cat with a crisp white chest
  20. Prom: For a cat dressed up for the big dance
  21. Tuxworth: A formal name for a gentleman in permanent black tie
  22. Dinner Jacket: The British word for a tuxedo

Piano and music names

Black keys, white keys and sheet music for a cat who naps on the piano.

  1. Keys: For a cat who walks across the piano at night
  2. Grand Piano: A big, glossy instrument for a big, glossy tom
  3. Harpsichord: Many old ones had black and white keys reversed
  4. Accordion: Piano keys on one side and buttons on the other
  5. Sheet Music: Black notes on white paper
  6. Clef: The curly symbol at the start of every staff
  7. Quaver: The British name for an eighth note
  8. Crotchet: The British name for a quarter note
  9. Minim: A half note, for a cat half black and half white
  10. Metronome: For a cat whose tail ticks back and forth
  11. Sonata: A piece for piano, usually in a few movements
  12. Etude: A short study piece, like the ones Chopin wrote
  13. Allegro: Musical Italian for fast and lively
  14. Staccato: Short, sharp notes, like a quick little meow
  15. Crescendo: Getting louder and louder, like breakfast demands
  16. Fermata: A musical pause, held as long as you like
  17. Glissando: A sweep up the keys, for a cat who runs across them
  18. Arpeggio: A chord played one note at a time
  19. Liszt: The dazzling Hungarian piano virtuoso
  20. Debussy: The French composer of the dreamy Clair de Lune
  21. Satie: The French composer of the gentle Gymnopédies; say sah-TEE
  22. Rachmaninoff: The Russian pianist famous for his huge hands
  23. Gershwin: The composer of Rhapsody in Blue
  24. Brahms: The composer of the world's best-known lullaby
  25. Tchaikovsky: Composer of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker
  26. Bebop: Fast, clever jazz from the 1940s
  27. Ragtime: Bouncy piano music from around 1900

Chess and game names

Chessboards, Go stones and other games played in black and white.

  1. Bishop: The chess piece that moves on the diagonal
  2. Pawn: The smallest chess piece, for the smallest kitten
  3. Castle: Another name for the rook, solid and square
  4. Queen's Gambit: A classic chess opening for a cat who plays to win
  5. Stalemate: For a cat who refuses to move off your chair
  6. En Passant: A sneaky chess capture most players forget
  7. Fool's Mate: The fastest possible checkmate, in just two moves
  8. Zugzwang: Chess German for being forced into a bad move; say TSOOK-tsvahng
  9. Kasparov: The Russian champion who battled the computer Deep Blue
  10. Fischer: Bobby, the American who won the 1972 world chess title
  11. Morphy: Paul, the New Orleans chess genius of the 1850s
  12. Checkerboard: Sixty-four squares, for a cat in two tones
  13. Go Stone: A playing piece in the ancient board game Go
  14. Baduk: The Korean name for the board game Go
  15. Weiqi: The Chinese name for Go; say WAY-chee
  16. Reversi: A board game of two-sided discs that flip

Black and white animal names

Seabirds, monkeys and dolphins for a cat in nature's favorite pattern.

  1. Orca: The black and white killer whale, clever and social
  2. Skunk: For a striped cat everyone gives plenty of space
  3. Loon: A spotted diving bird with a haunting call
  4. Avocet: An elegant pied wader with an upturned bill
  5. Oystercatcher: A pied shorebird with a bright orange bill
  6. Razorbill: A sleek seabird of the North Atlantic
  7. Murre: A seabird that looks like a flying penguin
  8. Auk: A northern seabird in black and white, built for diving
  9. Guillemot: A seabird that nests on narrow cliff ledges; say GILL-ih-mot
  10. Gannet: A white seabird with black wingtips that dives like an arrow
  11. Stork: A tall white bird with black flight feathers
  12. Bobolink: A songbird whose male looks like a tuxedo worn backward
  13. Lapwing: A crested plover in black, white and glossy green
  14. Wagtail: A pied songbird that never stops bobbing its tail
  15. Colobus: An African monkey with a long black and white cape
  16. Tapir: The Malayan kind looks like it wears a white saddle blanket
  17. Indri: The largest living lemur, black and white and very loud
  18. Ruffed Lemur: A black and white primate of Madagascar with a fluffy collar
  19. Magpie Goose: An Australian waterbird in bold black and white
  20. Pied Kingfisher: A black and white fishing bird that hovers before diving
  21. Pied Crow: An African cousin of the raven with a bright white vest
  22. Dall's Porpoise: A speedy black and white swimmer of the North Pacific
  23. Commerson's Dolphin: A small whale relative nicknamed the panda of the sea

Famous tuxedo cats and black and white film stars

Real and storybook tuxedo cats, plus stars of the silent screen and film noir.

  1. Unsinkable Sam: A legendary wartime ship's cat said to survive three sinkings
  2. Bustopher Jones: T. S. Eliot's well-fed cat about town, in white spats
  3. Jellicle: T. S. Eliot's name for small, merry cats in black and white
  4. Tuxedo Stan: A Halifax cat who ran a mock campaign for mayor in 2012
  5. Astaire: Fred, who danced through the movies in top hat and tails
  6. Chaplin: The silent film star in a bowler hat and baggy pants
  7. Buster Keaton: The stone-faced daredevil of silent comedy
  8. Harpo: The Marx brother who never spoke a word on screen
  9. Groucho: For a cat with a painted-on mustache marking
  10. Marceau: Marcel, the French mime with a white-painted face
  11. Bacall: Lauren, the smoky-voiced star of 1940s film noir
  12. Casablanca: The 1942 black and white classic of love in wartime
  13. Film Noir: Moody black and white crime movies of the 1940s
  14. Silent Film: For a quiet cat who says it all with her eyes
  15. Talkie: For a cat who never stops meowing
  16. Phileas Fogg: Jules Verne's gentleman who went around the world in eighty days

Markings and words for black and white

Cat fancy pattern terms, plus black and white in eight languages.

  1. Bicolor: The cat fancy term for white plus one other color
  2. Mask and Mantle: A pattern with a dark face and back over white
  3. Cow Cat: Internet slang for a pet with big Holstein patches
  4. Mitted: A pattern with neat white paws, like mittens
  5. Masquerade: A masked ball, for a cat with a dark eye patch
  6. Locket: Breeders' word for a small white spot on the chest
  7. Mitts: For a dark cat with four white paws
  8. Mustache: For a cat with a dark smudge above the lip
  9. Gloves: White front paws, ready for a formal dinner
  10. Bib: A white chest patch, ready for dinner
  11. Shirokuro: Japanese for black and white, literally white-black; say shee-roh-KOO-roh
  12. Heibai: Mandarin for black and white; say HAY-bye
  13. Bianconero: Italian for white-black, as Juventus fans say
  14. Blanquinegro: Spanish for black and white
  15. Schwarzweiss: German for black-white, as in old films
  16. Zwartwit: Dutch for black and white
  17. Svartvit: Swedish for black and white
  18. Mustavalkoinen: Finnish for black and white, a fun mouthful

Black and white food names

Cookies, gelato and pies in a tuxedo's favorite colors.

  1. Black and White Cookie: The New York deli treat iced half and half
  2. Black Bottom Pie: A Southern pie with a chocolate layer under white cream
  3. Pinwheel Cookie: A swirl of dark and vanilla dough in every slice
  4. Stracciatella: Italian gelato with shreds of dark chocolate
  5. Checkerboard Cookie: Two-tone shortbread squares in a neat pattern
  6. Tuxedo Cake: Layers of dark and white chocolate mousse
  7. Tuxedo Strawberry: A berry dipped to look like it wears a little suit
  8. Egg Cream: A New York soda of milk, syrup and seltzer
  9. Chia Pudding: Tiny dark seeds set in a creamy white dessert
  10. Black Sesame: Tiny dark seeds with a nutty, toasty flavor
  11. Rice and Beans: A classic pair of dark and light

Ink, print and art names

Newspapers, woodcuts and optical art for a cat who looks printed in two colors.

  1. Newsprint: The thin paper newspapers are printed on
  2. Typewriter: For a cat who naps on the keyboard
  3. Linotype: The hot-metal typesetting machine of old newspapers
  4. Gutenberg: The German printer who brought movable type to Europe
  5. Woodcut: A bold print carved from a block of wood
  6. Etching: A fine-lined print made with acid and ink
  7. Calligraphy: Beautiful handwriting in dark ink
  8. Fountain Pen: For a cat who leaves inky paw prints
  9. Stencil: Sharp dark shapes on a pale background
  10. Silhouette: A dark profile against a pale background
  11. Photo Negative: Where black turns white and white turns black
  12. Darkroom: Where old photos came to life
  13. Escher: The Dutch artist of interlocking black and white birds and fish
  14. Op Art: Dizzying patterns that seem to move as you look
  15. Tessellation: Shapes that tile together with no gaps
  16. Rorschach: The Swiss psychiatrist behind the famous inkblot test
  17. Morse Code: Dots and dashes, for a cat with spots and stripes
  18. Binary: Ones and zeros, the black and white of computers

Funny black and white cat names

Puns and silly ideas for a cat who is always overdressed.

  1. Read All Over: The old newspaper riddle, for a cat who sits on the news
  2. Black Tie Optional: For a tuxedo cat at a sweatpants party
  3. Overdressed: Born in a tuxedo, with nowhere fancy to go
  4. Fur-mal Wear: A punny name for a cat in permanent black tie
  5. Dalmeowtian: For a pale cat with black spots and big ambitions
  6. Moo Shu: A tasty pun for a cat with cow patches
  7. Orca-stra: For a cat who conducts a full symphony of meows
  8. Domino Effect: One push off the shelf, and everything falls
  9. Penguin Waddle: For a tuxedo cat with a funny little walk
  10. Pawvarotti: For a tom with a big operatic voice
  11. Butler Did It: For a cat who always looks guilty
  12. Spilled Milk: For a dark cat with one big white splash
  13. QR Code: For a cat whose blocky patches look scannable
  14. Referee: Black and white stripes, for a cat who breaks up dog fights
  15. Checkered Flag: The racing signal for a cat who always finishes first
  16. Tuxedo Junction: A big band hit for a cat who loves to swing

How to pick the right name

Read the markings

A neat white bib and paws say tuxedo, so try Cummerbund or Maître D'. Big random patches say cow cat, which suits Moo Shu, and a dark smudge on the lip begs for Groucho.

Match the attitude

Owners often describe tuxedo cats as bold, chatty and clever. A grand name like Rachmaninoff or Queen's Gambit gives a confident cat something to live up to.

Test it at full volume

You will call this name across the yard at dusk. Two crisp syllables, like Bishop or Gala, carry better than a long one, though Mustavalkoinen is fun to try.

Black and white cat names: 180 ideas from Nomezo

Save this list for later

Pin it to a naming board, or tap the heart next to any name to keep it in your favorites on this device.

Save to PinterestOpen favorites

Frequently asked questions

What is a good name for a black and white cat?

Cummerbund, Spats, Sonata, Bishop and Orca are fun picks. Formal wear, piano, chess and seabird names all suit a two-tone coat, and silent film stars like Chaplin add a little old Hollywood.

What is a tuxedo cat?

A tuxedo cat is a black and white cat whose white chest, paws and sometimes chin look like a formal suit. It is a coat pattern, not a breed, and it appears in many breeds and mixed-breed cats.

What makes a cat black and white?

A black cat gets its white patches from a separate white spotting gene, which keeps pigment out of parts of the coat. How much white shows varies from a tiny locket to a mostly white cat with a few black spots.

What are good male and female tuxedo cat names?

For a tom, try Maître D', Astaire or Kasparov. For a girl, try Opera Gloves, Bacall or Sonata. Most black tie and music names work for either.

Are there famous tuxedo cats?

Plenty. Tuxedo Stan ran a mock campaign for mayor of Halifax in 2012, a famous portrait shows the legendary ship's cat Unsinkable Sam in black and white, and T. S. Eliot's Bustopher Jones wore white spats.

More pet names and generators

See every page in Pet Names →