When you call your dog’s name, the dog always wags its tail and rushes over, enthusiastically responding to you. But when the object of your call is a cat, they’ll just continue lazily grooming themselves, with a slight lift of the head being the greatest gift they can offer. Even though cats seem to ignore every call, to the point that their human companions, obsessed with “cat behavior,” continue to analyze the meaning behind every single hair on their bodies, the question remains: Do cats even know their own names?
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It’s Not That They Don’t Understand, They Just Keep Their Cool
Although cats often act indifferent when you lovingly call their name, they actually do know that you’re calling them. In 2013, researchers at the University of Tokyo recruited 20 domestic cats for a study. They adjusted the volume of the owner’s voice and the voices of four strangers to be the same, and then played the audio for the cats. During the experiment, cats showed the strongest reactions when their name was first called, especially when their owner called them. They responded by twitching their ears and turning their heads, signaling that they “knew” they were being addressed. This indicates that cats do recognize that the “cutie” or “baby” you’re referring to is actually them. However, unlike dogs who respond with sounds and tail wagging, cats aren’t as adept at replying vocally. In fact, they can be a bit rebellious. The more you call them, the more they seem to ignore you. After all, how could they receive more treats from you without some playful aloofness?
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Cats Know Not Only Their Own Names, But Also Their Cat Friends’ Names
Cats not only recognize their own names but can also remember the names of their fellow cats. Last April, several Japanese universities and institutions conducted a study on this topic. The researchers selected domestic cats and café cats for the experiment, observing how cats responded to hearing the names of their “cat friends”—the other cats they lived with. The experiment was divided into two phases: First, the researchers played pre-recorded audio of owners calling their cats’ friends’ names (such as “Sugar” or “Fluffy”) four times. Then, a photo of a cat appeared on the computer screen, and the researchers recorded how long the cats stared at the photo.In this experiment, half of the cats heard a name that didn’t match the photo. For example, they might hear “Sugar” but see a picture of a cat named “Doggy.” The other half of the cats heard names that matched the photos, like hearing “Fluffy” while seeing a picture of “Fluffy.” The aim of the experiment was to see if cats could connect the name they heard with the cat they saw—basically, if they could “understand” their owner’s reference to their cat friend. The researchers found that, in the case of domestic cats, when the audio and the photo didn’t match, cats spent more time looking at or sniffing the screen than when the name and photo matched. On the other hand, café cats didn’t seem to care much about the mismatch. This suggests that domestic cats have an expectation: when they hear the name “Fluffy,” they expect to see “Fluffy.” If the name doesn’t match the cat, they get confused and pay more attention to the screen. This is likely because domestic cats, having a closer bond with humans, are familiar with their owners’ voice, and they’re used to associating names with specific cats in their home. After all, how could they not remember “Fluffy” when they’ve seen their owner lovingly call out to them?
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You and Your Cat Are Both Making the Effort
So, does a cat’s ability to learn names extend only to their own species? Can they also make the “sound-to-image” connection and remember your name if you’re human? To explore this, the researchers replaced the cat friend with the human companions the cats live with, following the same procedure for a second round of testing. The results showed that domestic cats responded similarly when their family members’ names didn’t match their faces—they spent more time looking at the screen when there was a mismatch. Here, the “name” wasn’t a specific person’s name like “John,” but rather common terms like “mom,” “baby,” or “honey”—nicknames that cats frequently hear their humans use. Although not every cat had this reaction, the more human family members the cat lived with, the more likely it was to show confusion when hearing names it wasn’t expecting. Additionally, the longer the cats lived with their human companions, the more pronounced this reaction became, with cats staring at the screen for longer periods.
It seems that the bond between you and your cat is real. The longer you spend time together, the more your cat is able to remember your unique characteristics. However, this also serves as a reminder: even at home, it’s important to maintain a bit of dignity between family members. Otherwise, when your mom calls you by your “childhood nickname,” your cats will also store it in their memories. So, when you call your beloved cat, they might be lovingly responding in their own way: “Hey, Dumpling!”
