The same thing happened to us. This neighborhood stray moves in, we need a mouser and she's a great one, so we let her stay. My stepson Parker names her "CG." When we take her to the vet, to make sure she doesn't have a chip, and get her looked over...it's a he!

It takes a while, at least in our experience, to stop thinking of him as a her, and speaking of her --him-- that way. At least the name "CG" works both ways. You've got more of a problem with "Lily."

Posted by: Frank Dufay at August 8, 2006 08:56 PM

Make that "Billy."

Posted by: Jack Bog at August 8, 2006 09:09 PM

Our cat, CJ, was the quintessential "cat who came to stay." Last summer she moved into our basement.

Weeks before, she'd followed our neighbors home -- a grand procession, two moms, two strollers, two dogs and a skinny half-grown kitten bringing up the rear. They thought she was cute when she first started following them. When she crossed Clinton they got worried, and started trying to scare her away. She kept coming.

All the way to our street.

She'd been dumped, that was clear, but she wss no feral cat, she'd been loved by a child -- she ran to every child she saw. Everyone on our street loved her, who wouldn't, GREAT mouser, soft as silk, calm and careful and smart, ridiculously big feet and a purr that wouldn't quit. (Frank dubbed her the "buzz machine")

but she picked us to move in with.

We named her CJ because she reminded us of a cat we'd had in the past. He was a he, and he was named after my dad. I kept explaining why "she" had a boy's name. Particularly to my mom...

Then we took her to the vet. "She" was a he.

May I suggest "LL Cool-cat" for "Lily"?

or, just "LL"?

And, no, CJ does not live in the basement, anymore. King of the Master bed he is, these days...

Posted by: Anne Dufay at August 8, 2006 09:28 PM

Blog land it is. My husband's comment, written in Melbourne, Florida, shows up just after I write my own comment...

Someone once called us, not meaning it in any way as a compliment, "the evil twins."

I will point out, however, that it is "CJ", not "CG"!

Posted by: Anne Dufay at August 8, 2006 09:34 PM

Did your family have to look at very many kittens to find one with markings so similar to Gwally's?

Posted by: Cynthia at August 8, 2006 10:13 PM

I wasn't there. There was a litter. But my girls were assured that they were all females.

No matter. He's our boy now.

Posted by: Jack Bog at August 8, 2006 11:02 PM

No matter? You're a young tom cat and they call you Lily? Look in the cat's eyes. I see a lot of issues here.

Posted by: Bill McDonald at August 8, 2006 11:29 PM

Good thing he lives in Portland.

Posted by: Jack Bog at August 8, 2006 11:34 PM

Maybe a quick name switch could be Lyle, after all he was dumped by the pretty woman.

Posted by: Swimmer at August 9, 2006 09:13 AM

Name him Visioneer. He probably has a clearer vision of Portland's future than Potter does.

Posted by: Bark Munster at August 9, 2006 09:52 AM

I think the best derivation, given the circumstance, would be "Tiger Lilly".

It affords the little beast a masculine identity while still paying homage to his ambiguous feline origins.

Posted by: Arcadian at August 9, 2006 10:49 AM

HAHA....

We had one we thought was a boy and being a hockey family, the youth hockey player named it Mario LeMew.....

Turns out we shoulda named it Tanya Harding.....

Oh well...rather then explain it to the child, it's still named Mario........

Posted by: thaddeus at August 9, 2006 03:42 PM

Our Gracie had to be renamed "Ozzie" after a couple of months. Seems that boy cats are sometimes hard to sex when they are so small. Anyway, Ozzie is such a loving, lap kitty. You will find boy cats to be very affectionate. Keep the pictures coming. All of us cat lovers enjoy seeing him grow and indeed, he is a beauty!

Posted by: Momcat at August 9, 2006 04:56 PM

I made the opposite mistake: I fostered a litter of kittens and gave one, a male (I thought), to my neighbors. They named him Leo. When he went to the vet for neutering, we found out he was Cleo.

Posted by: Cynthia at August 9, 2006 05:35 PM

My family had a cat (a stray who turned up at our house) that my Mom thought was a chubby male- right up until "he" gave birth to a litter of kittens under our couch- my sibs and I were delighted, of couse.

How about the name Willy- it's close enough to Lily that it should be an easy transition for him to make.

Posted by: Lily at August 10, 2006 12:00 AM

... same thing happened to us.. our pair - Fred and Ginger... Ginger turned out to be a boy... the name stuck, though...

Posted by: Eric at August 10, 2006 09:51 AM

Well there is a precedent- Ginger Baker- of "Cream".

Posted by: Lily at August 11, 2006 12:17 AM

[Posted as indicated; restored later.]