Bean Name Meaning: What Does Bean Mean for a Cat?

Bean means the seed of a leguminous plant, and, for cat people, it carries a second beloved sense: the toe beans on those little paws.

What Does the Name Bean Mean?

Bean is the English word for the seed of a leguminous plant, from Old English bean and Proto-Germanic *bauno. It is a plain food word with well over a thousand years of use behind it, and, as Wiktionary records, it means simply the seed itself, nothing more mysterious. Pet sites that dress Bean up with a grander origin are inventing it.

Cat people, though, hear a second meaning instantly: toe beans, the soft pink or black paw pads that the internet named after beans because they look exactly like them. A kitten called Bean is usually named for smallness (a tiny seed of a cat), and the toe-bean joke seals it. Mr. Bean, Rowan Atkinson’s character, stands as a famous bearer of the word as a name.

What Kind of Cat Suits the Name Bean?

Bean suits a small cat, full stop, a kitten who stayed petite, a runt with enormous confidence, or any cat whose paws get photographed more than her face. It is gender-neutral, gentle and funny without being a punchline the cat must live up to.

One syllable, soft and round, easy for a cat to learn and easy to call. Bean expands happily into home nicknames (Beanie, Bean Sprout, Jellybean) which is how most cats called Bean actually spend their lives.

How Popular Is Bean for Cats?

Bean is seriously popular: #30 on Rover’s combined list and #16 among male cats, plus #86 in the U.S. News chart. Food names are a modern cat-naming staple, and Bean is one of the most-chosen of them all.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the name Bean mean?

Bean means the seed of a leguminous plant, from Old English bean. For cat owners it also nods to “toe beans”, the bean-shaped pads on a cat’s paws.

Is Bean a boy or girl cat name?

Both, Bean is gender-neutral, though Rover’s data shows it ranking especially high for males (#16).

Why do people call cats Bean?

Usually for size, a tiny seed of a kitten, or for toe beans. It sits at #30 on Rover’s combined chart, so plenty of owners land on it.

Where can I find more names like Bean?

Bean appears in our funny cat names and food cat names lists, or spin the cat name generator.

By Brianna Baxter

Meaning and origin verified against Wiktionary.