Halloween Inspired Pet Names

Press for a Halloween name for your pet, with a line on the spooky thing it is named for.

ProwlerFor a cat on the two o'clock patrol.

How it works

Halloween inspired pet names in six kinds: ghosts and frights, creatures of the night, trick or treat, the pumpkin patch, the witch's shelf and old folklore. Each name has a line on what it is named for.

Read the full guide

Pick the kind of name

You can narrow the draw to one kind. Ghosts and frights gives Boo, Spook and Wraith. The witch's shelf gives Hex, Potion and Familiar, in European folklore a spirit believed to protect or help a witch. The pumpkin patch gives Pumpkin, Jack and Pepita, another name for a pumpkin seed.

Names from old folklore

Samhain is a Gaelic festival on 1 November that marks the end of the harvest season. Cat Sith is a fairy creature of Celtic mythology said to look like a large black cat with a white spot on its chest, and Barghest is a monstrous black dog of northern English folklore.

Questions and answers

What is a good Halloween name for a black cat?

Cat Sith, after the fairy cat of Celtic mythology. Jinx suits a cat who walks in front of your feet, Hex is a spell of the grumpy kind, and Coven fits one of several cats.

What is a good Halloween name for a dog?

Howl, for a dog who sings at sirens. Shuck comes from Black Shuck, a ghostly black dog said to roam East Anglia, and Cu Sith is a mythical hound of Irish and Scottish folklore. Bones is what a dog wants.

What are cute Halloween names that are not scary?

Boo, Punkin, Treat, Goodie and Candy Corn. Doorbell is for the dog who answers it all night on October 31, and Costume for a pet who puts up with the hat.

Are movie monsters on the list?

No. A ghost here is Boo and never a named one: no ghost, witch or monster from a film, a cartoon, a game or a brand is listed. The two story names, Tam and Hollow, come from works of 1790 and 1820.

All 129 names

Ghosts and frights 23

Apparition A ghost that appears out of nowhere, usually in the kitchen.
Bogey A short form of bogeyman, a mythical creature.
Boggart A supernatural being of English folklore.
Bones What a skeleton is, and what a dog wants.
Boo What a ghost says. Short enough for a pet to learn in a day.
Creak The sound of the stairs at night. It was the cat.
Eerie For a quiet pet with a long stare.
Fright A scare, the small kind.
Ghoul A spook of old stories. On a pet it mostly means the trash got tipped.
Goblin A small, grotesque and often mischievous creature of European folklore.
Haunt For a pet who is in every room you walk into.
Heebie-Jeebies The creeps, in a name that takes a while to call.
Jitters For a nervous pet on a windy night.
Mummy For a pet who gets wrapped in the blanket and stays there.
Poltergeist A ghost or spirit of German folklore that makes loud noises and moves things around.
Rattle Chains in the attic, or the food bowl at six.
Shriek For a small pet with a large voice.
Skelly Short for skeleton. For a thin pet with a big grin.
Specter A ghost, in a longer coat.
Spook An old word for a ghost, and what your pet does to the mail carrier.
Spooky For a pet who stares at an empty corner.
Wraith A ghost or specter.
Yikes A fright in one word.

Creatures of the night 21

Bat Wings, big ears and a night shift.
Cobweb What gathers in the corner where the pet sleeps.
Firefly A small light in a dark yard.
Gargoyle A carved grotesque with a spout that carries rainwater away from the side of a building.
Hoot The call of an owl, and a laugh.
Howl For a dog who sings at sirens and at the moon.
Lurk What a cat does under the bed.
Moonlight For a pale coat, best seen after dark.
Moth A night flier drawn to the porch light.
Newt A kind of salamander.
Nightfall When the costumes come out.
Possum For a pet who plays dead for a belly rub.
Prowler For a cat on the two o'clock patrol.
Screech From the screech owl, a kind of owl.
Skulk A sneak. It is also an old word for a group of foxes.
Slink To move low and quiet toward the food.
Tarantula Eight legs and a fur coat.
Toad Squat, bumpy and found by the back door after dark.
Vulture For a pet who circles the dinner table.
Webster A pun for a pet who sits in the middle of things like a spider.
Wolfie A small wolf. The howl is still the same.

Trick or treat 18

Barmbrack A bread with sultanas and raisins, tied to Halloween in Ireland.
Candy Apple A whole apple covered in a sugar candy coating, with a stick for a handle.
Candy Corn A candy in three sections of different colors, a staple of Halloween in North America.
Cape For a pet with a dark back and a sense of drama.
Costume For a pet who puts up with the hat.
Doorbell It rings all night on October 31, and your dog answers every time.
Goodie What goes in the bag.
Loot What the night's haul is called on the walk home.
Mask For a pet with dark patches round the eyes.
Masquerade A party in masks.
Popcorn Ball Popcorn and syrup pressed into a ball. For a round, sticky pet.
Soul Cake A small round cake traditionally made for Halloween, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.
Stash Where the good ones are hidden.
Sugar Rush For a pet who does laps of the house at nine at night.
Sweet Tooth For a pet who can hear a wrapper from two rooms away.
Treat The other half, and the word your pet already knows.
Trick Half of what is shouted at the door.
Tricky For a pet who has learned to open the cupboard.

The pumpkin patch 18

Bale A block of hay. For a square, yellow pet.
Bramble The thorny tangle at the edge of the pumpkin field.
Calabaza Pumpkin in Spanish.
Citrouille Pumpkin in French.
Cornstalk Tall, thin and tied to the porch rail in October.
Flicker What the candle does inside the pumpkin.
Glow What the pumpkin does after dark.
Gourd A hard-shelled cousin of the pumpkin. Lumpy and proud of it.
Jack For the jack-o'-lantern, a lantern carved from a pumpkin or a root vegetable.
Kabocha A Japanese variety of winter squash.
Lantern A light to carry. On Halloween it has a face.
Patch Where pumpkins grow. Also for a pet with one spot.
Pepita Another name for a pumpkin seed.
Pumpkin A cultivated winter squash. The word most often means the round orange kinds.
Punkin Pumpkin, the way it is said at home.
Stem The handle on top of the pumpkin. For a pet with a tail that sticks straight up.
Vine For a long pet who winds round your legs.
Zucca Pumpkin in Italian.

The witch's shelf 27

Abracadabra The magic word. Your pet has heard it and is still sitting there.
Brew What is in the cauldron.
Broomstick A witch's ride.
Bruja Witch in Spanish.
Cackle A witch's laugh.
Circe A witch and goddess of Greek myth.
Coven A gathering of witches. For one of several cats.
Elixir A magic drink, the helpful kind.
Familiar In European folklore, a spirit believed to protect or help a witch.
Hecate A goddess of ancient Greek religion and myth tied to crossroads, night, magic and witchcraft.
Hex A spell, the grumpy kind.
Hexe Witch in German.
Hocus The first half of the magic words.
Jinx A bit of bad luck. For a pet who walks in front of your feet.
Mandrake A plant with a man-shaped root.
Mugwort A common name for several strong-smelling plants of the genus Artemisia.
Nightshade A family of plants with a dark name. For a dark coat.
Omen A sign of things to come, such as a cat on your suitcase.
Potion A drink with magic in it. Do not ask what else.
Rune A letter of the runic alphabets of the Germanic peoples.
Spell What your pet has you under.
Toadstool A mushroom with a pointed hat.
Wand For a pet with a thin tail that points at things.
Wicked Said with a grin. For a pet who knows what it did.
Witch Hazel A flowering shrub.
Witchy For a pet with a pointed face and plans.
Wolfsbane A plant also called monkshood.

Old folklore 22

Banshee A female spirit of Irish folklore, known for her wailing.
Barghest A monstrous black dog of the folklore of northern England.
Bogle A ghost or folkloric being of Northumbrian and Scots folklore.
Cat Sith A fairy creature of Celtic mythology, said to look like a large black cat with a white spot on its chest.
Cu Sith A mythical hound of Irish and Scottish folklore.
Dullahan A headless rider of Irish folklore.
Grim From the church grim, a guardian spirit of English and Nordic folklore.
Guiser From guising, the old Scottish and Irish custom of going house to house at Halloween.
Gytrash A legendary shape-changer of Yorkshire, said to haunt lonely roads.
Hallow From All Hallows' Eve, the full name of Halloween.
Hobgoblin A household spirit of English folklore.
Hollow For Sleepy Hollow, from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, an 1820 story by Washington Irving.
Kelpie A shape-shifting water spirit of Scottish folklore that lives in lochs.
Kobold A household spirit of German folklore.
Mummer A player in a mummers' play, a folk play acted by amateur troupes.
Pooka A shape-changing creature of Celtic folklore that can bring good or bad fortune.
Punkie From Punkie Night, an English custom kept on the last Thursday of October in Somerset.
Samhain A Gaelic festival on 1 November that marks the end of the harvest season and the start of winter.
Shuck From Black Shuck, a ghostly black dog said to roam the coast and countryside of East Anglia.
Stingy Jack The Jack of an Irish folktale told around Halloween to explain the jack-o'-lantern.
Tam Tam o' Shanter, the hero of a poem by Robert Burns written in 1790.
Wisp From will-o'-the-wisp, a ghost light that travelers see at night over bogs, swamps and marshes.

Facts on this page were checked against the sources named under the list. If you spot a mistake, tell us through the contact page and we will check it and correct the page.

More notes about this page

Results are random and meant for fun, practice and planning. Do not rely on them for a decision that matters.

How this list was compiled: Own list of 129 Halloween names for a pet, written for this page on 2026-10-03; the choice of names and every line are ours. 52 cards state a fact (what a creature of folklore is, where a custom comes from, what a word means in another language). Each was read that day in the English Wikipedia article on that thing, place or figure, or in the English Wiktionary entry for a word (CC BY-SA 4.0), and the card says no more than the opening section of the article or the entry does. The other lines are our own jokes. Kinds: 23 ghosts and frights, 21 creatures of the night, 18 trick or treat, 18 the pumpkin patch, 27 the witch's shelf, 22 old folklore. The spooky is kept at the level of a picture book. This list and our four other season and candy lists were written together, so that no name stands on two of them. The rule for a name that fits two: a holiday comes before its season, a kind of sweet goes to the candy list unless one holiday owns it (candy corn, candy canes and sugarplums), and a weather word goes to the season it belongs to. So most sweets are on the candy list and the leaves and harvest names on the fall list. No ghost, witch or monster of a film, a cartoon, a game or a brand is on the list; the two names from old stories, Tam and Hollow, come from works of 1790 and 1820. Licence: The names, the groups and the lines are our own work. Facts on the cards draw on English Wikipedia and English Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).