Back to the wallOne letter, one year, one cat
The letters of the cat years
In the cat world, every calendar year gets its own letter, and kittens born that year take it as their middle initial. It is the official system of the LOOF, the French feline registry — and it is the fastest way to guess a cat’s birth year.
In 2026, the cat year is the letter
B
The cycle runs through all 26 letters over 20 years, then starts again: 2015 was L, and 2035 is L again. A few years are generous and offer several letters — 2019 was P or Q, 2024 covered V to Z, 2034 is J or K — because some initials are too rare to fill.
The official table
Find your cat’s birth year below. If a year lists several letters, any of them counts.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LL | MM | NN | OO | P QP or Q |
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RR | SS | TT | UU | V W X Y ZV, W, X, Y or Z |
| 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA | BBThis year | CC | DD | EE |
| 2030 | 2031 | 2032 | 2033 | 2034 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FF | GG | HH | II | J KJ or K |
Source: LOOF (Livre Officiel des Origines Félines), the French feline registry, page « Une année, une lettre ». See the LOOF page
How to read the table
- Take the first letter of a cat’s registered (pedigree) name, then find it in the table above. A cat whose name starts with L was born in 2015 — or in 2035.
- It exists to make the Livre des Origines easier to manage: the LOOF borrowed the system from the Société Centrale Canine, so the initial gives the birth year at a glance.
- It is not an exact science. The cycle repeats every 20 years, and a few years allow several letters (P or Q, V to Z, J or K), so the letter narrows the year down rather than proving it.
- It concerns the pedigree name registered with the LOOF, not the nickname you use at home.