Hamlet

Since the 1930s the Algonquin Hotel in midtown Manhattan — famous as the home of the "Algonquin Round Table" of writers and wits — has kept a resident cat, and by long tradition every male in the line is named Hamlet while every female is named Matilda. The custom is said to have begun when a stray wandered into the lobby during the Depression and the actor John Barrymore, a regular, suggested the theatrical name. More than a dozen cats have held the post in the decades since.

The Algonquin's Hamlet is no ordinary house pet. He has the run of the celebrated lobby, greets guests, and by hotel policy is never allowed to cross the threshold into the dining areas, in deference to health regulations. Over the years the cats have accumulated their own fan mail, a dedicated staff "Director of Guest Relations" title, and even charity tie-ins, with a portion of attention directed toward feline rescue causes.

The tradition is one of the longest-running hotel-cat lineages in the world, a small thread of continuity running through nearly a century of New York literary and theatrical life. Guests still ask for the cat by name, and the sight of Hamlet dozing on a lobby chair remains one of the Algonquin's most beloved and enduring institutions.