Bitsjka's kittens

Our first kittens all got names beginning with the letter O. The start was that we thought that one kitten should be called Obaldo.

Ofelia

Dorthe was going to have a female, and she was going to be called Ofelia.
Of course we knew the name from the famous play by William Shakespeare, but our Ofelia was not named after the character from the tragedy, she just had the same name.
Later on we found out that Ofelia or Ophelia is a much used name for a cat, but for us there is of course only one Ofelia.

Orlando

The kittens were born, and there were 3 males and 2 females. The first-born was a very big male, and we thought he just had to be called Orlando after Orlando Furioso. 
Orlando Furioso is the Italian name of Roland Enraged, one of Charlemagne's knights in the 7th century. 
Orlando - or Roland - was immortalized in Song of Roland, the oldest French epic song from the late 10th or the 11th century. 

Oberon

There was a little light male who we called Oberon after the fairy king. When he grew up he became a big Russian Blue, and he was called Maxim in his new home. In fact both Ophelia, Orlando and Oberon are characters in plays by Shakespeare, but it was not because of this we chose the names. 

Ossian

The third male was called Ossian, because the music "Efterklange af Ossian" by the Danish composer Niels W. Gade is so beautiful.
So, after all, there never was an Obaldo...

Odile

Dorthe's little sister, Henriette, was to name the second female.
The choice was between Oline and Odile. Henriette had recently seen Swan Lake in a cartoon version, and she chose Odile, the name of the black swan in Swan Lake.