What's In A Name: Nebelung

The name Nebelung — apparently a portmanteau of the German word Nebel for "Mist" or "Fog" and a medieval Germanic saga, Nibelungenlied — is perhaps derived from the cat's distinctive silky blue-grey coat and from the breed's progenitors, who were named after the two major figures in the Nibelungenlied, the German warrior Siegfried and the Icelandic queen Brunhilde.

The Nebelung is a rare breed and is relatively recent (1985). The goal of the breeding program was to produce a blue cat with the same type as those early Russian imports and to combine this type with a thick shimmering coat of medium length.