The Nebelung cat breed takes its name from the German word “Nebel,” meaning “mist.”
The name suits the breed’s appearance: Nebelungs have a long, fine blue-gray coat that can give them a hazy or silvery look. The breed name is also reminiscent of the Nibelungenlied, a major medieval German epic, although the direct linguistic reference is the German word for mist.
Nebelungs were developed in the United States in the 1980s. The foundation cats included a long-haired blue-gray male and a black domestic shorthair female, and later breeding incorporated Russian Blue lines. The breed was named and promoted by Cora Cobb.
A Nebelung is not simply a long-haired Russian Blue, although the two breeds share blue coloring and greenish eyes. Their relationship is close, but the Nebelung has a distinct longhaired breed standard and registry history.