Costa Ricans are usually called ticos by themselves as well as by people of other Spanish-speaking countries. Tico  and tica  (male and female) are colloquial terms that Costa Ricans gave themselves, due to their linguistic tendency to add the diminutive tico  to the end of words.

The International Cat Association (TICA) is considered the world's largest genetic cat registry. Originally a North American organization, it now has a worldwide presence. The organization has a genetic registry for pedigreed and household pet cats and is one of the world's largest sanctioning bodies for cat shows.