 In the 17th century , German naturalist Georg Marcgrave named the cat the cuguacu ara . Marcgrave 's rendering was reproduced by his associate , Dutch naturalist Willem Piso , in 1648 . Cuguacu ara was then adopted by English naturalist John Ray in 1693 . The French naturalist Georges @-@ Louis Leclerc , Comte de Buffon in 1774 ( probably influenced by the word " jaguar " ) converted the cuguacu ara to cuguar , which was later modified to " cougar " in English . 
