Yay!! Congratulations! He sounds like an absolutely wonderful guy. And it's super cool you were able to find a deaf cat, he's so lucky to have found such an awesome owner like you.
I'm a HUGE cat lover (we have six indoor cats and an outdoor colony we care for too. And I clicker train most of them too. My family's cat obsessed
) so I will be eagerly awaiting pics of him!
As for the names, I love Merlin and Cricket. I have a friend who has a flame point siamese named that and my sister had a tiger cat named Cricket so I'm partial to those names lol. I really like the name Hobbs too.