C++ :: Category And Constant Storage

I have a class that I'm going to use to store a category. Right now there are seven options, but there is the potential for a whole lot more in the future. So I started off by storing an integer as the private member. I then used static constants to define the numeric values to represent each category, then a set of static constant strings that corresponds to those numbers in case I need their actual names. Finally I set up some static functions to convert between the integer value and the string, and vice versa.

I'm not sure if this is the best way to go about this. For one it makes the categories names and designations unchangeable. I thought that storing them in a file would be a better option, but then i needed a container that is the equivalent of a constant.

I thought of defining a class to contain an int and the associated string. It would be designed so that it can only be initialized with both items. Then provide no functionality to change the contents. So I've basically created my own constant.