DoggieNames.com
World's Most Popular Dog Names 2015
Is your pup's handle common, cool or both? This Top 10 list combines information from a variety of
Most Popular Female and Male Dog Names lists all over the web and even the world, to help you decide. To learn more, check out the analysis below.
Girl Dog Names Boy Dog Names
1. Bella
2. Lucy
3. Molly
4. Daisy
5. Coco
6. Maggie
7. Sadie
8. Lola
9. Roxy
10. Princess
1. Max
2. Buddy
3. Charlie
4. Bailey
5. Jack
6. Rocky
7. Toby
8. Lucky
9. Cooper
10. Duke
Why Bella Works
Bella has been the most popular dog name around the globe for more than 5 years. We used to think this was linked to the Twilight series of books and movies, since it’s the name of that series’ popular heroine. But now it looks like it stands on its own as a cross-cultural favorite.
Bella’s a lovely name that means ‘beautiful’ in Italian, and it also follows the trainer-recommended guidelines of giving your dog a name with one or two syllables, led by a strong consonant, and ending in a long vowel sound like e, o or a.
Above all else, your pet's name is a safety and training tool. You want her to alert to the name as soon as she hears it, immediately stop and follow your command. This prevents your dog from getting into dangerous situations like darting out into traffic. In fact, all of the names on both the male and female lists fall under those recommendations.
Nostalgic Names Rule
Of course, the name you give your dog is a personal choice that reflects cultural trends. And the current favorites from around the world point to a more nostalgic, retro vibe. Looking to the past provides comfort when there are so many unknowns in the future – and there’s often no more comforting presence in our lives than our dogs. So it makes sense we’d want to give them names that harken back to a simpler time. For example, the current Top Ten dog names for girls could’ve come out of a tea party RSVP list from the 1880s, when Daisy, Lucy, Sadie, Charlie and Roxy were some of the most popular baby names, according to the Social Security Administration.
It also looks like pop culture doesn’t have as much to do with dog-name popularity as once believed. If it did, we’d for sure be seeing Frozen’s Elsa, Anna and Olaf on the list.
No More Rover?
The shift from monikers like Rover and Ranger to more “human” names like Molly and Jack might also reflect the fact that most dogs are no longer working and hunting on farms and ranches for a living. Now, instead they’re the doted-upon leisure class that’ve been welcomed into our homes as beloved family members, and waited on hand and foot. I think this might explain the names Princess and Duke showing up on the world’s Most Popular list.
This trend appears not just in the U.S., but across the globe as well. And the fact that so many of the same names appear on lists both here and abroad shows just how connected our cultures have become. In fact, DoggieNames.com research shows that Bella also happens to be the most popular dog name in Finland.
And though the Top 10 Most Popular Dog Names work as baby names too, there’s surprisingly little crossover in the human vs. pet name list. The Social Security Administration recently came out with their own Top 10 Baby Name list, and while the monikers are somewhat similar, there was no crossover at all. For example, Sophia, Emma and Olivia are the most common girl names, while the baby boy names are led by Jackson, Aiden and Liam, which sound like the latest boy band out of London.
Does your dog have one of the Most Popular Dog Names? Send us a pic and tell us how you decided on that moniker.
Note: This data was compiled from a variety of Most Popular Dog Name lists, including pet insurers in the U.S., the UK, Canada and Australia, along with online pet communities including Dogster, Doggyloot, Cuteness, and Bowwow, as well as city records in Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, Toronto, Wellesley (Massachusetts), Anchorage, Cincinnati, Lansing (Michigan), Eau Claire (Wisconsin), New York and Los Angeles.