Fido, Rover and Spot aren’t just playing dead. They are dead. As dog names, anyway.
Human names are all the rage in the dog world, both here in the U.S. and over in the UK.
In the Boston area, for instance, popular dog names include:
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Bailey Bella Buddy Charlie Daisy Jake |
Lily Lucy Maggie Max Molly Sam |
Do you like human names for dogs, or you do prefer traditional dog names?
Sources: Bailey is top dog – in name at least, From Remy to Yeats: most popular dog names in Wellesley
6 Comments
I know dogs with many of these names!
Since we’ve been busy naming children, I would want our pets’ names to be distinctly non-human. Aly, Clio and Patches, say, as opposed to Aly, Clio and Molly. My husband’s college girlfriend had a pet called Sadie, forever removing one of my personal favorites from consideration for a daughter.
Of course, with babies named Bandit and Rogue, it is tougher and tougher to declare a name clearly canine.
A few years from now, as our kids grow up? I think I’d be open to human names again. I grew up with three brothers – destructive boy types. As each son left home, their mom adopted a lovely French poodle and bestowed a feminissa name on each of them – Genevieve, Cecily, etc. I’ve never worked up the courage to ask if she was finally getting the daughters she always wanted, but I kind of think she deserved a little indulgence after all those wild years!
I have known three dogs named Sadie.
We don’t have dogs, but our cats have the names of fictional characters that are unlikely as real, given names.
Abby, I love that story about French poodles replacing rowdy boys. Well, not replacing…you know what I mean. :)
I’ve never known a canine Sadie, but I’ve known dogs with many of the other popular names.
Never met a Fido, though. (Even though I’ve always wanted to!)
My grandmother had a dog named Bridget several years before I came along…at least they spelled it differently.
That said, I like human names for pets. But I would use odd/less popular ones. My sister has cats named Burt, Otto, and Rosemary; we have a dog named Dara and a cat named Jack. If we get another cat and she’s a girl, I’m using Edna for Edna St. Vincent Millay. Couldn’t bear to name a daughter that but love that poet!
Another common people/dog name : Sam.
Personally I like people names, but then again, my dogs are my children. That being said, all the cats I grew up with had random names like Bullet, Belkar, Yarborough, Tiger, Five, Trash, Princess, Kermit, Cinnamon, Saffron, Zorro, and Smokey. Yes, those are ALL real names of cats I grew up with ;)
I have 4 dogs myself…and a being active in Cattle Dog rescue, complete with rotating fosters…I have strived to give my dogs unique but normal names.
However, being that these are Australian Cattle Dogs (ACD), names like Sheila, Sydney, Bindi ((as in Croc hunter fame)and other associated spellings), Blue, Red, Bandit, etc are all VERY common.
In the south, you will never be hard pressed to find a Dixie either.
Of my dogs, we named 2, Buela Grace & Colbert: and had 2 come with names, Corona & Max.
B & C are both well known names, but not common. We should have changed Corona to Sharona, but we call her Roni anyhow. And I never would have named a dog Max. But we call him Maximus.
Some of the best dogs names I have seen/heard are: Guinness (champ agility Aussie Shep), Heinekin (Choc lab at a dog park), Mulder (think X-files, Champ ACD), & MacGuyver (Neighbors Jack Russel/Rat Terrier)
Fosters I have named: Dean, Barnabus, Hixson, Dahlia, & Efina.
Buddy, Max, Molly & Sam are very popular names for dogs (at least where i am from).
Personally, i don’t really like giving “normal” human names to pets. The names on this list are boring!!!!!!! I like naming them after things symbolic to me, like character’s from a book or pop culture (like Aladdin, Picasso, Twilight, Cairo, Billie Jean etc)
Also, you can basically name a pet anything, which is the perfect opportunity to give them a GP name you love, but would never use on you own child (like Cleopatra, Paris, Leonardo, Calypso)
i like seeing creative names on pets, it shows personality!