It seems like we have come along way from the early part of the last century when pet names were not that personal. Of course now that our pets have become our ,furkids, they are getting the same kinds of names as our children. For instance you will never hear of a kid called Rover, Spot or Fido but you will find pets named Donna, Christopher, Tiffany or Karen.
Some of the most popular dog names according to PickNames.com were Molly, Sophie, Maggie, Alice, Jake and Lucy, which sound more like the names that belonged to our grandparents. Does this affect the way we treat our dogs. For instance isn’t it a bit harder to send a creature called Britney or Mark to the doghouse even if it does have four legs instead of two?
Speaking of names like Britney there is also a real trend towards naming pets after celebrities , Lindsay, Paris and Hillary immediately come to mind. Dead celebrities should also not be left out of the loop. Dogs are also frequently named Marilyn, Truman, Eisenhower or Judy.
Speaking of celebrities I read in the Star tabloid the other day that they like to call them Mr. Or Miss something or other as in Mr. Jeeves, Mr. Jubby or Ms. Jones. This is probably inspired by the cat named Miss Priss on Everybody Loves Raymond!
I went researching the most popular names and according to a site that has archived over 3000 dog monikers the most popular name for both doggie sexes is Sam (including all of its variants like Sammy and Samantha). The name means ,listener, which is not a bad name for man’s best friend. By the way it is also one of the most popular names for little girls according to a human naming website I looked at. The second most popular is Max, Maxie, Maxwell or Maxine (which means “the greatest” in Latin). The third most common name is Lady, which is incredibly retro and reminiscent of old time television dramas. Of course this name does not fit a male dog too well unless you are absolutely sure it is gay. The fourth most popular name does suit a male. It is Bear. This is a good name for a very tiny dog that looks like a Teddy or one of those huge Labradors that can clamp its paws on your shoulders when it wants to dance.
If you love your doggie so much you want to eat it then you are in good company as many of the top twenty names sound absolutely delicious. These include names such as Cocoa, Peaches, Ginger, Brandy and Popcorn. There has also been a trend lately to name your dogs after sweet and tasty delights. In fact names in the top twenty include Brandy, Ginger and Taffy. Names like Popcorn, Cocoa and Peaches are also very popular. If you don’t want to curse your dog with a bad name then you should probably avoid the name Rocky. According to an article in the San Francisco Examiner (1977) dogs that bite are most often named Rocky.