If you’ve ever had a pet, you know how important picking out the perfect name can be. You want something that sounds nice, is easy for them to understand, is unique, and fits their personality. It’s a tough order sometimes. In my time I’ve had a dog called Bonita; four rabbits named Jean-Claude, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Rousseau for short), S’mores, and Manny; and seven cats named Rufino (Rufo for short), Patch (he came already named), Tibby (I picked the name when I was four), Rufina, Summer, Felicity, and Lilly.
So how do your pets’ names compare to others out there? Well, Rover.com, a website that helps to connect pet owners with pet sitters and dog walkers, has released their seventh annual list of the most popular pet names for 2019. Some of the names are results you’d expect, while others might be a bit surprising. And for the first time ever, this list is also including cat names.
Rover took a look at how popular culture played a naming role this year and noted that the names Lizzo (up 100%), Beyoncé (up 78%) and Taylor Swift (up 400%) were among the most popular pet names. Meanwhile, Meghan Markle was up 42% this year as compared to other royals of her generation. Regarding fictional character names, Maisel – inspired by Amazon’s original show, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” – rose 1,000% while “Game of Thrones” character name Arya Stark’s usage increased by 150%.
Celebrity baby names were also popular inspirations, with Chip and Joanna Gaines’ son “Crew” going up 411%, Kylie Jenner’s “Stormi” at 364% and Kim and Kanye’s “Saint” seeing a 96% rise.
Another category for pet names that proved very popular as food and drink names. Rosè rose up by 183% while dessert-inspired names like Cake, Croissant, and Cupcake also saw major increases. And an astonishing 8 out of 10 drink-themed cat names were coffee-related. Names like Mocha, Kona, and Latte all made the list. Interestingly, cat’s names were also more likely to be alcohol-related as opposed to dog names. Healthy foods were also on the list, with dogs named Kale going up 70% and Keto up by 57%.
Humanization of pet names was also a major trend this year, with 55% of pet owners saying they’d either given their pets a human name or would consider giving their pet a human name. 25% of pet owners also would consider giving their pet a name previously considered for their children, such as Dorothy, Elaine, and Dennis.
As for the top names overall, people are sticking to the classics. Even though names like “Taylor Swift” or “Keto” are seeing major increases, there are still plenty of classical pet names out there.
And below are the top 2019 pet names for cats and dogs:
Cats:
- Luna
- Bella
- Kitty
Dogs:
- Bella
- Luna
- Lucy
- Daisy
- Max
- Charlie
- Cooper
- Buddy
No matter what people are choosing to name their pets, there is one thing that is absolutely clear: What we choose to name our pets says more about us than it does our pets.
“The names we give our pets provide a peek into our passions, aspirations, happy places and guilty pleasures, reinforcing what we at Rover know to be true: our pets are as unique as the names we lovingly bestow upon them,” Kate Jaffe, trend expert for Rover revealed in a press release.
You can see more popular pet names for 2019 by visiting Rover.com. Were any of these names a surprise to you? What have you named your pets? Let us know!
