Human names for dogs were all the rage in 2019.
Human names for dogs were again some of the biggest trends in 2019, according to Rover. They released their yearly list of the Top 100 male and female dog names recently (our breakdown can be found here), and human names were a big deal.
So, being curious, and with about half the staff dogs here at Dog O’Day having people names, we asked Rover Pet Trends Expert Kate Jaffe about the phenomenon.
"“The majority of pet parents (55 percent) said their pet either has a human name or that they would be willing to consider giving them one,” Jaffe said in an email."
She theorizes that because many consider their dogs and cats as family members, it would make sense that that could be part of the reason people names are skyrocketing.
Another popular category for naming dogs, especially, came from the kitchen, as food-inspired monikers like Cookie, Cupcake, Pancake and Waffles saw a big boost in popularity.
"“While the carb-heavy names were definitely the most popular, we did also see a rise in health-conscious names like Keto or Kale, which was interesting,” Jaffe said."
Perhaps due to loosened laws on cannabis throughout various states this year, weed-inspired names flew through the roof, ranging in increases of anywhere from 60 to 600 percent more likely.
"“One of my favorite findings this year was that although both dogs and cats are often named for musicians, cats are more likely to have punny musical names like Katy Purry, Meowly Cyrus, Cat Benetar or Catsy Cline,” Jaffe noted."
Also, dogs are more likely to be given superheroic names (like this year’s National Dog Show winner Thor), while cats are more often named after villains (like the Riddler or Loki).
Does your dog have a human name? Would you ever give them one?