If you have — or have ever had — pets, you know that picking out the perfect name is a true art. It needs to be cute, perhaps also funny and clever, and must also fit the pet’s personality.
You could go with a common name for your dog, like Spot, or you could go a bit outside the box and call them a human name no one would expect, like Bob. Or maybe you’d prefer to go for humor and name them after your favorite celebrity or food, like calling your black and white dog Oreo.
How does your pet’s name compare to others out there? Rover.com, a website that connects pet parents to sitters and dog walkers, has just released their seventh annual list of the most popular pet names for 2019 — and while some of the results are to be expected (Cupcake is always a good name for a dog!), others may surprise you. And for the first time ever, this list also includes cat names.
Rover took a look at how popular culture played a role this year and noted that the names Lizzo (up 100%), Beyoncé (up 78%) and Taylor Swift (up 400%) were among the most popular. Meanwhile, the name Meghan Markle was up 42% this year compared to other royals of her generation. And as for fictional characters, the name Maisel — inspired by Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” — rose 1,000% and “Game of Thrones” character name Arya Stark increased in usage by 150%.
Celebrity baby names are also popular, with the Chip and Joanna Gaines-inspired “Crew” up 411%, Kylie Jenner’s “Stormi” up 364% and Kim and Kanye’s “Saint” up 96%.
Food and drink names also proved popular this year, with Rosè up by 183% and dessert-inspired names like Cake, Croissant and Cupcake climbing in the ranks. And a whopping eight out of 10 drink-themed cat names were coffee-related, with names such as Mocha, Kona and Latte making the list. Interestingly, cats are also more likely to be given alcohol-inspired names than dogs. Healthy foods also made it onto the list, with dogs named Kale up 70% and those named Keto up 57%.
The humanization of pets was another trend, with 55% of pet parents saying their pet either has a human name or they would consider giving their pet a human name. Twenty-five percent of pet parents also would consider giving their pet a name they had considered for their child, including Dorothy, Elaine and Dennis.
As for the top names overall, people are sticking to the classics. Even with “Taylor Swift” seeing such a whopping increase, you’ll still find more cats named Bella and more dogs named Buddy. Here are the top 2019 pet names for cats and dogs:
Cats:
- Luna
- Bella
- Kitty
Dogs:
- Bella
- Luna
- Lucy
- Daisy
- Max
- Charlie
- Cooper
- Buddy
One thing is clear — what we name our pets says more about us than it does about our pets themselves.
“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 said in a press release.
You can see more popular pet names for 2019 by visiting Rover.com. Did any of these results surprise you?
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
