Dog Names That Start With L

Lou is usually a short form of Louise, Louisa, or Lucy in English-speaking countries, when Lou is used for girls at all. But in France and Germany, it's a fashionable choice all on its own, sure to gain even more widespread style credibility since Heidi Klum and Seal chose it for their daughter. At one time Lou was pervasive as a girl's middle name (Mary Lou, Betty Lou), and seems to be making something of a comeback--Louis C.K. has a Mary Lou and Keri Russell named her daughter Willa Lou.

Lathan is a surname recorded as relating to the towns of Layton or Latham and meaning, depending on its derivation, barn or leek farm or farm by the water.  As a first name, it's reminiscent of the popular Nathan.

Lathan

Lili has been blooming in many forms for a couple of decades now. The Lili version will surely get more attention now that the Duke and Duchess of Susses, aka Harry and Meghan, are using is as a short form for their daughter Lilibet Diana's name. Lili makes the slight and light though that is not necessarily a bad thing; it also mutes the name's floral identity and gives it a cute and quirky repetitive spelling, ala Coco and Lulu. A famous German song is titled Lili Marlene.

Lili

One of the fierce new animal names new to name lists, helped by its strong x-ending.

Lynx

Luci is a feminine name that serves as a shortened form of Lucia or Lucille, both derived from the Latin word "lux" meaning "light." This cheerful, bright name carries connotations of illumination, clarity, and radiance. Luci offers a modern, streamlined alternative to longer light-based names while maintaining their meaningful essence. The spelling with an 'i' instead of 'y' (Lucy) gives it a slightly more contemporary feel. While less common than Lucy, Luci has gained steady appreciation among parents seeking a name that's both simple and distinctive. Its cross-cultural appeal works well in many language traditions, particularly Spanish and Italian communities where names related to light are traditionally popular.

Luci

This name of a character played by Kirsten Dunst in the movie Virgin Suicides, originally a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, is gaining attention, also thanks to the heroine Lux, Lady of Luminosity in the League of Legends games. Luz is the Spanish version.
 
Influencer Brooklyn Larsen named her daughter Lux in 2026.

Leviathan was a name given to 76 boys in the USA in 2021. It makes a rather unusual Biblical choice, being the name not of a man or angel, but of a sea monster. In literature and popular culture, the term Leviathan has since come to be used as a synonym for any gargantuan, monstrous creature or object (think of the bag in VEEP).
 Before this meaning turns parents-to-be off, the term leviathan in modern Hebrew simply means whale, making this a great choice for parents looking for an unusual nature name.

Leviathan

One of those names like Pamela, Vanessa and Wendy, Lorna was invented for a particular literary character--the protagonist of the 1869 novel Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore--and then perpetuated as the name of a shortbread cookie. 
The author claimed to have based it on the Scottish place-name, Lorn. In baby name limbo for quite some time, it was chosen by Judy Garland for her younger daughter, Lorna Luft. Lorna Simpson is an important contemporary American artist. 
While not strictly from Scotland, many consider Lorna to be one of the most tradtional <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/472/scottish-names-for-girls">Scottish names for girls</a>

Lorna

Lander is a name that straddles two trends. It's an er-ending surname name, ala Cooper and Carter. And it's also, more subtly, a green name, in the manner of Fielder or Reed.

Lander

Levin, known in the U.S. mostly as a surname, is a Top 100 boys' name in Germany.  There have been saints with variations of this name, whose meaning relates to love.

Levin

Lainie is a nickname for Elaine that has been in the public eye via Lainie Kazan (that was her full given name), who was a popular singer in the 1960s and 1970s (she was Barbra Streisand's understudy in "Funny Girl"), and then became a motherly character actress.  We still find Lainie a bit flimsy for a full first name.

Lainie

Lucina, deriving from Latin lucus "grove" and also associated with lux "light", is an epithet given in Roman mythology to the goddess Juno (and sometimes also Diana) in her role as goddess of childbirth. A stately and unusual route to Lucy, more delicate than Lucinda.

Lucina

Lula has a firecracker personality, a singing and dancing extrovert. Interesting that Lulu was a Top 100 name when the Social Security list was born in 1880, but it's been sliding ever since and has not been in the Top 1000 for decades. Modern parents in love with Lulu might well reverse that trend.
 Lulu is the now grown daughter of musicians Edie Brickell and Paul Simon. In the Swinging London sixties, Lulu was a popular single-named Scottish singer--whose birth name was Marie.

Lulu

Lilo is the name of the spunky little Hawaiian girl character in the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch-- and is also Lindsay Lohan's nickname. Multi-cultural, it can be found in Hawaiian, German and Hebrew nomenclature
 
From its Hawaiian origins, Lilo could mean "generous", while from German, it means "God is my oath + freeman".

Lilo

This lively pet name has recently been associated with Mexican-born Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong'o, acclaimed for her role in the 2013 film Twelve Years a Slave.
The mother name Guadalupe, literally "valley of the wolves," relates to Our Lady of Guadalupe, revered in Latino culture as a protector of the Mexican people.

Lupita

Livi is a feminine name that functions as both a standalone name and a shortened form of names like Olivia, Livia, or Lavinia. With Scandinavian connections, particularly in Finland, Livi has a bright, contemporary sound while maintaining a connection to more traditional names. The name carries a vibrant, spirited quality with its short, open-vowel ending. As a diminutive, it offers a playful, modern alternative to longer classical names. Livi has gained modest popularity in recent decades as parents increasingly embrace shorter, nickname-style names as formal given names. The brevity and friendly sound make it appealing for those seeking something simultaneously sweet and independent, with an understated Nordic charm.

Livi

Lowell is an upstanding and somewhat conservative name that calls to mind the genteel patrician families of nineteenth century New England, such as the one poet Robert Lowell was born into. Two other Lowell-surnamed poets are Amy and James Russell.
 Lowell was at its height in the 1930s, when it reached Number 148, and has been off the list since 1986--long enough to deserve a reappraisal.
 Namesakes include Governor Lowell P. Weicker of Connecticut and noted newsman Lowell Thomas; on TV Lowells have been featured on Wings and Sons of Anarchy.
 An interesting British upper-class spelling is Loel.

Lowell

Lilibet is the fanciful short form of Elizabeth first noted as the childhood nickname of Britain's queen and now made contemporary as the name of the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — aka Harry and Meghan. The nickname Lilibet originally derived from Elizabeth II's first pronunciation of her own name. 
 
Lilibet also relates to the flower name Lily, and Harry and Meghan call their daughter Lili. Lili makes a sweet baby sister name for Archie.
 
Thirteen baby girls were named variation Lilibeth in the US in 2020 but fewer than five were called Lilibet. In 2021 the name returned to the charts, with 11 other baby girls also given the name.

Lilibet

The additional syllable makes Lark a masculine surname name, borne by poet Philip Larkin.

Larkin

Luc is the sleeker Gallic cousin of Luke, and if you want to know the difference between their pronunciations, just watch Kevin Kline's hilarious description in the film French Kiss. Peter Gabriel and Sean Patrick Thomas picked this version for their sons.

Female dog names that start with L currently in the Top 100 dog names include 

Luna, Lucy, Lily, Lola, Lulu, Lexi, Layla, Lady 

Dog names currently trending on Nameberry include 

. Unique female dog names that start with L include 

Male dog names that start with L in the Top 100 dog names include 

. Unique male dog names that start with L include 

male and female dog names that start with L (Page 10)