Meet My Baby Buster and My Dog Daisy

When the latest starbaby was announced the other day, Michele Hicks and Jonny Lee Miller‘s boy Buster, I wasn’t as surprised as I would have been a few years ago.  Already on our celebrity kids’ roster, after all, are Buck and Lucky and Marmaduke and Duke and King and Prince and Princess and Count and Countess, once considered dog names.  On the other hand, few of these names appear on pooch popularity lists.

And neither do Fido or Rover or Spot or Lassie, the old traditional canine favorites, which have been replaced by top-listed Maggie and Molly and Max and Jake.  Is there some kind of switch going on, or is this just a way of affirming to our pets that they are indeed full-fledged members of the family, so that in addition to getting spiffy wardrobes, health insurance, doggy day care and spas and shrinks, they get a real kid’s name too?  For the first time ever, 50% of all pet names come from the human name pool, and a recent survey showed that 74% of participants viewed their dogs and cats as family members rather than merely family pets.

Celebrities have jumped into this people’s-names-for-pets phenomenon with particular enthusiasm.  For example, the following have or have had dogs named Bob and Stan (David Letterman),  Flossie (Drew Barrymore), Milo (Diane Lane), Martha Stewart (Jennifer Garner & Ben Affleck), Lloyd (Courtney Love), and Chloe (both Lindsay Lohan and Lauren Conrad).  Hey, wait a minute–Chloe is my daughter’s name!

Here are some of the most popular human names for dogs, Max being the overall favorite:

ABBY

BAILEY

CHARLIE

CODY

DAISY

JACK

JAKE

KATIE

LUCY

MAGGIE

MAX

MOLLY

SADIE

SAM/SAMANTHA

SASHA

TOBY

ZOE