Pet Names · Dog Names
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 5 pages
of 5
Scottish
"blond, yellow"
Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn put this name in play as a first name, but David Bowie (born with the considerably less marketable moniker of David Robert Jones) gave it charisma. He changed his…
Meaning unknown
When the King was alive, and for years afterwards, few people (except Declan McManus who became Elvis Costello) dared use his singular name, but now it's very much up for grabs. The name Elvis is…
English, diminutive of Dorothy
"gift of God"
Dottie and Dot are old Dorothy nicknames that some cutting-edge Brits are bringing back to fashion. It's been half a century since Dottie ranked on its own in this country, one of those nickname…
Spanish place-name; "mountainous"
"mountainous"
Relaxed western place-name that still has some masculine punch, but be warned: this whole posse of similarly trendy names, like Sierra and Dakota, will soon ride toward the sunset.
French
"forest guardian"
The list of occupational boys' names continues to expand, and this is one of the latest to ride onto the range. With a hint of cowboy and Western, a sprinkle of preppy surname, an outdoorsy,…
Latin, French
"I have spoken; tenth"
A sassy, spunky, punchy kind of name, Dixie can also be considered a place name, one that has become problematic because of its association with the antebellum South. The Dixie Chicks recently…
Hebrew
"brother of the exalted one"
Hiram is the kind of forgotten biblical name that adventurous parents who wish to move beyond David and Daniel are beginning to reconsider--even though it has bits of its old stiff-collared image…
Sweet and cosy with a touch of sass, this nickname-y choice was a familiar option up until the sixties in the US. Then, for a while, it was a bit of a one-person name, associated with singer Dolly…
Diminutive of Huckleberry, word name
Though forever tied to Huck, short for Huckleberry, Finn, this is an undeniably cute short form that may have some life as part of the hipster taste for names like Duke and Bix.
English, Norse
"deer forest"
Fairly popular a hundred years ago but out of the US charts since 1978, the quirky yet edgy Roscoe feels very much in step with the trending o-ending boy names popular now, such as Milo, Hugo, and…
German, from a pet form of Mathias
Diesel, which you can think of as a word name for the fuel or as a German surname that derives from a pet form of Matthew or Mathias, is a new entry to the American name lexicon thanks to celebrities…
Native American
"great land"
State name Alaska stems from an Aleutian word for the land mass itself. The number of baby girls named Alaska has doubled in the past five years, and is sure to continue increasing as more place…
American place-name
"Charles' town"
Lovers of the languid South Carolina city might be attracted to this rich-sounding name. Could make an interesting update on Charles -- and can certainly work for a girl too. Actor Joey Lawrence used…
Diminutive of Louise or Lucy, or Arabic
"pearl"
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…
English
"a bunch of flowers"
Posey is fashionable in England, a country of gardeners, but this pretty bouquet-of-flowers name is only starting to be heard here. A possible alternative to Rosy or short form for Josephine. Posey…
Word name
Branch is an attractive name with associations both with trees and with branching out into brave new worlds. Baseball's Branch (born Wesley, with Branch as his middle name) Rickey broke the color…
Place-name, nickname for state of Texas resident
Despite its rakish western charm, still remains a cowboy costume without a real persona inside.
English word name
"champion"
Though it sounds like a modern invention, Champ actually has a long history as a first name. It hit the Top 1000 several times just before and after the turn of the 20th Century. Champ Bailey was an…
"descendant of Moses"
This evocative green nature name, heard much more frequently as a surname, is associated with playwright Moss Hart (born Robert), who co-wrote (with George S. Kaufman) such enduring Broadway comedies…
English, diminutive of Patricia
"noble, patrician"
This sassy, spunky name was used for the mostly Irish jump-roping pigtailed girls of the thirties and forties -- and some Irish and Italian boys as well. Its most noted bearer was iconic country…
