When it comes to puppy names, it seems that it’s children that often have the biggest influence over the names of our canine family members.
Agria Pet Insurance has revealed that, while the puppy names in the UK’s top 10 have stayed largely consistent over the past five years, names that have shot up the charts are predominantly from children’s and popular culture.
Comparing puppies registered with the specialist pet insurer in 2015 and 2020, one of the bigger influences appears to have been the Disney Pixar film ‘The Good Dinosaur’. There were 659% more puppies named Arlo – the name of the little dinosaur in the film – registered in 2020 compared with 2015, tying in with the film’s release.
Pablo, from the children’s animated series of the same name, seems to have been the inspiration for the 200% increase in puppies of the same name and the Nintendo Switch game, ‘Animal Crossing’, appears to have inspired several of the top movers, with Moose seeing an increase of 323%, Peanut up by 186% and Rocket at 148%.
SUPERHERO
For female puppies, Nova – a male Marvel superhero! – was the name with the biggest increase, seeing a rise of 700%. The name Lyra – the heroine from the popular BBC series, ‘His Dark Materials’ – saw a rise in popularity of 238% among puppies.
Harry Potter remains a strong influence among the UK’s choice of puppy names, with Albus – first name of wizard Dumbledore – rising by 150% in popularity. Luna – another of JK Rowling’s characters – also enjoys popularity as a puppy name not just in the UK but across Europe, too. At No.1 in the UK, Luna is also in the top three of puppy names in Denmark, Norway and Finland.
Bowie and Ziggy also saw big jumps in popularity in 2020 compared with 2015, at 118% and 97% respectively – possibly attributed to the musician, who died in 2016. But the biggest surge in popularity of all is the name Kobe, with a staggering 929% rise in puppies with the name joining Agria in 2020 – likely to have been named in tribute to the American basketball star Kobe Bryant who died last year.
FASCINATING
Tom Vaughan, head of marketing at Agria Pet Insurance, said: “It’s fascinating to see the impact that the big names in children’s lives and popular culture have on names chosen for family pets – giving a good clue as to who in the family is getting the say in this all-important decision!
“Following these naming trends also give us a great insight into those that are losing popularity for the same reasons, such as the big drop we have seen in puppies named Elsa since 2015 – when Frozen was still at its height – with no new puppies named Olaf joining us at all in 2020.”
And while several names have dropped out of favour altogether and off the list – including Scarlett, Anna, Dillon and Zac – Agria reports that ‘The King’ lives on, with the name Elvis at position 113, up three places from 2015!
The top 10 UK female and male puppy names are:
1. Luna. . Milo
2. Bella. . Teddy
3. Lola. . Buddy
4. Daisy. . Max
5. Poppy. Monty
6. Ruby. . Reggie
7. Willow. Cooper
8. Coco. . Alfie
9. Rosie. . Charlie
10 Nala. . Bailey.
