Last week we told you about the top puppy names of the year — Bella, ugh. This week we’ll touch on trends in the dog-naming industry as a whole, according to Rover.com, beginning with this terrifying statistic:
- There were 900 percent more Frozen names in 2014 than during its debut in 2013.
Yikes. That means that soon all dogs will be named after Frozen characters, probably by next summer. Here’s a stat that pleases us more:
- There was a 37-percent increase in dogs with food-themed names this year compared to 2013. Example names include Coconut, Kale, Guinness, Vino, and Mochi.
Are you dying right now? “C’mere, Coconut!” “Down, Kale!” “Get off the table, Vino!” Food-themed names are the best.
Nature-themed names like Moose, Lightening, and Panda also rose 78 percent compared to last year. Why? Hard to say. Maybe find someone whose dog has one of those names and ask them. That’s our plan!
Now for the good stuff: Pop culture. Let’s just dump some remarkable findings down here all at once:
- Bruno Mars topped the list of music names.
- Derek Jeter ranks in the top 10 for sports-related dog names.
- The name Piper from Orange Is the New Black is one of the top 10 pop culture names for dogs.
- There are nearly 200 percent more Game of Thrones names this year.
- Five of the top 10 “nerd names” for 2014 come from Star Wars – Episode VII.
- Twenty-one percent of pop culture names draw from Disney characters.
What can we make of all this? For one, a lot of people are calling their dogs Jeter. We could imagine two or three people doing that, but any more than that just makes our brain hurt. Also: Piper. Great dog name. Good job, people. We’re not sure, however, about Bruno Mars. We’re fairly certain not all dogs named Bruno are named after Bruno Mars. We imagine maybe four of them are. The rest of the Brunos out there are named Bruno because Bruno has and always will be a cool dog name. Bruno. It’s just feels right. Stop taking credit for a good dog name, Mars.
Here are the top pop culture-related names of 2014:
- Elsa
- Olaf
- Hans
- Anna
- Leia
- Yoda
- Chewbacca
- Vader
- Khaleesi
- Daenerys
- Sansa
- Tyrion
I’m as confused as you are. Are we a culture of eight-year-olds and people obsessed with violent medieval high-fantasy? Oh, wait.
Rover.com also reports that people are naming their dogs Siri, Tesla, Pixel, and Google. We’d like to meet those people. Imagine being the guy who named his dog Google. That would follow you to the grave.
In happier reports, Rover.com said that 94 percent of people considered their dogs family, 74 percent identified more with the term “pet parent” than “dog owner,” and 67 million households in the U.S. have a pet.
What’s your dog’s name? Did you go classic or trendy? Would you name your dog Kale? Come on, why not? Kale is a great dog name! Tell us about it in the comments.
Read other fun stuff in dog news:
