Seattle’s top dog names for 2012

Lucy, a pit bull-boxer mix, was born and raised in Seattle — and she has the city’s top name, too. (Photo: Alvin Mangosing)

Shout “Lucy!” in a crowded Seattle dog park and risk being stampeded.

Yes, Lucy is far and away the No. 1 moniker for our canine pals here in Seattle. Analysis of the city’s dog license database reveals that one out of every 83 dogs in town answers to Lucy.

It’s not just here. Lucy is also among the top names nationwide, according to Vetstreet.com. In fact, if you compare the names that are most popular in the U.S. with those that are most popular in Seattle, you see a lot of overlap. There is, however, one big exception. Rocky is the fourth most-popular handle for male pups nationally, but somehow it’s just never caught on here. Rocky only ranks 33rd in Seattle.

Like everywhere else in the country, human names for dogs are “in” and the old classics are “out.” For example, Seattle has 540 licensed pooches called Lucy, but only 45 named Rex, five going by Rover and — can you believe it? — just two lonely Fidos. I hope those two have found each other and are commiserating in a doggie daycare somewhere.

You can see the most popular dog names below. The top male and female names for the U.S. are ranked alongside Seattle’s, except ours are not sex-segregated; could it be that progressive Seattle dogs — already practicing yoga and eating vegan — are also chipping away at gender conventions of naming?

RANK	SEATTLE	U.S. MALE	U.S. FEMALE
1	Lucy	Max	Bella
2	Bella	Buddy	Daisy
3	Max	Charlie	Lucy
4	Charlie	Rocky	Molly
5	Buddy	Cooper	Chloe

Sources: Seattle Animal Shelter, Vetstreet.com

But can you really separate the name from the breed? Actually, you can, and we have plenty of breed-defying name choices in Seattle; there are, for example, German Shepherds called Leonardo, Roquefort and Chile in the city’s database. Still, it’s no surprise that Max is our most popular name for that Teutonic breed.

Here are more of the top names for a selection of Seattle’s favorite breeds (and some breeds share the same most popular name):

BREED	MOST POPULAR SEATTLE NAME
Labrador Retriever, Border Collie & Chihuahua	Lucy
Golden Retriever	Bailey
German Shepherd & Schnauzer	Max
Australian Shepherd	Sydney, Bella (tie)
Pit bull	Lola
Pomeranian	Toby, Ginger, Bear (tie)
Pug & Dachshund	Buddy
Shih Tzu & Poodle	Charlie
Siberian Husky	Nikita, Koda (tie)
Boxer & Great Dane	Stella
Yorkshire Terrier	Bella
Scottish Terrier	Angus
Jack Russell Terrier	Jack
Chow Chow & Rottweiler	Bear
English Springer Spaniel	Sadie
Greyhound	Daisy
Havanese	Coco

Source: Seattle Animal Shelter

Does your dog have one of the top names — or is it something more unusual? How did you choose your dog’s name? Feel free, as always, to sound off in the comments.

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Follow me on Twitter @genebalk

Comments | More in Public Records | Topics: animals, Dogs, Pets

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About this blog

Gene has been a news librarian at The Seattle Times since 2002. He is a native of New Jersey, and earned a Master’s Degree in Library Science from Rutgers University. Before coming to The Times, he worked for the Orange County Register and the Baltimore Sun.