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　　And neither do Fido or Rover or Spot or Lassie, the old traditional canine favorites, which have been replaced by top-listed Maggie and Molly and Max and Jake.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

About the Author

Linda Rosenkrantz

　　Linda Rosenkrantz is the co-founder of Nameberry, and co-author with Pamela Redmond of the ten baby naming books acknowledged to have revolutionized American baby naming. You can follow her personally at Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed New York Review Books Classics novel Talk and a number of other books.

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