What's in a name? While the names that people give children are an endless source of amusement, it seems that there is a marked difference between the names depending on gender and countries of Australia and America.

Names tend to be traditional spelling, though America tends to hark back to the 1950's especially for male dog names. Is your dog on the most popular dog name list?

Most Popular MALE DOG NAMES  America V Australia

The table below has the top ten USA MALE DOG names according to dogchannel,   compares it to the top 20 male dog names that bowwow says are popular.

The fourth column shows Australia's top 20 male dog names and the following column shows how these names rank on the USA Bowwow column.

Firstly you will see that most names are short and easy to pronounce English names. The American dogchannel list is full of very strong/ macho male names any of which could be still currently used for American  babies.

The most interesting thing between the two American lists is that they differ quire widlely.  Dog Channel also lists most popular names by breed, dog size etc.

Between the two USA lists the highest common name is Buddy (1,3) and Jake (7,2).

The other thing I notice is that these also seem to be names very popular in 1950's westerns. It is like owners are seeing their dogs as heroes or are paying homage to a simpler time of yester year, when male names were very unambigous.

Only the top 20 for Australia by bowwow is shown. Interestingly it has MAX as the top name in both countries (whereas Max is number nine on dog channels USA list).

Australia has 8 names out of 20 in common wiht the USA male dog name list.

The highest other name in common is Jake (2 USA, 4 Australia). The USA bowwow list is more contemporary in its names than the dogchannel USA list. Similarly the Australian bowwow names are also more contemporary.

While the USA bowwow name list has a smattering of 1950's macho names, Australia's list is even more contempaoraty. For instance there are quite a few names on the USA bowwow list that are likely to remain mostly the domain of dogs names in 2013, such as Buddy (3), Bear (4), Shadow (6), Lucky (8), Buster (10).

In Australia you have to go fairly far down the list to find names that are less appropriate for human males: Buddy (12); Buster (14); Rusty (18).

This might suggest that Australian's are humanising their dogs more than Americans. That is giving a quite acceptable human name to a dog, is more likely to indicate a stronger tie to the family.

Most Popular FEMALE DOG NAMES  America V Australia

Again the dogchannel list of top 8 popular female dog names seems to come more from the 1950's than current names. Names such as Daisy (3), Ginger (4), Molly (7) did have a very high rankings for human girls half a century ago rather than now.

Again there was considerable difference between the Dogchannel and the bowwow USA top 20 female dog name rankings. The joint most popular names were: Bear (1,2);  Maggie (6,1); Molly (7,3); Daisy (3,9); Lucy (5,8).

Both the USA and the Australian Bowwow top 20 lists were relatively contemporary human names.

Interestingly a few names on the American list for females were also on the male list by bowwow: Bear (2); Shadow (4); Bandit (11). It seems that it is mostly the names that are on both lists (male and female) that would be least suitable for human names.

There were only 5 names out of 20 that were common between the USA and the Australian female dog name lists. These were Molly (3 Australia rank); Lucy (5); Sasha (6); Shadow (19); Lady (20)

Similar to the Male list comparisons, the Australian female dog names were almost exclusively valid contemporary female human names (with the exclsion of Shadow).

Article by Bruce Dwyer. If you wish to use any of this information please use a LINK reference to http://www.dogwalkersmelbourne.com.au

Join our FREE HEALTHY DOG TREATS Newsletter for Discount COUPONS. (use rego form top right of this site)

For Daily dog pictures and healthy dog treat info, Join us on http://www.facebook.com/HealthyDogTreatsShop

Reference

http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-names-center

http://www.bowwow.com.au/find-a-name-for-your-pet/top-20-names