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The pandemic pet boom had some serious bark. Many pup parents joined Embark Vet to discover more about their new best friends, bringing us closer to realizing our goal of ending preventable disease in dogs.  We took a look at all the dogs we tested who were born in 2020 so we could share the most popular names and, of course, point out a few trends we noticed.  Spot your dog’s name anywhere?

 

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2021! 

Top female dog names

Luna 

Daisy 

Bella

Lucy

Penny

Stella 

Lola 

Piper 

Ruby 

Willow 

 

This wasn’t even a contest: We tested nearly 3 times as many Lunas as Daisys this year. Luna has also seen a drastic rise in popularity as a human name in the past two decades.

 

Top male dog names

Cooper 

Milo 

Finn 

Charlie 

Tucker 

Ollie 

Bear 

Max 

Loki 

Moose 

 

The top 2 males names pulled ahead of the rest of the pack by a wide margin, but Cooper was printed on just a few more collar tags this year than Milo. 

 

 

Large dog names

Zeus 

Gus 

Leo 

Moose 

Kobe 

 

Most of the names we saw for larger dogs are short, sweet, and powerful. 

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Mythology dog names

Loki 

Apollo 

Odin 

Thor 

Freya 

Zeus 

Athena 

Nyx 

Titan 

Artemis 

Hercules 

 

Some pup parents turned to myths, legends, and folklore to find the name that best captures their dog’s personality. Loki was another runaway winner—watch out for these mischievous mutts.

 

Food dog names

Mocha 

Oreo 

Peanut 

Biscuit 

Cookie 

Mango 

Peaches 

Pumpkin 

Taco 

Toast 

Tater 

Nacho 

Cashew 

Potato 

 

These pup parents took the phrase “I could just eat you up!” to another level by naming their pups after their favorite foods. 

 

Star Wars dog names

Finn 

Kylo 

Rey 

Chewie 

Vader 

Leia 

Luke 

Obi 

Boba 

 

It looks like the trend of Star Wars names won’t be going anywhere soon. We were surprised by how few Yodas we saw given Baby Yoda Fever at the tail end of last year.

 

Disney dog names

Nala 

Winnie 

Belle 

Maui 

Simba 

Elsa 

Lilo 

Aurora 

Olaf 

Mowgli 

 

It’s easy to assume the most popular dog names would be inspired by more recent Disney outings, but we saw a good mix of names from Disney movies new and old.

man and woman with dog looking at embark results on laptop

 

Harry Potter dog names

Dobby  

Harry 

Ginny 

Dudley 

Sirius 

 

We were surprised that Sirius wasn’t higher on the list since the original character actually turns into a dog. 

 

Avatar The Last Airbender dog names

Zuko 

Korra 

Suki 

Appa 

Momo 

A new trend we spotted this year was names taken from the animated series Avatar The Last Airbender. The show was added to Netflix in the summer of 2020, so pup parents may have been inspired after giving it a rewatch. 

 

Nintendo dog names

Zelda 

Onyx 

Kirby 

Eevee 

Yoshi 

Link 

 

It turns out a good amount of pup parents are a fan of Nintendo games. There were hardly any dogs named Mario, though. In fact, we saw a lot more Luigis.

 

Nature dog names

Clover 

River 

Juniper 

Sage 

Violet 

Sky 

Ember 

Storm 

Fern 

 

A lot of pup parents looked toward nature to pick out the perfect name for their pups. We have a feeling these dogs have plenty of hiking and rolling around in the grass on their horizon.

person walking with a large white dog on a leash outside

 

Unique dog names

These were a few of the dog names we only saw one instance of. Do you think your dog’s name would make this category?

 

Zimbra

Timmy

Zona

Tahlia

Barnabus

Tavi

Scallion

Oswald

Picard

Rapunzel

Oops

Rally

Macho Man

Ludacris

Harpo

Elephant

Guapo

Bulbasaur

Bugs

Tiki

 

brindle dog laying on step

 

Top dog names by state

 

We were also curious to see if any naming trends emerged by region. After removing the top 10 male and female dog names overall, here are the most popular names in each state. (We’ve also taken a look at the most popular mixed breed result in each state.)

most common dog breed by state

Alaska: River 

Alabama: Moose 

Arizona: Hudson 

Arkansas: Olive 

California: Olive/Kona 

Colorado: Otis 

Connecticut: Archie/Sadie

Deleware: Nova/Hopper 

Florida: Bailey 

Georgia: Bailey 

Hawaii Nala/Rosie/Leo 

Iowa Sadie 

Idaho: Rocky 

Illinois: Zoey 

Indiana: Oliver 

Kansas: Scout 

Kentucky: Gus 

Louisiana: Harley/Louie/Dixie/Moose 

Massachusetts: Rosie/Saide/Zoey 

Maryland: Rocky/Winnie 

Maine: Odin/Lady 

Michigan: Maverick 

Minnesota: Olive/Oliver/Koda/Annie 

Missouri: Murphy/Rosie 

Mississippi: Lily 

Montana: Scout 

North Carolina: Sadie 

North Dakota: Nova 

Nebraska: Phoebe/Hazel

New Hampshire: Rosie 

New Jersey: Koda/Bailey 

New Mexico: Cosmo 

Nevada: Archie 

New York: Ruby 

Ohio: Leo/Millie/Charlie/Archie

Oklahoma: Gus (The appropriate “Oakley” ended up in the #2 spot!)

Oregon: Charlie 

Pennsylvania: Bear 

Rhode Island: Rosie/Finn 

South Carolina: Millie/Zoe

South Dakota: Scout 

Tennessee: Bear 

Texas: Bailey 

Utah: Honey/Murphy/Hazel

Virginia: Moose 

Vermont: Rosie 

Washington: Ellie 

Wisconsin: Rosie 

West Virginia: Harper/Bailey

Wyoming: Luci 

 

Pandemic dog names

In the year of Covid, it’s no surprise that we found a few pandemic-related names. 19 pup parents honored Dr. Anthony Fauci by naming their dogs after him. We also found a single “Covie D.”

 

 

No matter what name they go by, all dogs are good dogs. Follow us on Instagram so you can put plenty of names to furry faces in 2021!

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