If your pet’s name is “Bella” or “Luna”, you just might have a little trouble finding your dog in a crowd at the dog park.
Recent research from U.S. News & World Report revealed a list of the most popular dog names throughout the United States and Bella and Luna topped the overall list at No. 1 and No. 2. The names ranked in the top 10 for most states.
The least popular dog name in the U.S. should come as bad news for Eric Clapton fans: “Layla” ranked dead last at No. 100.
According to U.S. News and World Report, the study analyzed 811,798 data points from a third-party pet insurance industry partner in September and October of 2023. The 800,000+ data points analyzed included dog names and state residence, which was filtered by state and ranked to show the most popular dog names in each state.
Bella and Luna also ranked as the top two most popular dog names for Colorado, specifically.
The most popular dog names in Colorado ranked as follows:
1. Bella
2. Luna
3. Charlie
4. Daisy
5. Lucy
A few explanations for the popularity of the names could be attributed to popular books, films and even celebrity names.
Isabella “Bella” Swan is the protagonist character of the Twilight book series by Stephenie Meyer. Bella Hadid, Bella Thorne and Bella Poarch are also recent pop culture figures that have risen to fame in recent years. The name is rooted in several Romance languages including Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, meaning “beautiful.”
Luna could also be traced to literary origins. Luna Lovegood is a character in the Harry Potter fictional series by J. K. Rowling. Luna is also cryptocurrency that was recently delisted from Crypto.com for massive losses in value. The name also has Latin origins, meaning “moon.”
Charlie is also the titular character in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as well as Charlie’s Angels. It’s a shortened form used interchangeably for both male and female names Charles and Charlotte.
Daisy, is likewise a main character in The Great Gatsby, or, in duck form, known as Donald Duck’s female counterpart.
Famous Lucys include Lucille Ball and Lucy Liu (also of Charlie’s Angels fame). Lucille is a name of French origin meaning “light”.
Showing what might be interpreted as a general lack of originality, “Isabell” and Luna also ranked in the top 10 when it came to human children’s names according to a BabyCenter analysis of more than 300,000 babies born in 2023.
Pet names might be a replacement for baby names in some scenarios, given recent trends. A USA Today Blueprint survey found that nearly 40 percent of pet owners are choosing pet ownership over parenthood.
