Zoe! Lily! Charlie!
You may expect to hear these names being called out at your child’s schoolyard, but it turns out you’re even more likely to hear them the next time you take a stroll by the neighborhood dog park. According to statistics released by HomeAdvisor.com, baby names are going to the dogs – quite literally.
When you think about popular puppy names, you may think of traditional monikers like Spot, Sparky and Lady. Those old school names seem to be a thing of the past, though. These days dog names sound an awful lot like – make that exactly like – baby names.
Take a look at some of the most popular pup names in the U.S., and see how they stack up against parents’ baby name picks according to BabyCenter’s baby name database:
The rest of the top 10 – Daisy, Molly, Bailey and Maggie – includes a few more common kids’ names.
How to explain this new doggy name trend? It actually doesn’t seem all that far-fetched. (Sorry, that was bad).
Pets are members of the family these days more than they ever have been. You’ve no doubt seen entire social media feeds devoted to the daily lives of adorable cats and dogs. You’ve probably seen a pooch being pushed in a stroller or even worn like an infant. There have been headlines over pet custody battles, and research shows that many young women are far more eager to welcome a puppy to the family than they are a baby.
In short, pets are being humanized in many ways, and baby names is just one of them.
I must admit, I am part of this statistic. When my husband and I got our dog, the sweetest little yellow Labrador ever, in our mid-twenties we deliberated for ages over her name before finally settling on Emma. Emma, which at the time happened to be the most popular baby name. Back then I didn’t think I wanted children, but I loved that name and jumped at the chance to use it. Of course, when I changed my mind about kids several years later I had to start from scratch on the name front!
Dog owners: What is your pet’s name?
And parents, would you think twice about these baby names, knowing they’re popular among pups, too?
We really love our dogs. Check out these great BabyCenter baby announcements starring the family pet…
Photo: Gerard Lacz/REX/Shutterstock
