Your pet’s name is more than just something you call out across the dog park. It’s an expression of your pet’s personality, not to mention your own tastes and interests. While many pet parents find the name on their pet's fur-ever home paperwork to be a perfect fit, others may want to choose a different name for their newest family member. As a result, some pet names rise to the top as purr-ennial favorites, while others are doggone wacky.
New pet name trends
Year after year, some names always rise to the top of our lists: Luna, Loki, Bella and Milo are the crème de la crème of popular noms de pet. While the exact order of people’s preferences will change, these are go-to winners for a paw-pular choice.
Once again, Luna was the top dog name (and top cat name and top exotic pet name) across all newly enrolled Nationwide® pets. Some new favorites cracked the top ten in 2024—Mochi and Lucy are new entries to the list for cat names, for example.
Here are the most popular pet names, based on the names of pets who enrolled with Nationwide® pet insurance last year.
Top of the pups (and kitties)
Last year, more than 200,000 new pets were protected by Nationwide. In total, 68% of those pets were dogs, and most of them were small mixed-breed dogs (the most common purebred protected? A Labrador retriever). The most common cat breed protected last year was a domestic shorthair.
Top 10 dog names
- Luna
- Bella
- Charlie
- Milo
- Daisy
- Coco
- Max
- Lucy
- Lola
- Cooper
Top 10 cat names
- Luna
- Milo
- Oliver
- Leo
- Loki
- Charlie
- Bella
- Mochi
- Nala
- Lucy
Popular names for uncommon pets
Among our members with new birds and exotic pets, there were other interesting trends. The most popular bird species protected last year was the conure (of those birds, the most popular name was Kiwi). Similarly, if you protected a bearded dragon or named your reptile “Spike” this year, you were in good company in the top slot.
The most protected small mammal? Rabbits, especially those named Luna, which was the most common small mammal name.
Top 10 exotic pet names
- Luna
- Coco
- Kiwi
- Oreo
- Pepper
- Mango
- Charlie
- Peanut
- Milo
- Mochi
A wackier approach to naming
Some pet parents like a … wilder, wackier approach to naming their pets. Our annual Wacky Pet Names campaign is a celebration of these creative folks. Since we started this campaign 10 years ago, even more pet parents are coming up with ever zanier names for their pets (which means your odds of meeting an Albus Dumbledog or Shakespurr out in the world are only growing!).
When it comes to unconventional pet naming, one tried and true naming method we see is punning on a famous name from popular culture, literature, television or history. It’s how our pet parents have crafted such names as Will Ferret, Obi Wan Catnobi and Joan of Bark. Others will lean into the wacky full force, using rhyme schemes or just funny nonsense phrases to craft something truly delightful (we’re looking at you Leapus Maximus and Yeti Spaghetti).
New wacky contenders for this year’s event are in the works now. We’ll be announcing this year's nominees soon, so keep an eye out for new pet names—and voting to see who is the wackiest—in April. In the meantime, explore the Wacky Hall of Fame to discover the most unique pet names over the years, and generate some ideas for your own one-of-a-kind pet.
