'Dog names now same as top baby names'

[PaigeTurner]

Eep! Not sure what to think of this story - all my shortlist boys' names could be dogs' names!

In parks around the country, cries of "Charlie! Daisy! Come here at once!" are surprisingly not being directed at children, but instead at man's best friend.

Dog-owners have been giving their pets trendy middle-class baby names instead of more traditional doggy names such as Bonnie and Buster, a recent survey has revealed.

A poll of names given to 80,000 dogs in the past 12 months has revealed a trend for choosing pet names that are the same as the current most popular baby names.

The study, carried out by insurance giant www.protectyourbubble.com, showed that while in the 70s the most popular dog names were Lassie, Lady and Rex, today the top three pooch names are Alfie, Poppy and Mollie.

It seems that dog owners are either lacking in imagination or they really see their pets as part of their family.

Stephen Ebbett, of www.protectyourbubble.com, said: "It is getting to the point where naming a child will get harder and harder, as parents struggle not to give their little ones the same name as the family dog.

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'It seems that dog owners are either lacking in imagination or they really see their pets as part of their family.'

Imo it's the latter. People have gone daft with anthropomorphising their pets. I know loads of people (mostly women) who give their dogs cutesy baby girl names and talk about them (and to them) like it's their child.

Boke.

I read this yesterday and its certainly true of the recent spate of new puppies that have appeared at the school gates around here.

They seem to be the new fashion accessory amongst the middle-class families whose youngest child has been at school for approx. 1 year. Its as though the family need a new 'baby'...and yes they are all Daisy, Mollie and Alfie

:lol: I have to admit that I am going to get a pet once my youngest is at school.

Emma was once 3 in Times list but 1 in the dogs one.

At least my kids don't have dogs names (they are too popular).

Possibly Bunny because not everyone can hope to have children and their pets fill that void within their lives?

Of course it's nice to sneer at them isn't it?

I'm incidentally owned by a rather wonky three legged cat, who didn't quite get the "pet" memo and happens to be named Suki - not through my choice but from the staff in the rescue organization who thought she looked like one.

my cats have human names. DS has a dogs name (apparently) and if I ever got a dog I'd want to call him Hugo or Hamish.

Hell, even the goldfish have human names in this house!

I love human names for animals but they have to be fun/daft/uncharacteristic human names eg. I knew someone with a cat called Alan and another with a cat called Keith.

In fact as a student I had 2 fancy goldfish called Jack and Vera

All our pets had people names.

I think only 2 of my animals had 'Human' Names:

Cats- Lucky
Pepsi
Max (ok this is a human name but my little brother choose it to go with Pepsi, The cat's are bro/sis)
Ruby
Rosie

Dog- Moby

Hamster- Treacle.

I always wanted to get a female shitzu and call it Steve!

i am named after a great dane/ GSD cross..

though that's a fairly nice name and not an obvious dog name :)

there are dogs out there with the same names as my DCs, despite DD1 having a rare name.

Dog people tend to have a strong nurtutring instinct (they don't substitute dogs for children, most i know have large numbers of both...) and it isn't anthroporphism necessarily to give dog a 'human' name. It's because they are the 'dog' family member - dog people know that dogs are different to humans (its part of the appeal!).

I think it's nice when folks give dogs real names - all three of mine would pass the 'school gate' test ..means i see them more as part of the family and less of a Butch or Rover.

In fact my two younger dog's names feature quite highly on here....if it offended anyone that my dogs were called that i would be quite

Although i must confess when one of my pregnant friends mooted 'Ben' as a name for their DS i did think - Labrador.....

My cat is called Dennis.

Our shepherd has 3 working collies: Mali, Meg and bryn. Apparently he has always given his collies welsh names.

Our own dogs are called:
Weims: Luna and Willow
Border Terrier: Toto(Predictable i know) DD named him.
Spaniel: Bracken
Lab: Beano.

I had a house rabbit called Brian. He looked like a Brian.
The hamster is called yoda- not sure that counts as human

My cat is called Franco. Bit bummed out about that as it rules out any Frank-derived names for forthcoming DS.

Fish was called Prozac though. He had a miserable existence before I adopted him.

In my family animal and human names are interchangeable. We had a dog called Jason long before my parents adopted a Jason boy. My first dog was called Hennessey which we shortened to Henry which is the name of ds1. My current dog is called Rupert which made the shortlist for ds 1 and 2.

My Dad is old and doddery and a lifelong dog lover, we often say he should have never had children, just dogs, he jokes that when he dies we should get a nice rescue dog and call it Bernard after him.

Only the various goldfish we have grown to know and love have borne human names -- Tommy, Tommy II, Tommy III and Tommy IV, Lulu, Sally, Horatio, Nelson and Winston.

My dog is called Poppy - i thought that was a dogs names until i read on here

I think it's the other way round, people are naming their children dogs names.
We chose Charlie for our dog, as it wasn't a 'proper' name, unlike Charles etc. This was 7 years ago. Two of my cousins have now named dc Charlie. Alfie was a common cats name a few years ago in our area. Then after eastenders, loads of alfies sprung up. Names like Charlie an alfie and other names like that are nickname-y, so a lot of dogs are named them.

Ds met his namesake in the park yesterday - a golden labrador . Ds went over and introduced himself to the owner who was lovely and told him all about her MAX.

My cat has a human name, and did have when we adopted her.

And she's my baby so there!

I once met a man and his dog called John and Rex. Perfectly fine you might think except the dog was called John and the man, Rex.

My dogs are called Agatha (Taggie) and Flora. In my litter of puppies, one is going to be called Patrick, one Sophie, one Alice. I don't think humans have any sort of 'ownership' over names, if people want to give their pets 'people' names, they have every right to do so.

Personally, I find animal names like 'Softy' or 'Buttons' unbearably twee and cringe-worthy but wouldn't dream of standing in the way of people's right to use them or judge them for their choice.

Also just to add, I actually have given my daughter the same name as our old, now sadly passed away, family dog. Not for any sentimental reason but just because I really like the name. I have a friend who has done the same with one of her children.