'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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We stupidly picked my favourite Welsh name for one of our kittens years ago, sadly he died soon after. Fast forward several years and after much debate our DS has the same name

Our dog is called Monty - after Monty the truck (one of Miss Jenny's machines in the Thomas the Tank spin off)

After literally years of trying to have a child we gave our dog our favourite boys name. Three years later IVF gave us a son and after seriously toying with changing the name of the dog, we found another name for our little boy. Our girl dog also has a person name - she shares it with one of the children in my class.

Our dog has a traditional dog's name - Patch. However, our chickens are called Heather and Mabel (Scarlett and Ginny were the previous chooks).

my dog is called millie and my cats are called felix,reef,penny,dottie ,fish is called bob hamster called patrick ,rabbits called sponge and bob

our cats are Tilly & Maisie, the Goldfish Fred Wilma and Barny (a Widower as Betty died)

One of my shortlisted nams for DS had to be scrapped as my mum already had used it for her cat, and people "might get confused"

My cat answers to "Oigerroffthesofa"... I think it'll make a charming little boy's name!

my single friend has cats called Brian and Dave. She always hopes that when she calls them in at night some bloke might answer...

My dog has a human name, but she's from a rescue centre. I'd much rather she had a classy name like Fang or Fido

Well I think it's a load of nonsense- and so does my son Rover.

Southwestwhippet - are you a Jilly Cooper fan by any chance? Only asking, as your dogs' names are those of two of her heroines.

The pets belonging to Jilly Cooper's fictional characters are always wonderfully named. E.g a journalist owns a cat named Harold Evans (a former editor of The Times newspaper.) A loveable mongrel is named Gertrude, another, is named Sevenoaks, after sticking a pin a road atlas of Great Britain. Musicians own long haired kittens named Scarlatti and Scriabin. Black labs are called Badger and Beaver and a lurcher, Blue.

My childhood cats had more traditional pet names: Muffin, Mittens, Pickle etc. but in adulthood I've named cats 'human' names. Our 11 year moggy old shares his name with sons of two different friends.

In my experience it's the animals who are the trend-setters - we had a dog called Finn twenty years ago and still have an Archie who was named nine years ago

My cats are Hex, Fudge and Crumble.

I am so calling my next child Crumble

I know Alfie the KC Spaniel and Poppy the terrier X.

My pets have pet names I think...

Dog = Scruff
Cat = Maximus

My previous dog was Myra, but like Scruff she had that name when we adopted her.

When I was young the dogs we had were Jet(black) and Sandy(golden lab)so not much imagination there
I now have a rescued dog called Sacha who I found out was originally called Heather,as thats my sisters name we stayed with Sacha. Imagine my shock when I called her in the park and a great big rottwieler came charging towards me.

I agree with JuneBugJr, names like Charlie, Alfie and Daisy sound more like dogs' names that children's to me.

There seems to be a trend for naming babies old-fashioned, nick-names (Charlie instead of Charlies; Alfie instead of Alfred, etc), which always sound like dogs' names to me.

BTW, my huge dog came with her name - Annie, as did my cat Barney and rabbit Daisy.

About 15 yrs ago, we got a dog and my Mum named him George...after that Colman's Mustard advert. She forgot that was her FIL's name.

The times she shouted at that dog and my Grandad jumped instead. Once she even shouted, 'George! Don't you dare get up on the chair!' and my Grandad leapt up and had to pretend he just wanted to stand for a bit.

I know an animal and human Molly, Ben, Jack, Ella, Stewart (that's a guinea pig) Charlie...maybe a few more. Can't see that it's an issue really.

It took us quite a while to figure out which name our neighbours called their dog and which was their daughter, both used to be called in from the garden and we were a bit nervous about using the wrong one when introduced (Molly and Megan). Turned out Molly was the dog.

My cat came from the rescue centre already named and my great uncle was very pleased we ended up with a cat named after him!

LOL Pommepoire - I will admit that I got the name Agatha (Taggie) our of a Jilly Cooper novel.

Flora on the other hand is named after Flora Post in Cold Comfort Farm. It was only after I got Taggie that I realised Flora was another JC heroine and now everyone knows thinks I am a massive JC fan.

I do love the Jilly Cooper names though for animals and people. I suggested Tabitha to DH for my DD but he said no

Ddog came prenamed as Max. His mates are Penny, Jake, Jack, Milly, Winston, two Charlies and Harvey. It is quite a relief that the cat next door is Fluffy.

I had a cat called Dave, it was so funny shouting him in for his dinner, I bet the neighbours used to think who the hell is Dave.

I love fun human names for pets, like Rodney, Arthur and Brian

I have a rescue dog called Zara but our other pets 3 kittens and rabbits have names from books.the kittens are Tom,Moppet & Mittens and our rabbits all have names from Watership down not really people names.At least i dont think they are!