Most Popular Dog Names by State for 2024

Did you know that 5% of dogs in the United States are named Bella? It's the most popular dog name in 37 states AND the District of Columbia! The Bellastocracy is real, y'all!!! And while it tops the list, there are plenty of other popular monikers as well. About 4% of U.S. dogs are named Luna, roughly 3% are named Max, and another 2% are either Daisy or Charlie.

All of this information comes from U.S. News & World Report, whose recent pet study "analyzed 811,798 data points from a third-party pet insurance industry partner in September and October of 2023." In other words, this isn't a small sample size. And if you're the parent of a new dog—be it a puppy, senior adoptee, or anything in between—he or she deserves the name that fits them.

Most Popular Dog Names in the U.S. 2024

Obviously, naming your dog is a "feel" thing. And while you certainly don't have to choose one of the names listed below, it's good to at least take them out on test drives. Say a name out loud as if you're calling your dog to dinner. Does it feel right? Does it feel awkward? Can you hear yourself saying that name three years from now?

What follows are the 100 most popular dog names in the U.S. for 2024, including the most popular girl dog and boy dog names, the most popular dogs in each state, and Parade's own Top 20.

Most Popular Girl Dog Names

For the next two lists, we turn to the American Kennel Club’s (AKC) purebred registration and mixed-breed enrollment data for 2023, which tracks gender, color, and markings, in addition to breeds. According to their website, the AKC has registered the following number of dogs since 2019.

2023: 652,000 (est.)
2022: 716,519
2021: 801,985
2020: 704,833
2019: 587,777

Again, we're dealing with very large sample sizes. And while there may be some small statistical bias given the demographics of people registering with AKC, their two most popular girl dog names are Luna and Bella—which are just as popular with those who DON'T register with AKC. So, here are the 100 most popular female dog names for 2024.

Most Popular Boy Dog Names

As noted above, the American Kennel Club has taken basic information for millions of dogs, from purebreds and mixed-breeds to males and females. We'd be silly not to tap into that data. Here are the 100 most popular boy dog names.

5 Most Popular Dog Names by State 2024

Now that you know the most popular dog names nationally, let's take a look at the state by state results. This is where different regions produce unique and interesting results. Sure, every state loves Bella, Luna, Max, and Charlie, but what about the names just below the obvious. The devil's in the details, so let's dig into the data.

More Popular Dog Name Data

As noted up top, 37 of 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. had Bella at the top of the list. Another seven states had Bella at #2. You might wonder if any states omitted Bella altogether. Yes! Three rogue states led the anti-Bella opposition: North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont, sort of.

Vermont actually had Bella on the list, but it finished tied for sixth with four other names. It's the Dakota states who are really interesting. If we expand the list to include additional names, we can see that Bella not only didn't finish in the top five, in the case of South Dakota, it didn't even make the top 9!

Which state(s) had the most unique #1 name? Perhaps not surprisingly, the final two states admitted to the union—Alaska and Hawaii—report #1 names that are totally out of step with the rest of the nation. The most popular name in Alaska is Copper, and in Hawaii, it's Boo. Neither of those names made the top 10 in any other state and aren't among the top 100 names in the U.S.

Copper was such a unique dog name, it could be misconstrued as a misspelling of Cooper, which is No. 11 overall and among the top 5 dog names in Mississippi (tied for 2nd), Maine (tied for 5th), and Missouri (also tied for 5th). However, Kennecott Copper Mine in Alaska was once the largest copper mine in the world, and copper mining was crucial to Alaska's economic and industrial development. In fact, it's why the Copper River in Alaska is so named. Beyond that, Copper is the 80th most popular name in the U.S. So Copper it is!

Koa is the fourth most popular dog name in Hawaii and a reference to the largest native tree species on the Hawaiian islands. Koa wood was used by early Hawaiians to build ocean-going canoes, surfboards, spear handles, and ukuleles, and was the wood of Hawaiian royalty.

The state that's last alphabetically—Wyoming—had probably the most unique list. Among its top 10 names are Tank, Pearl, and Brimley, none of which made the top 100, let alone another list.

Though Charlie was only #1 in two states—Nebraska and North Dakota—it's actually the fifth most popular dog name in America, and second most popular boy dog name, after Max. In fact, according to U.S. News & World Report, 2% of all dogs in the United States are named Charlie.

Bailey is the tenth most popular name in the U.S., a good fit for a girl (7th amongst female dogs) or boy (42nd), and made the top 5 in three states: Alaska, Maine, and New Hampshire.

Speaking of which, can you guess how many names in the overall top 100 scored in the top 100 for both boys AND girls? The answer below.

As you can see, eight names scored in the top 100 for both boys and girls. What jumps out is the preponderance of Pixar names. Granted, Charlie and Coco are always popular. But of those eight names, three are lead characters in Pixar movies (Coco from Coco, Remi from Ratatouille, and Riley from Inside Out), and two are minor characters in the Pixar universe (there's a Charlie in Monsters, Inc. and a Koda in Brother Bear). And while Russell from Up is obviously not named Scout, he IS dressed as a scout!

Simba is the 77th most popular boy dog name, which is somewhat shocking because doesn't that seem like a textbook cat name? A generation of dogs are going to have identity crises lol.

If you like your dogs named after food, consider that six made the top 100: Oreo (44), Pepper (52), Ginger (56), Peanut (61), Cookie (67), and Honey (71).

Marley at 66 is interesting—and remember it was fourth in South Dakota. If you did this in 2009 or '10, I'll bet there would've been a bunch of Marleys because of the 2008 tearjerker comedy, Marley and Me. It's been so long since that movie was released, though, are people naming their dogs Marley nowadays because of the movie or because of Bob Marley? We feel like it might be Bob, who was the subject of a recent biopic.

While researching how cities track dogs, we came across a fun website from the New York City Department of Health—which sounds like a contradiction in terms. Go to NYC Dog Names, and you'll see a massive bubble cloud. Each bubble represents the number of dogs in New York City with that name. The more popular the name (Max and Bella), the bigger the bubble, and when you hover over the bubbles, the dog's name pops out with the number of pups registered under that name. Very cool!

Our Favorite Most Popular Dog Names

We've given you the top 100 dog names nationally and the top dog names in each state. But what about ParadePets' favorite names? We chose 20 names from the hundreds of options above. What do you think of our choices???

There are a few pop culture references. Zeke is a beloved characters in Bob's Burgers, Dolly makes us think of national treasure Dolly Parton, and Levi calls to mind Levi Stubbs, the Four Tops singer with the deep voice. And while everyone hearing Ziggy is going to think of Ziggy Stardust or Ziggy Marley, we love the idea of a dog being named after the sad sack comic strip character.

Finally, we like Belle more than Bella, Lulu is a variation of Luna (and Lilo), Roo is fun to say (and could be short for Ruby), and Sophie, Otis, and Pearl are just cute, old-timey names we've always loved.

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