The website Rover.com, which bills itself as, "the world's largest network of 5-star pet sitters and dog walkers," has just released its sixth annual ranking of the top dog names, and for 2018, Max led the pack for male dog names, and Bella for females.
First, here are the top 10 names for male and female doggos:
Top 10 Male Dog Names for 2018
1. Max
2. Charlie
3. Cooper
4. Buddy
5. Jack
6. Rocky
7. Duke
8. Bear
9. Tucker
10. Oliver
Top 10 Female Dog Names
1. Bella
2. Lucy
3. Luna
4. Daisy
5. Lola
6. Sadie
7. Molly
8. Bailey
9. Maggie
10. Stella
The experts on the site also noted many trends with dog names for the year, and pop culture and the young Royals really made their mark on the collars of collies, cockers, and myriad other breeds in 2018. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding was behind the boost for "Meghan" -- which saw a 133% boost this year. "Harry" bumped up a similar 129%."Cardi" shot up 1,250% this year -- obviously inspired by the similarly meteoric rise of Cardi B. Stormi -- named after Kylie Jenner's baby, not former porn star Stormy Daniels, bumped by 250%.
As for fictional pop culture, dogs named after bad guys remained popular, with "Loki" of Marvel movie fame, "Bane" from the Batman universe, "Lex" as in Superman's nemesis Luthor, and "Anakin," as in Skywalker among 2018's more popular in that category.
Technically, Anakin was still a good guy, and when he fell, he became Darth Vader, but we digress. "Darth" also remained a popular pop culture name.
As for other baddies, "Thanos" jumped 215% -- named after the purple-faced, world-ending Titan as seen in the Avengers movies.
There are people who name their dogs after food, too -- 12% according to Rover.com in fact. "Couscous" jumped in popularity in 2018, along with Crisco, Cheetos, Pasta and Ramen.
Other sources of pet name inspiration include: 5% have named their dog after a city or geographic location 12% have named their dog after an animal, plant or nature 12% have named their dog after a famous or historical person 33% have named their dog after a character from a TV show, video game, movie or book 10% have named their dog after someone they know 4% have named their dog after a brand