We've looked at the most popular names for large and medium-size dog breeds, and, now, it's time for small dogs! We dug into our database of more than 3.2 million names for the 10 most popular small dog breeds to determine which ones are most common among the pint-size canine crowd.
We went to the American Kennel Club to determine the 10 most popular small dog breeds and came back with the following list: Yorkshire Terrier, Miniature Schnauzer, Shih Tzu, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Pomeranian, Boston Terrier, Chihuahua, Havanese, Maltese and Pug. In the slideshow below, you'll find thetop three names (in order from No. 1 to No. 3) for each breed. And don't miss some of the interesting data we discovered down the page!
Most Popular Names for Top 10 Small Dog Breeds
Leesia Teh, Animal Photography
No. 10: Pug
Female: Bella, Lucy, Daisy
Male: Max, Pugsley, Otis
Eva-Maria Kramer, Animal Photography
No. 9: Maltese
Female: Bella, Molly, Daisy
Male: Max, Buddy, Charlie
Sally Anne Thompson, Animal Photography
No. 8: Havanese
Female: Bella, Lucy, Sophie
Male: Max, Charlie, Buddy
Sally Anne Thompson, Animal Photography
No. 7: Chihuahua
Female: Bella, Princess, Daisy
Male: Chico, Buddy, Peanut
Karin Newstrom, Animal Photography
No. 6: Boston Terrier
Female: Lucy, Daisy, Molly
Male: Buster, Buddy, Max
Karin Newstrom, Animal Photography
No. 5: Pomeranian
Female: Foxy, Princess, Bella
Male: Bear, Teddy, Gizmo
Leesia Teh, Animal Photography
No. 4: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Female: Bella, Molly, Lucy
Male: Charlie, Max, Winston
Sally Anne Thompson, Animal Photography
No. 3: Shih Tzu
Female: Molly, Bella, Daisy
Male: Gizmo, Max, Buddy
Karin Newstrom, Animal Photography
No. 2: Miniature Schnauzer
Female: Heidi, Molly, Maggie
Male: Max, Pepper, Buddy
Sally Anne Thompson, Animal Photography
No. 1: Yorkshire Terrier
Female: Bella, Molly, Sophie
Male: Max, Buddy, Toby
Most Common Monikers
Bella, the most popular female puppy name of the year, made the top 10 for every breed on this list. It was No. 1 for six small dog breeds (with eight total appearances in the top three), which is particularly interesting given that Bella only nabbed that top spot for one medium and two large breeds. Max fared just about as well, with a top-10 spot for all 10 small breeds, eight of them in the top three and five at No. 1.
Other names that popped up over and over in the top three were Buddy with seven appearances, Molly with six and Daisy with five.
Breed-Specific Names
Some of these names were so perfect for certain breeds that they didn't show up in the top three for any other breeds. The Pug, for example, was the only breed with Pugsley, and nobody but the Chihuahua had Chico at the top of the list. But it was really the Pomeranian who had the standout names among the small breeds. The top female name, Foxy, certainly fits this Spitz breed's fox-like appearance. Two of the top three most popular male Pom names were also related to this cute little guy's appearance: Teddy and Bear. Aww.
Others that appearedonlyin the top three for one breed were Pepper and Heidi (Miniature Schnauzer), Peanut(Chihuahua), Winston (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel), Buster (Boston Terrier), Otis (Pug) and Toby (Yorkie). One name that truly surprised us was Maggie — although it appeared in the top three four times eachfor both large and medium breeds, it grabbedonlyone spot for small breeds, as No. 3 for the Miniature Schnauzer.
What About Poodles?
Wondering where the Poodles are? It's true; the Miniature and Toy Poodles both belong in the small breed category, and, in fact, would rank as the AKC's second most popular small breed after the Yorkie. However, the data for the most common names of Poodles was not broken down into Toy, Miniature and Standard, so we elected to leave it out of the slideshow. The top Poodle names lined up pretty well with many of the other popular names on this list: Molly, Bella and Daisy for females; and Max, Buddy and Charlie for males.
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