Luna is huge, Gravy is big and Mossberg is trending in top pet names of 2022
Not only have cherished names like Max and Bella inspired pet parents, but also celebrities, food, music, and movie and television characters appear to be an impetus, according to the 2022 top pet names report compiled by Seattle-based Rover, an international online marketplace for pet care.
Luna, Bella and Daisy made the list of top names for female dogs. Names of celebrities and groundbreaking femmes that topped the list were Britain’s singer Adele and queen consort Camilla along with American rapper Cardi B.
Speaking of the Royals’ influence on names, Lilibet trended up 282%.
Most popular male dog names were Max, Charlie and Cooper, while the top trending names were Frezco, Cassini and Mossberg.
Bieber was trending up 185 percent followed by Spears at 135 percent.
Overall in California, the trendiest names were Kiana and Bernedoddle.
In Los Angeles Luna, Bella and Lola top the female names while Charlie, Milo and Rocky top the male category.
Popular food-themed names included Broccolini, Ceviche and Carnitas.
This year also saw many popular cat names.
The most common female cat names were Luna, Lily and Bella, while Oliver, Milo and Leo captured the male category, but the top three names were Hella, Yoon-gi and Crescent.
Several top trending food-themed names for cats in Los Angeles included Tofu up 785%, Gravy 485% and Gnocchi 385%.
For the first time, Missy Elliott popped up on Los Angeles’ popular cat name list, a nod to the rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer who has sold more than 30 million records in the U.S.
During the pandemic, pet owners noted the virus by naming animals Covid and Fauci and Rona (short for coronavirus), for example.
“It was a crazy time we went through, and I think a lot of people adopted dogs and cats during that time and picked names to represent what we were going through,” said Nicole Ellis, a Pasadena certified professional dog trainer and pet lifestyle expert with Rover.com.
“And there are those animals named after purses and fancy luxury brands,” Ellis said. “Coco Channel was trending a couple of years ago, but that is no longer trending any more. Now Burberry is trending a little bit more … Gucci is trendy and has gone up 20 percent and Prada — and especially for kitty cats. That’s always interesting to see because Gucci isn’t trendy much for dogs but for cat owners it is.”
In Los Angeles trends are a little bit different from the rest of the United States.
“I love how we stand out a little bit more,” Ellis explained. “We have new actors’ names trending. We have had dogs named after Keanu Reeves, Denzel Washington, Sandra Bullock this year which hasn’t been a trendy one in the past. In the past it was more Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and one of my favorites was Samuel L. Greyhound after Samuel Jackson. Instead of Jackson they would name him Greyhound.”
Some owners, however, still opt for classic names.
“Max has been the top male dog name for 10 years now and it’s still trending,” Ellis said. “Bella was the top female’s name for 10 years and this is the first year we have a new name move in, which is Luna.”
Each year, Rover releases the top pet names and trending pet names — among other categories. The results are based on the company’s database of millions of pet parents who submitted names from September to October 2022 at Rover.com. The report, which was first issued a decade ago, is not endorsed or sponsored by any brand names, celebrities or businesses.
Most pet owners named animals after their favorite movie star, singer, book or artist. They might relive fond memories through their chosen name, or base it on the animal’s personality once they have a chance to observe their pet in action.
The top advice from experts in naming a dog is to keep it to two syllables, and consider using hard consonants to attract its attention, and give the dog a unique name so it recognizes you are calling.
Isabella D’Alessandro named her adopted two-year-old beagle Bruno, based on the Bruno Bucciarati’s character from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Netflix’s Japanese anime TV show — not to be confused with Bruno Madrigal, an exiled uncle from the popular Disney 2021 film “Encanto.”
“(The show) has this one character that’s a Mafia boss … he’s a really cool character, so I decided to name him after that one,” said D’Alessandro, a Los Angeles resident. “A lot of people asked me if I named him after Bruno Mars, the singer.”
The Encanto movie took pet names by storm in 2022 with Mirabel up 1,485%, Isabela up 93% and Bruno up 26% among the top 10 trending Disney and Pixar-inspired names for dogs — with Mirabel up 932% for cats.
Jennifer Wagman, a researcher from Sherman Oaks, fostered and adopted Sashimi in March 2020 from a Pit Bull rescue organization. The nearly three-year-old “special needs” mixed dog came with his name and “he had a spicy personality” so she kept it.
When Wagman adopted the nearly two-year-old male orange tabby cat from a humane society afterward, she named him Wasabi because it complemented Sashimi’s name.
“I loved the name Sashimi even if I didn’t give it to him,” Wagman said. “We are big sashimi and sushi eaters. We really just thought it was a nice name. And Wasabi loves dogs, so that was a selling point (for us).”