The most popular pet names in Australia

2 mins to read

Forget Fido or Fluffy, today's pet owner is more likely to look to a Baby Name book for inspo.

With a growing number of Aussies reporting their pets are more a member of the family than a companion or security measure (hence the rise of the term ‘furbaby’), it’s no surprise we’re now turning away from names like Fido, Fluffy, Spot or Rover in favour of names you’re just as likely to come across in a classroom or office.

Medibank Pet Insurance tallied the names of their 270,000 insured pets to find the most popular pet names of 2017, and found just as we are ‘humanising’ our pooches and kitties with gourmet diets, massages, yoga classes and high end grooming, we’re also giving them ‘human’ names.

Top ten dog names:

1. Bella

2. Charlie

3. Max

4. Molly

5. Ruby

6. Coco

7. Oscar

8. Buddy

9. Lucy

10. Toby

Cats are following the same trend, with the ten most popular cat names according to Pet Insurance Australia, equally fit for a human.

Top ten cat names:

1. Luna

2. Coco

3. Leo

4. Bella

5. Charlie

6. Simba

7. Milo

8. Max

9. Tilly

10. Frankie

The weirdest pet names for 2017

Looking for a more unusual pet name? Bow Wow Meow inscribe over 30,000 pet names onto their collar tags for Aussie pooches and cats each year, and have released a list of the stranger names they come across.

For dogs, their top unusual name picks are Peanut butter, Teddy bear biscuit, Albert Pamplemousse, Apricot Strudel, Baron Von Thumper, Basil Fawlty, Kransky, Roxy RottenBottom, Sir Benedict Cumberbatch, Telly-Beyoncé, Toffee Towers, Tonks the Beautiful Lady, Uggboot, and Zac Efron.

Cats with quirky names had more of a cute bent to them, and Bow Wow Meow’s website listed Mr Darcy Pumpkin, Toothless, Burger, Gidget, Kanye, Laksa, Lord Darth Vader, Marakesh, Mr Jinx, Mr Schnitzel, Princess Marshmallow, and Qantas.

Looking for inspiration?

Here’s what to consider when choosing a name:

Your pet could well be with you for 17 or 18 years, so going for something too gimmicky or trend based for the sake of it is best avoided – that said, even if it’s based on a trend, but you’ll love it for the long haul, there’s no reason not to choose it.

Bear in mind their name is part of your training process, and it’s something you’ll be calling out in public – potentially very loudly, so give this a practice before settling on an unusual name. And as with baby names, always practice saying their name in full, surname and all. Nobody wants to yell out “Come here, Holly Day” before they work out the name they chose is a problem!

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