Remember when everyone named their dogs Fido, King, and Lucky?
And cats were, well, Puss and Kitty?
Well, now pet owners are naming their beloved furry friends after… the pandemic. Since March there’s been a surprising new trend towards naming beloved four-footed friends after various elements of the COVID-19 virus, according to pet medical insurance company Trupanion .
The company said in a recent release that top trending pet names include everything from Corona to Rona, Covi to some poor miserable beast being called to dinner by the full moniker, Covid.
Pet owners have also paid homage to top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci by naming their pets with a snappy Fauci!
“Examining the trends in pet names provides a snapshot of the year gone by and 2020 has never been a better example, with cultural events, new everyday realities, shifting sentiments and emerging icons really influencing how pet parents name their pets,” said Kate Jaffe, a trend expert for Rover.com . “Unique stressors, like coronavirus, coupled with people increasingly working from home, has led to a boom in pet adoption rates and a strengthening of the human-pet bond, so it’s no surprise that the days of simply naming a dog Fido are long gone.”
“Having a pet in your life is believed to, among other things, reduce stress and improve overall health and well-being,” said Michael Nank, spokesperson for Trupanion in a recent email. “So as we close out 2020, it’s the perfect time to celebrate your dog or cat and be thankful for all the goodness they bring into your life.”
“It’s clear that more and more people are turning to the companionship and comfort that pets can bring into their lives and their homes during these times,” added Dr. Steve Weinrauch, chief veterinary officer at Trupanion in a recent email. “We saw this phenomenon early in our data with an increase in families adding pets to their household or welcoming their first pet into their family.”
In an interview with Psychology Today , award-winning author Alexandra Horowitz, who has written a host of books on dogs, gets to the crux of the matter when she simply states that “to name a dog is to make him personal.”
Not all pets are being named after the virus. Here’s a partial list of the top pet names for 2020:
Top 10 most popular dogs names of 2020
1) Bella
2) Charlie
3) Luna
4) Lucy
5) Max
6) Bailey
7) Daisy
8) Cooper
9) Molly
10) Lola
Top 10 most popular cat names of 2020
1) Luna
2) Bella
3) Oliver
4) Charlie
5) Lucy
6) Leo
7) Max
8) Milo
9) Lily
10) Simba
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
