The Most Popular Names for British Pets

Dubner recently blogged about the most popular dog names in New York City. Now reader Nancy Callahan brings to our attention the 2006 list of top dog and cat names in the U.K. Granted, the list might be more accurately titled “The Top Pet Names of U.K. Residents Who Purchase Pet Insurance” — it was compiled by Direct Line, a pet insurance company that created data from the names chosen by its customers. The results show that, among these relatively high-end pet owners at least, “Molly” is the No. 1 name for both cats and dogs (as well as being the “Whitest Girl Name in America” as per Freakonomics). Note that “Muhammad” is nowhere to be found.

As Callahan notes on her blog, the pet list overlaps heavily with the same year’s 100 most popular children’s names in England and Wales (a list that differs somewhat from the boys’ name rankings reported by the U.K. Times, which covers all of Britain). In fact, the similarities are so great that only one name in the canine Top 10 isn’t also found on the human list. Here are the results, along with each name’s corresponding rank on the list of child names:

TOP DOG NAMES:

1. Molly (24)

2. Max (29)

3. Charlie (10)

4. Holly (26)

5. Poppy (30)

6. Ben (11)

7. Alfie (16)

8. Jack (1)

9. Sam (8)

10. Barney (-)

TOP CAT NAMES:

1. Molly (24)

2. Charlie (10)

3. Tigger (-)

4. Poppy (30)

5. Oscar (47)

6. Smudge (-)

7. Millie (20)

8. Daisy (25)

9. Max (29)

10. Jasper (-)