Naming your baby may be the most important naming project of your life but how often do you get the chance to do that? On the other hand, people get new pets all the time and have the freedom to name their pet any way they want. Of course, there are trends in naming as well as in almost everything in our lives. For this article I picked out 10 of the most popular dog names for the last year (according to dogtime.com – 5 male and 5 female – and am going to explain the origin and meaning of the names where possible.

MALE

1. Max – derives from Latin (maximus); short of Maximillian, Maxim, Maxwell; means greatest
2. Buddy – derives from English; means friend
3. Rocky – derives from English, named after Saint Roch; meaning rocky, hard as a rock; it is a common pet name for Boxer as it refers to the famous movie character Rocky.
4. Bailey – derives from English; means bailiff, steward
5. Jake – short version of the name Jacob; derives from Latin (lacobus), Greek (lakobos) and Hebrew (Yaʿqob, Yaʿaqov, Yaʿăqōḇ); means supplanter.

FEMALE

1. Bella – derives from Italian; means beautiful; it became a widely popular name in the last few years because of the main character in the Twilight books – Bella.
2. Molly – a Middle Ages common name for Mary; derives from Hebrew; means bitter, but also beloved and marine.
3. Lucy –derives from Latin (lucius); means light
4. Maggie – most common short form of Margaret; derives from Greek (margarites); means pearl
5. Daisy – derives from Old English; means day’s eye.

If you’re interested in reading more on foreign languages-related naming cases you can check the origin of the Audi and Volvo car brands or the origin of the term bokeh.