Pet name generator

What it's for

One generator to name your pet: dogs, cats and little friends like rabbits, hamsters and birds. Pick the type and get inspired among lots of fun ideas.

Tip

Pets respond better to short names, one or two syllables. Try a few times until you find the right one for your pet.

What makes a name easy to understand

It isn't a matter of taste: some names work better because an animal's ear tells them apart more easily. Three rules really hold. Two syllables, because a long name gets shortened by whoever calls it and becomes a different name every time. A vowel at the end, which lengthens the sound and makes it recognizable at a distance. And sharp consonants at the start, of the k, t, p kind: they're fast-attack sounds that cut through background noise better than an s or an f.

The name mustn't sound like a command

This is the mistake discovered later, when training doesn't work and nobody understands why. A dog called Neo hears «no» ten times a day; one called Kit hears something very like «sit». The name has to remain the only word meaning «look at me», so it should be kept well away from the sound of the commands you'll use: sit, down, stay, no, come.

For the same reason it's worth avoiding names that sound like those of the people in the house: if somebody is called in the kitchen and the dog always turns up, the problem isn't the dog.

Cats hear higher than we do

Cats hear frequencies far above ours, which is why they respond better to names with high sounds and bright vowels — i and e more than o and u. It's no accident that so many cat names end in -i: those are the ones that cut through household noise best. And tone counts as much as the name: called in a high, sing-song voice, a cat responds far more than when called flatly.

Before printing the tag

The chosen name should be registered with the microchip, and that's what brings a lost animal home far more than a tag: on the tag it's better to put the phone number than the name, because whoever finds it has to call you, and a name written on the collar lets anyone call the animal over and take it. Anyone who moves house or changes number has to remember to update the register, which is the step nearly everyone skips and the one that makes the microchip useless.

Nearby tools

For names of people, companies and projects there is Name generator. For feeding there are Dog calorie needs and Cat calorie needs, and for foods to keep away Foods dangerous for pets.