Lily is top Wellesley dog name, Labs rule breeds by far

Holly is one of 9 dogs in town with her name and one of 32 Chihuahuas

Lily overtook Lucy 35 to 34 as the most popular name in Wellesley among 2,936 licensed dogs. Little Guy, Wembembe and Achilles have a long way to go to grab such an honor: Those are names owned by only individual dogs in town.

We suspect dogs with the most bad-ass names probably aren’t listed because their renegade owners likely don’t license them.

Anyway, when it comes to dogs with the most popular names, you might find yourselves resorting to attaching the initials of their surnames, like we do with the Lukes and Bens and Julias among kids we know in Wellesley.

Here’s the top 10 list of popular dog names (similarly spelled names combined):

Lily (35), Lucy (34), Tedy (32), Tucker (31), Bailey (31), Molly (30), Bella (29), Cocoa (27), Maggie (23), Max (23).

Daisy, Charlie and Rosie fell off the list from a year ago, which included 11 names due to a 10th place tie. Cocoa and Max are new to the top 10 list.

We also have the breakdown of breeds, and not surprisingly labs are far and away the most popular type in Wellesley with 491 licensed. So nearly 1 in 6 dogs in Wellesley are labs. Lily or Lilly is the most popular name among them, with 9 labs sporting that name.

Other popular breeds in town: Beagle (60), Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (84), Cockapoo (123), Golden Doodle (89), Golden Retriever (265), Labradoodle (94), Shih-Tzu (65). Not quite sure how to break out Mutts, but 69 dogs are labeled as “mixed”. Some dogs are rare in town: just 1 Doberman Pinscher, for instance.