Bella is the most popular dog name in Wellesley for 2016, with 38 pups answering to that name (or not) around town. These include everything from boxers to bichon frise to havanese to maltese.
Lily/Lilly/Lilli, the most popular name for each of the past 2 years, gets knocked back to No. 2 this year.
Though the most important finding from plowing through the entire list of 3,007 licensed dogs is that there are 14 dogs in Wellesley named Brady and only 1 named Roger*. Take that Mr. NFL Commissioner! Not to say that all the Brady dogs are named after the Patriots’ quarterback or that the one Roger in town (an, um, cavapoo) — is actually named after Roger Goodell. And not to say the two dogs named Peyton are named after recently retired NFL QB Peyton Manning either.
Taking some liberties in terms of clumping together names that sound the same even if the spellings vary, here is the rest of the top 10 list (see full list of names/breeds below):
Lily/Lilly/Lilli (36); Charlie/Charli (34); Lucy (34); Bailey (32); Teddy/Tedi, etc. (31); Tucker (28); Cooper (25); Molly (24); Coco/Cocoa (24). Close calls are Daisey, Gracie, Lola, Maggie, Rosie and Cali.
Unusual names include Cayenne Pepper, Chowdah and Divot. Wellesleyites also like to name their dogs after other animals, including Bear, Moose, Mouse and… Mastodon.
Politics-wise, the Teds have it: As we mentioned above there are 31 Teddies (not to mention 3 dogs named Carly). There is just one Bernie. There’s no Hillary — surprising given that Wellesley is home to her alma mater — nor any Donald or Trump on the list.
My favorite name: Reckless (do we have a photo of this fine fox terrier?).
As for dog breeds, labrador retrievers are by far the most popular, accounting for about 1 in 5 dogs. There are also about 100 of the related labradoodles in Wellesley. One-of-a-kind dogs in town include the standard schnauzer, plott hound and picardy spaniel.
Then again, I’m sure they’re all one of a kind…
*We’re quite sure that Roger the dog is a very fine dog and no disrespect is meant to him or his family.
Wellesley, Mass. dog names and breeds, 2016 by theswellesleyreport
I like Bandit and Gunner, although they are not the most popular dog names. I just think those popular dog names are not so unique.