Come here, ‘Dude’! These are Toronto’s top pet names for 2024

Batman, Sushi and Dude are just a handful of the names pet parents in Toronto chose for their furry friends this year, according to a new report.

Rover.com, an online pet platform, released its annual findings on what the most popular dog and cat names are in Canada, as well as Toronto, for the year earlier this month.

According to Rover, the top five dog names in Toronto this year are:

1. 
   Luna
2. 
   Charlie
3. 
   Milo
4. 
   Coco
5. 
   Leo

Meanwhile, the top five cat names in the city for 2024 are:

1. 
   Luna
2. 
   Leo
3. 
   Charlie
4. 
   Lily
5. 
   Bella

Luna, Lily, Bella, Charlie, Milo and Coco appeared on Rover’s list for Toronto in 2023 too.

On top of the most commonly-used names for the year, the pet platform also revealed the trendiest names for dogs and cats.

More dog owners chose to name their pup Sushi, going up in popularity by 465 per cent this year. As for cats, many were feeling Ricky for their felines – a named that soared in popularity by 807 per cent.

“Pet parents are naming their dogs and cats after the latest cultural obsessions, from pop icons to beloved Canadian athletes,” Dr. Rebecca Greenstein, owner of Kleinburg Veterinary Hospital, said in a release.

The pet platform noted many pet parents were inspired by pop culture “legends,” with Star Wars-related names like Yoda and Binx a popular choice for parents. Characters from video games also appeared to influence names this year, with Kirby and Ozzie cracking the list, as well as beloved comic book characters like Batman.

It appears pet owners in Toronto felt some nostalgia for ’90s films, particularly for “The Big Lebowski,” as the name Dude skyrocketed in popularity by 248 per cent in 2024.

While Luna has been a steady favourite, other celestial names like Moon and Star made pet parents starry-eyed this year.

Rover said the results of the study are based on the analysis of millions of user-submitted pet names provided by pet parents.