The Top Food-Themed Pet Names of 2019

Adam Campbell-Schmitt

Choosing a pet’s name is a big responsibility. The wrong name can set a weird tone for your entire relationship with your dog or cat. I recommend giving any a potential name a good scream in your front yard or a public park to see how ridiculous you’re going to sound when your pup starts acting up or your cat bolts out the back door. If nothing else, the name should be something you love, and what could fit that category better than your favorite food?

The folks at Rover.com, a network of pet sitters and dog walkers, have combed through millions of user-submitted names and other polling data to determine the top food- and beverage-themed names we gave our dogs and cats this year. Here are the most popular ones:

Top 10 Food & Beverage Names for Dogs

  • Pepper

  • Ginger

  • Kona

  • Oreo

  • Peanut

  • Sammy

  • Cookie

  • Mocha

  • Sugar

  • Biscuit

Top 10 Food & Beverage Names for Cats

  • Oreo

  • Pepper

  • Pumpkin

  • Sammy

  • Ginger

  • Peanut

  • Cookie

  • Snickers

  • Sugar

  • Mocha

There's also been a jump in names taken from food trends, like dogs named Kale and Keto, or cats named Chia and Boba. Coffee is another big theme among the top beverage contenders, with names such as Mocha, Latte, Kona, Cappuccino and, plain old Coffee ranking in the top 10 for both dogs and cats.

Rover.com says cats owners were more inclined to give their pets alcohol-inspired names. According to the site's data, the name Rosé was up 183 percent this year.

Top 5 Wine-Related Names for Pets

  • Rosé

  • Pinot

  • Merlot

  • Champagne

  • Sherry (dogs)/Grigio (cats)

Of course, one of the biggest food stories of the year was the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich. While dogs named "Chicken Sandwich" weren’t necessarily a thing (though a Food & Wine staff member does have a dog named Turkey Hero), a popular chicken sandwich condiment did see an increase: Pickles was up 25 percent, Mr. Pickles was up 29 percent, and Miss Pickles was up a whopping 250 percent. Dogs named Chicken were up 28 percent.

And lest you thought the plant-based protein trend was only relegated to Beyond and Impossible burger-slinging fast food joints, it’s also a ripe area for pet names, with Tofu, Chickpea, Soy, Quinoa, and Tempeh making up the top five for both cats and dogs.

Finally, for dessert, it makes sense we’d name our pets after sweet things. Cookie, Cupcake, Brownie, and Pudding all appeared in the top five. The fifth slot might shed some light on people’s pastry preferences, as cat owners went with Cake while dog owners went with Pie.

See? Dog and cat people are completely different!