Here Are The Top Puppy Names Of 2014

It's a timeless rite of passage practiced by every proud puppy owner - deciding on a name for a new pet. In fact, that's often the very first thing to do after bringing home a furry pup (second only perhaps to making a mad dash for a paper towel to clean up after his first act).

But which names are the most popular, and how have trends changed over time? Well, just as in years past, pet health information website vetstreet.com has pored through its expansive database of 969,517 dogs born since Jan. 1 to determine the top puppy names of 2014.

(Wikimedia)

Among male puppy names, "Max" takes the top spot just as it has for the last nine years. "Charlie" and "Rocky," meanwhile, jumped to the second and third positions. "Buddy," which held the title of top name for four years in a row before being unseated by "Max," dropped two spots from last year, becoming the fourth most popular name. Among the rest of the names on the list, "Zeus" is the only newcomer to the top 10, rising from 11th to eighth place compared to 2013.

(Wikimedia)

For female puppies, the most popular names have remained the same since last year, with "Bella," "Daisy" and "Lucy" rounding out the top three slots. Aside from a few position changes, all but one name this year appeared in the top 10 from 2013. "Luna," which ranked 13th most popular last year, jumped four spots in 2014 to ninth place, knocking former 10th-place holder "Maggie" off the list for the first time since Vetstreet began ranking names in 2011.

(Flickr/Eduardo Marquetti)

Interestingly, absent from the list are some of the more stereotypical names for dogs, like "Fido," "Spike," "Spot," "Rex" and "Rover." Nearly all of the most popular names for dogs in recent years are fit for human children as well. That fact hardly seems surprising, however, considering just how sweetly pets are regarded today, with 92 percent of dog-owning adults in the United States considering their pets to be bona fide members of the family.