Tucson's most popular pet names: Lunas bark and meow

Their owner, Joanna Strohn, changed Ruby to LucyFyr to reflect the dog’s “spitfire” personality and Brutus to BrewTis as a way of softening the feeling of his name.

For both dogs, name pronunciation is key, Strohn notes.

It’s “that slight emphasis, LucyFyr rather than Lucifer. She is very much different. And they’ve learned and I don’t think she would respond to Ruby even though she was Ruby for five years,” she says.

Out of the 10,372 dogs registered in the Pima Animal Care Center’s database in 2020 and 2021, Luna was the most common name, with 76 dogs.

Bella came in second with 75. Max and Buddy followed behind with 68 and 66 respectively. About 775 dogs were nameless in the database.

But, like Strohn, some pet owners opted for more unique names, such as Galaxy Fish, a pitbull mix, or Oreo Jones, a German shepherd.

Others chose to take a themed approach. Plays on celebrity names included Billy Eyeless, a golden retriever who was missing an eye, and Kevin Barkon, a German shepherd.

Some opted to keep the name of the celebrity altogether such as Wolf Blitzer, another German shepherd, or Dolly Parton, an American pit bull.

This themed approach can be strategic for local shelters.

“Especially when we name pets after something in pop culture, characters in a movie or video game and somebody recognizes that reference, they might be really excited and have an instant connection with that pet,” said Camille Hall, the public relations lead for the Humane Society of Southern Arizona.

Popular breeds in Pima County

Outside of names, the most common breed of dog registered during the pandemic from 2020 to 2021 in Pima County was a pit bull at 1,963 dogs.

German shepherds came in second at 1,319 dogs, Labrador retrievers followed in third place at 1,167 dogs, shorthair Chihuahuas were the fourth most popular at 1,142 dogs, and terriers came in fifth at 522.

And as pet owners know, attention to individual personalities is all part of the fun, whether those traits are breed-specific or just seem to be unique to your good boy.

Strohn’s pets, for instance, enjoy not just names tailored to suit them, but also her long tradition of sewing for them.

She started off making patriotic bandannas by hand after 9/11 for her two late dogs, Sophie Tucker, a pedigree bulldog, and Sargeant Top Gun, a pinscher whom Strohn enlisted in the fictional United States Miniature Pinscher Corps.

After she bought a sewing machine, Strohn, who was also a motorcyclist at the time, began making vintage motorcycle quilts. She did so to show her human friends, but she quickly noticed Sargeant Top Gun and Sophie Tucker were enjoying the quilt the most.

Now, LucyFyr and BrewTis have taken on the tradition. They burrow with their quilts for naps all the time.

Cat names

As for cat names, Luna was also the most popular contender in Pima County, with 27 cats registered under that name from 2020 to 2021, followed by 16 Shadows, 14 Smokeys and 14 Milos.

Some cat owners chose to take a more unique approach to naming their furry companions. Cats named after objects, such as Dashboard Camry, Antihistamine Stinky and Apple Bandit, offered interesting additions to the local cat population.

Cats with celebrity names included Mr. Rogers, a brown and white tabby; George Michael, an orange and white tabby; and Marilyn Monroe, a brown and white tabby.

As for cat breeds, the most popular breed from 2020 to 2021 was the domestic shorthair with 3,873 cats, followed by 564 domestic medium hair cats, 162 Oriental shorthair cats, 157 domestic long hair cats and 137 Siamese cats.

Since cats do not have the same registration requirements as dogs, this data is based on PACC animal intake records that are used to keep track of an animal throughout its life.