Come ‘ere, Luna

By Frank Sabatini Jr.

Mission Hills resident Donna Sanchez says that when she calls out her dog’s name while visiting Nate’s Point Dog Park at the west end of Balboa Park’s Cabrillo Bridge, she often receives attentive responses from a few other dogs in addition to her own.

The reason might be because her precious Labrador mix, Luna, supposedly holds the most popular dog name in the U.S. and California—at least according to the global company Trusted House Sitters. The platform based its finding from analyzing an internal database containing more than 100,000 registered dog names.

Ranking second and third most popular are the names, Bella and Charlie.

To the contrary, Cheryl Dagostaro of North Park’s Pet-Tenders told us with a chuckle, “I don’t know of one dog we’ve watched named Luna.” Her business has provided pet-sitting services since 1983.

After looking at her own records, Dagostaro’s observation shows instead that the most popular male dog names she encounters are Snoop, Max, Duke and Teddy while female dogs commonly carry the names of Lily, Charlotte and Dolly.

To those about to bring a bundle of canine joy into their lives and don’t know what to name it, Dagostaro recommends a simple solution.

“Get a few different names in your head, and then within a 24-hour period, start calling the dog by those names. The dog will respond to the name that makes their ears perk up. They will tell you what name resonates.”