170 Funny Dog Names

Written by

Kosar KoohiUpdated 2 September 2026 · 10 Min Read

Kosar is the editor of Pretty Fluffy, a lifelong dog lover, and the proud mom of Yuki, a Maltese who has very high standards. So does Kosar. She researches everything obsessively before it ever makes it onto the page.

Some dogs arrive with a name already written on them. Others tumble out of the car looking so ridiculous that the only honest option is a joke. If you are in the second camp, the funny dog names below are sorted into the categories people actually search for, so you can go straight to the flavor of silly you are after.

A word of warning before you scroll. The name that makes you laugh in week one is the name you will be shouting across a wet park in year ten, and that is a different test entirely. There is a short section at the end on which jokes survive it. For the general business of picking a name your dog will actually respond to, our guide to choosing a dog name is the one to read.

The best funny dog names work through contrast. A very small dog with a very large name, a very large dog with a delicate one, or an ordinary human name on an animal who is plainly not a Brenda. Puns are the other reliable route, though they need to shorten well, since almost every long name gets clipped to one syllable within a fortnight. Sort by the joke you want first, then say it out loud before you commit.

Funny Girl Dog Names

The funniest girl dog names tend to be the ones that sound like a woman who runs a bridge club. There is something about a bouncing spaniel answering to Deborah that never stops being good. Food names are the other dependable seam, and the trick there is specificity, because Quiche lands and Food does not. If you want more in this register, our collection of funny dog quotes is built from the same sense of humor.

• Brenda
• Deborah
• Susan
• Linda
• Beverly
• Doris
• Gladys
• Cheryl
• Bertha
• Maureen
• Casserole
• Marmalade
• Crouton
• Pierogi
• Gravy
• Gherkin
• Quiche
• Scampi
• Fondue
• Squid
• Trout
• Goose
• Hamster
• Sausage
• Strudel

Funny Boy Dog Names

Same trick, other direction. A Great Dane called Kevin is funnier than any pun you could build, because the joke is entirely in the flatness of it. Keep the human names deadpan and let the absurd ones do the work. If you are naming two at once, pairs are their own art form, and our guide to getting a second dog is worth reading before you commit to a matching set.

• Kevin
• Gary
• Barry
• Trevor
• Dave
• Keith
• Colin
• Nigel
• Reginald
• Bartholomew
• Steve
• Meatloaf
• Hot Dog
• Brisket
• Sourdough
• Chorizo
• Pretzel
• Croissant
• Beans
• Chairman
• Sergeant
• Chunk
• Wingnut
• Toaster
• Doorbell

Punny Dog Names

Puns are the most fun to read and the hardest to live with, because the joke only exists in full. Nobody at the vet is writing Fyodor Dogstoyevsky on the form, and the name goes on the microchip in that first week along with everything else on our new puppy checklist. Pick one whose shortening you also like and you get the gag on the paperwork plus something callable at the park. Anyone hunting for a name with a screen backstory should also browse our best dog movies roundup, which is a naming resource in disguise.

• Droolius Caesar, for the dog who dribbles imperially
• Bark Twain, shortens to Twain, which is a lovely name on its own
• Sherlock Bones, obvious, still excellent
• Mary Puppins, for the practically perfect ones
• Salvador Dogi, best on a dog with strange whiskers
• Jimmy Chew, for the one who found your shoes
• Woofgang Puck, a food dog with ambitions
• Chewbarka, for anything large and shaggy
• Hairy Pawter, works on a black scruff with a fringe
• Winnie the Pooch, gentle and a bit soppy
• Pup Tart, sweet, a little bit unhinged
• Pup Fiction, for a dog with a criminal streak
• Fyodor Dogstoyevsky, for the brooding type
• Sniff Richards, for a dog with a rock and roll walk
• Vincent Van Growl, suits a dog with one odd ear
• Muttley Crue, for a mixed breed with attitude
• Ozzy Pawsbourne, for the one who howls at nothing
• Dogtor Who, for a dog who keeps appearing where he should not be
• Doggie Howser, for a puppy who is clearly the smartest in the room
• Kanye Westie, only really works on a Westie
• Bark Ruffalo, calm until he is not
• Anderson Pooper, for the dog who reports everything
• Corgi Armani, for the short and well dressed
• Pawdrey Hepburn, elegant, high maintenance
• Sir Waggington, deeply undeserved title
• Prince Barkles, for a dog with a formal bearing and no manners
• Bilbo Waggins, small, brave, food motivated

Clever Names for Dogs

If puns feel a bit much, clever names for dogs get the same laugh with none of the groaning. These work by understatement. The joke is a small mismatch between the name and the animal, and it lands harder for being quiet about it. The same principle drives a lot of our anime dog names, where the best picks are the ordinary words rather than the big character names.

• Mayor, for the dog who greets everyone
• Judge, for the one who stares
• Deputy, always second in charge
• Landlord, owns the sofa
• Bailiff, removes you from the good chair
• Professor, looks thoughtful, is not
• Decaf, for the calmest dog you have met
• Cardio, for the one who never stops
• Placebo, for the dog with no discernible function
• Sherman, for a dog built like a vehicle
• Nimble, for the clumsiest animal alive
• Karma, comes back around
• Rumor, spreads fast
• Verdict, final on all matters
• Pending, for a dog you have not figured out yet

Old Man Dog Names

Old man dog names are the funniest category on this page and somehow the most neglected. The comedy is pure contrast: a name with a cardigan and a shed attached to it, worn by a puppy who has just eaten a sock. Herbert. Wilbur. Cecil. They also age beautifully, which most jokes do not, and by the time your dog genuinely is an old man the name has quietly become sincere. If you are adopting at the other end of life rather than the start, our roundup of the best dogs for seniors is a good companion read.

• Herbert
• Walter
• Norman
• Stanley
• Arthur
• Cecil
• Wilbur
• Mortimer
• Percy
• Clarence
• Horace
• Rupert
• Alfred
• Ernest
• Harold
• Sidney
• Gilbert
• Edgar
• Vernon
• Chester

Funny Names for Small Dogs

Funny names for small dogs almost always run oversized. Give a four kilogram animal a name built for something that could pull a sled, and the joke restates itself every single time you use it. The dog, crucially, is unaware of the discrepancy and carries the name with total conviction, which is most of the comedy.

These lean geological and mythical rather than tough. If you want the tough end of the scale, whether played straight or ironically, our guard dog names list covers it properly.

• Colossus
• Juggernaut
• Behemoth
• Leviathan
• Boulder
• Bulldozer
• Sledge
• Anvil
• Thunder
• Tsunami
• Vortex
• Meteor
• Sasquatch
• Yeti
• Bigfoot
• Rhino
• Godzilla
• Maximus

Funny Names for Big Dogs

Run the same joke the other way and it gets better, not worse. Something enormous answering to Crumb has a comic timing that a small dog called Crumb simply cannot manage. Delicate names, sewing-box words and anything you would find on a dessert trolley all work here.

These are pitched at big soft dogs rather than intimidating ones, since a gentle giant called Doily is a different joke from a Rottweiler called Fluffy. Say it at volume before you commit, because Thimble carries a lot further across a field than you would expect, and be aware that a big dog with a tiny name gets stopped constantly. Everyone who hears it wants the story.

• Doily
• Thimble
• Teacup
• Trifle
• Crumb
• Speck
• Freckle
• Minnow
• Marbles
• Dainty
• Wisp
• Posy
• Sequin
• Ladybird
• Dewdrop

Derpy Names for Dogs

Derpy names are their own dialect. They come from the corner of the internet that decided dogs deserve a vocabulary of their own, and they suit a specific kind of dog: the one whose tongue does not fully fit, who walks into the glass door, who sits down slightly too hard. These are short, soft and mostly onomatopoeic, which happens to make them excellent recall words as well as good jokes.

• Bonk, for the one who misjudges doorways
• Blep, tongue permanently out
• Mlem, same energy, wetter
• Snoot, for a dog who is mostly nose
• Derp, the category in one syllable
• Goober, affectionate and accurate
• Doofus, said with love
• Boop, for a very poke-able face
• Squonk, for a dog with folds
• Lump, for one who does not move much
• Flop, for the dramatic collapser
• Bumble, cheerfully incompetent
• Klutz, knocks things over daily
• Zoinks, for the easily startled
• Splat, for the flat-out sleeper

Dog Meme Names

Dog meme names are the shortest-lived pick on this page, so choose one you would still say fondly once the meme has faded. The safest are the ones that have already outlasted their moment and settled into ordinary internet speech, which is a decent test in itself. If you have to explain the reference to your own mother, it probably will not survive a decade on a name tag.

• Doge, the original
• Cheems, for a dog with a permanent smile
• Bingus, faintly ridiculous, very sticky
• Floppa, for a dog with a lot of ear
• Bork, for the vocal one
• Fren, everybody's friend
• Heckin, functions as an adjective and a name
• Chonk, use kindly and keep an eye on the food bowl
• Loaf, for the tucked-paw sitter
• Zoomies, for the dog who is entirely made of them

How to Pick a Funny Dog Name That Lasts

The mechanics of naming a dog are the same whether the name is funny or not, and we have covered them properly elsewhere. What is different about a funny dog name is that it has a second failure mode: the name still works, but the joke has stopped.

Two tests catch most of it. First, check the shortening, because a pun that only exists in full will not survive contact with daily life. Droolius becomes Julius, which is fine. Anderson Pooper becomes Andy, which loses the entire joke. Second, imagine somebody else saying it. A funny name has to be read out by a vet nurse across a full waiting room and written on a groomer's card, and you will answer the question about it several hundred times.

Funny Names Worth Thinking Twice About

Nobody writing about this topic mentions the downside, so here it is. Names built on a swear or an innuendo stop being funny at about the fourth vet visit, and a microchip record is not something you change on a whim. Names that are a joke at the dog's expense, usually about size or weight, tend to sour as the dog ages, particularly if the weight becomes a real conversation with your vet rather than a punchline. Chonk on a fat puppy is affectionate. Chonk on a nine-year-old dog with sore hips is not.

The names that hold up are warm about the animal rather than at them. That is roughly the standard you would use for a friend, and everything else on this page clears it comfortably. If nothing here has landed yet, there are more themes to browse in our Halloween dog names and patriotic dog names lists, both of which run funnier than their titles suggest.

Then stop deliberating. Plenty of dogs go a week under a working name before the real one turns up on its own, usually because they did something that named them.