It started with an oven-baked snack. Flicking through a newspaper earlier this summer, I saw a photo of a dog staring at its reflection in a puddle. Its name? Flapjack. Shortly after, my friend called to tell me about her recent engagement – her partner proposed by attaching a ring to a little pouch around the neck of her cat, Oat. Their other cat is called Prune. On holiday, doing the typical dog-lover thing and sharing pet pics with a fellow tourist, I was shown photographs of an adorable puppy named Fig. Then I saw a plea on social media from an animal shelter trying to find a home for an abandoned young dog. He was called Truffle. A pattern was emerging.
According to a 2022 database survey from pet store Rosewood Pet, Honey took the top spot for the most popular food-related pet name, with a mix of savoury and sweet names making up the rest of the top 10. Rolo was second, followed by Cookie, Pepper, Fudge, Oreo, Pickles, Pumpkin, Biscuit, and finally Peaches at number 10. A database of 17,000 names from Animal Friends Pet Insurance found that Honey and Cookie came out on top again – but the longer list (with 82 food-related names in total) showed pet owners getting a bit more adventurous.
