Dog and Cat Names in German

Dog and Cat Names in German Hunde- und Katzennamen One of the questions that German teachers hear most frequently (besides why is a table masculine?) is: What are some popular German names for dogs/cats? But Germans dont always use German names for their pets, any more than they do for their children! Although there are German versions of names like Fido, Spot or Tabby, just as those English names are fairly uncommon for pets today, so are many typical German pet names. Dog names like Bello or Hasso are viewed as clichà ©s. Very few dogs in Germany answer to those names, or any German name, today.  «Der Zoo » (tsoh) is a zoo, but itsalso the German word for a pet store. If you dont believe me, look at this edited sample list of suggested dog names taken from a German Hundenamen Web site:  Aida, Ajax, Alice, Amy, Angel, Angie, Aron, Babe, Baby, Bandit, Barney, Beauty, Benny, Berry, Billy, Bingo, Blacky, Blue, Buffy, Butch, Calvin, Candy, Chaos, Charlie, Cheese, Chelsea, Cheyenne, Cindy, Cookie, Criss-Cross, Curly  and  Curtis. And thats just taken from the A-C section! Yes, I left out some of the more Germanic names from the original list, but you can see the Germanic names in our own  Haustiernamen  list. The point is that exotic English and other non-German names are popular with German pet owners. Even the detective hero of the bestselling German cat mystery novel  Felidaewas named Francis, not Franz. Most German name lists for pets contain about 90 percent non-German names. But you probably would prefer a German name for your dog or cat.  In our list you can choose a name that suits your tastes and your pet. You may wish to use the name of a famous literary or other  German:  Kafka,  Goethe,  Freud  (or  Siggi/Sigmund) and  Nietzsche  are some possibilities. Prefer music? How about  Amadeus  or  Mozart  or even  Beethoven? The names of German pop singers like  Falco  (who was Austrian),  Udo Lindenberg  or  Nena  are also popular for pets. Or perhaps youd like the name of a figure out of German literature. Perhaps  Siegfried  (m.) or  Kriemhild  (f.) from the  Nibelungenlied  or Goethes  Faust  versus  Mephistopholes. On the lighter side you could go with  Idefix, the dog in the popular European Asterix cartoon series, the rotund  Obelix  character or the hero  Asterix  himself. Then you may wish to have a good old Germanic name or word with a certain meaning:  Adalhard  (noble strong),  Baldur  (bold),  Blitz  (lightning, fast),  Gerfried  (spear/peace),  Gerhard  (strong spear),  Hugo  (smart),  Heidi  (based on fem. names containing  heid  orheide;  Adelheid   noble one),  Traude/Traute  (dear, trusted) or  Reinhard  (decisive/strong) are just some options. Although few Germans today would be caught dead with such names, theyre still great pet names. Other categories for pet names include movie characters (Strolch, Tramp in The Lady and the Tramp); colors (Barbarossa  [red],  Lakritz[e] [licorice, black],  Silber [silver]; precipitation  Schneeflocke  [snowflake]); or drinks (Whisky,  Wodka).