LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A recent U.S. News & World Report study identified the nation’s most popular dog names, including Arkansas-specific rankings.
Nationally, the most popular dog names are Bella, first; Luna, second; and Max, third. Arkansas’ rankings only loosely match, with Lucy taking first place, followed by Bella and then Sadie.
To further illustrate Arkansas’ dog-naming conventions, Lucy ranks eighth nationally and Sadie ranks 17th.
Bella’s popularity doesn’t stop there. In the surrounding states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, Bella holds the top spot, aligning with the national trend. Missouri, however, bucks the trend, with Lucy claiming the top spot, and neighboring Oklahoma has Buddy as its number-one name, according to the study.
Other findings from the study show that the top three names across all states amount to only 24 unique names.
Hawaii’s top-ranked name, Koa, along with Montana’s number-one and number-three names, Barron and Sky, and Wyoming’s number-two and number-three names, Sassy and Latte, were the only state-favorite names absent from the study’s top 100.
The 2026 popular dog names report’s authors said they analyzed more than 500,000 records provided by a third-party pet insurance industry partner in June 2026. The data included dog names registered between January 2022 and June 2026 and was sorted by state of residence to identify and rank each state’s most popular dog names.
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, 56.3 million American homes, or 42.6%, have a pet dog.
A 2025 law designated the Labrador Retriever as Arkansas’ official dog breed.