US firm announces most popular pet names of 2009

According to a recent survey, there has been a sea change amongst the pet community in the United States - for the first time in six years, the number one ranked dog name of Max has been dethroned.

The popularity of the usurping name - Bella - has been attributed to the success of the Twilight series of teen vampire films and fiction.

"Max has been the most popular dog name for so long, I didn't think anything would take him down," said Curtis Steinhoff, a senior director at Veterinary Pet Insurance. "I can only wonder if Max's dethroning has something to do with Bella being the name of the heroine in a certain vampire book/film series that's pretty popular these days."

Overall, though, the 2009 list of top dog names was stagnant, with each appearing from the year before, only in different positions, with Bella beating out Max by a total of more than 400 dogs named.

"I was shocked to see Max bumped from No. 1!" Mr Steinhoff said.

However, Max still remains 'top cat' in the feline standings, beating out a second place Chloe and the familiar Bella checking in at third in the rankings.

The list of popular names was complied by culling information from the VPI's database of over 475,000 registered pets from throughout the US. No UK-specific list has yet been released.

As determined by VPI, the most unusual pet names of the year were Doogie Schnauzer MD for dogs and Snag L. Tooth for cats.

Recent reports have also indicated that pet insurance is on the rise in the US this year, with industry specialists speculating that an increase in careful financial budgeting could be a key driver for the trend.

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:00:00 GMT