One of the first things we do when we get a dog is choose a name for our new family member. We may spend days pondering the perfect name or it may come to us in a strike of genius. Some names are descriptive, some are sentimental, some are just funny!

The most popular dogs names in 2011 were Max and Bella. Other contenders were Molly, Maggie and Lucy, Buddy, Rocky and Baily.

Choose something the whole family can feel comfortable with. Babyface may be cute to a little kid, but dad may feel uncomfortable calling Babyface at the park. Long names are hard to call in an emergency. A mouth full like Gianarth will be a lot harder than something simpler like Garth.

Some people choose themed names. Names all starting with the same letter like, Sam, Sugar, Sarge or Sylvie can be fun. Some chose a theme from something they love. Marlon Brando and Humphrey Bogart are old time movie names and shorten nicely to Brando and Humphrey.

Performance dogs are often named in hopes they’ll live up to their names. Think of agility dogs named Jet, Flash and Dare. Try choosing a quality that describes your dog and using an online search to find out the meaning.

Note: Try not to name your dog something that rhymes with “no”. You may be able to tell the difference between Bo, Jo, Mo and “no,” but most likely your dog can’t. How sad if every time you call his name he thinks he’s in trouble!