Luna overtook Charlie for #1 in 2023 and hasn't looked back. Jake fell 105 spots. Bowie is climbing. Seven years of naming trends from 165,000 licensed Toronto dogs.
By Onslow's Team · July 17, 2026 · Data: City of Toronto Open Data, 2020–2026
The short version
Luna leads with 16% of the top 10. Her count alone is more than #9 and #10 combined.
Share = percentage of the top 10 total. Arrow = change in rank since 2020.
5 of the top 10 dog names also appear in the top 10 cat names. Luna, Charlie, and Max are favourites for both species.
Shared with cats
Dogs only
250+ names, sized by how many dogs carry them. The bigger the bubble, the more popular the name.
Each bubble is a dog name in Toronto, sized by how many dogs have it. Tap or hover to explore. Source: City of Toronto Open Data, 2026.
Luna has been the #1 dog name in Toronto since 2023, overtaking Charlie who held the top spot from 2020 to 2022. In 2026, 349 licensed dogs in Toronto are named Luna.
Yes. Luna became the #1 cat name in Toronto in 2021, two years before she took the top spot for dogs. She's the most dominant pet name in the city across both species.
All data comes from the City of Toronto’s Open Data portal, specifically the Licensed Dog and Cat Names dataset. It covers the top 200 names per year from 2020 to 2026. Only about 30% of Toronto dogs are licensed, so these reflect registered dogs, not all dogs.
Nature and quirky names are climbing: Oakley jumped 76 spots since 2020, followed by Hazel (+68), Ziggy, Bowie, and Moose. Traditional human names like Jake (-105) and Princess (-92) are falling.
This analysis uses the City of Toronto's Licensed Dog and Cat Names dataset, which publishes the top 200 most popular names each year from 2020 to 2026.
Toronto requires all dogs and cats over 6 months to be licensed. Only about 30% of dogs are actually licensed, so this data reflects naming trends among registered dogs, not the full population.
Rankings are based on the number of active licences with each name in a given year. Names outside the top 200 are not published and are excluded from our analysis.
Related: Toronto's most popular cat names · which breed belongs to your neighbourhood
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Data: City of Toronto Open Data, Licensed Dog and Cat Names. Top 200 names per year, 2020–2026.