Top 10 Big Dog & Little Dog Names

A name has a weight. Some land with a thud. Some skip. Your dog has a weight too, and the two should match.

So here are twenty, sorted by size: ten for the dog who takes up the whole back seat, ten for the one who rides in the crook of your arm. Find the name that weighs what yours does.

Big Dog Names

A big dog needs a name that lands. Low vowels. A solid consonant. A sound that takes a beat to finish, the way he takes a beat to get up off the floor. These ten have heft.

• Bear – the big-dog name, and still the best one
• Atlas – shoulders wide enough to hold up the sky
• Magnus – means "great" in Latin, and he grows into it
• Hugo – a low, warm hum of a name
• Odin – a god's name for a dog who fills the whole hallway
• Boulder – round, solid, not going anywhere
• Marlowe – two low notes, and she takes her time
• Delta – wide, slow, and everything drifts her way
• Sequoia – tallest thing in the forest, gentlest thing in the house
• Walter – a grandpa's name, and he snores like one

Little Dog Names

A little dog is quick, and her name should keep up. Short. Bright. Over in a beat. These ten are light enough to lift with two fingers.

• Pip – seed-sized, full of opinions
• Bean – small, round, always on the move
• Button – cute as one, and about that size
• Pebble – skips across the kitchen floor
• Fig – short, sweet, slightly posh
• Bug – tiny, busy, into everything
• Gigi – two quick beats, both of them sass
• Dot – fits on the tag with room left over
• Pixie – small enough for wings
• Nugget – golden, bite-sized, quicker than she looks

How to Know a Name Fits

Say it ten times while you do the dishes. The wrong name gets tired. The right one doesn't.

Say it tired, at midnight, half asleep at the back door. If it still sounds kind when you have no energy left, it will hold.

Last, check the tag. A little dog wears a little tag, and anything past six letters gets squeezed. A big dog has room to spare, so a long name can stretch out.