"Dog reads"

Rocket. Flash. Sparky. Fido. These iconic dog names live in our hearts, especially if one was a childhood best friend. In Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare posed the age-old question, “What’s in a name?” As you bring home your own warm and fuzzy puppy, you might be wondering the very same thing.

Carol Boettcher, of Boston, Massachusetts, chose her puppy’s name based on a favorite movie. “When I first I got my puppy, I didn’t know what to call him,” she says. “But one of my favorite movies is Dodgeball, and there’s a character in the movie whose name is Patches O’Houlihan that I always thought was funny. I really liked the name, and my puppy just so happened to have brown patches of fur on him, so it fit perfectly. His full name is Patches O’Houlihan, but I just call him Patches for short.”

Personality traits can help too. Take Lady and the Tramp, for example. Need more be said?

Move over, Rover, there’s a new crop of popular names out there. The New York Department of Health performs an annual study of registered dogs in the city. In 2005, Max topped the city’s most popular list. Lucky, Princess, Rocky, and Buddy rounded out the top five.

So whether you choose Spike, Spot, or Samantha, saying your pet’s name on a frequent basis helps to build up your relationship all the more. And that, namely, is the best of all.