The Most Popular Dog Names of 2018 Saw a Huge Jump in Harry, Meghan, and Other Royal Names

Tree, Woodland, Forest, Walking, State park, Jungle, Plant, Grove, Leisure, Old-growth forest,

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 6 December 2018

Twenty-eighteen has been a banner year for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle—a spectacular wedding! their first tour! a kid the way!—but surely this is their crowning (geddit?) achievement: More people than ever named their dogs after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex this year. I mean, there's becoming a princess, and then there's having a generation of dogs named after you, amirite?

According to a study by Rover, a dog-walking and dog-sitting app based in the U.S. (meaning that all of these new four-legged Harrys and Meghans are American dogs), both names are up this year, no doubt thanks to the global fascination with the newest member of the royal family. "Harry" is up 133 percent this year, and "Meghan" 129 percent—very similar figures that, at least to me, suggest that people might be getting two puppies and naming them Harry and Meghan, respectively. And you didn't think this news could get any better.

Oh, and let's not forget the other royals: "George" is also up in 2018, as is "Charlotte" and, well, "Prince."

The spike in the name Meghan mirrors the trend in baby names in the U.K., where more babies were named "Meghan" this year than in previous years (Megan is the more common U.K. spelling). Funnily enough, Meghan Markle (the human one) isn't actually named Meghan herself—her birth name is Rachel.

The real Harry and Meghan adopted a dog of their own recently, a black lab whose name is the subject of endless fascination. Initially reported to be Oz, Meghan confirmed while on tour that the dog was not named Oz, but didn't say a word about what the dog's name actually is. I assume this one isn't named Harry or Meghan, because that sort of thing would get very confusing in Frogmore Cottage, but you never know!

Anyway, while we're talking about royals and their dogs, I'd like to gift you this image of a young Queen Elizabeth (then-Princess Elizabeth) and her corgis.

Photograph, White, Snapshot, Black-and-white, Sitting, Canidae, Companion dog, Monochrome, Photography, Family,

You can read more about Rover's study of top dog names in 2018 here.

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Jenny is the Digital Director at Marie Claire. A graduate of Leeds University, and a native of London, she moved to New York in 2012 to attend the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She was the first intern at Bustle when it launched in 2013, and spent five years building out its news and politics department. In 2018 she joined Marie Claire, where she held the roles of Deputy Digital Editor and Director of Content Strategy before becoming Digital Director. Working closely with Marie Claire's exceptional editorial, audience, commercial, and e-commerce teams, Jenny oversees the brand's digital arm, with an emphasis on driving readership. When she isn't editing or knee-deep in Google Analytics, you can find Jenny writing about television, celebrities, her lifelong hate of umbrellas, or (most likely) her dog, Captain. In her spare time, she also writes fiction: her first novel, the thriller EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD, was published with Minotaur Books (UK) and Little, Brown (US) in February 2024 and became a USA Today bestseller. She has also written extensively about developmental coordination disorder, or dyspraxia , which she was diagnosed with when she was nine. She is currently working on her second novel.