Would you name your dog after a person? In the not too distant past, I met someone whose children had the same names as my dogs. We have a dog named Max and we used to have a dog named Thomas (he passed away), which were the same name as the sons of a man who used to live in my neighborhood. That may seem unusual, but naming pets the same names that we'd name our children is a lot more popular than it might seem. In fact, according to Veterinary Pet Insurance, the top name for both dogs and cats this year is indeed "Max." My dog's name is actually Maxine, the name of my grandmother's twin sister! And, my cat's name is Daisy, which was the same grandma's aunt. Human-sounding names Molly, Buddy, Bella and Lucy took the second through fifth places.

Interestingly enough, those names are also very popular among those of us who walk on two legs. I know two Molly's, two Lucy's and am related to a Buddy. If you check the Social Security register you'll note a lot of the popular people names are also popular dog names. While pet names haven't seemed to appropriate the top ten girl's and boy's names, it's safe to say the lines between who is man and who is beast are blurring -- at least where the name is concerned. Want to try something fun? The SS Administration site allows you to look up a name's popularity (with people) over the last ten years through 2007. Put in your pet's name and see how popular it was with people over time. Max ranked at 141 in 2007 -- not too bad for the top pet name!

The trend doesn't seem to go the other way too, thankfully -- I have not noted any person named "Rover" or "Spot" but I'm sure if we give it enough time some celebrity will name her baby as such. I doubt we'll see any person named "Muffin" or "Whiskers" either. Then, of course, there is Harrison Ford's lead character from the Indiana Jones franchise. We learn in the third installment that he got the name Indiana from his dog! Go figure.