Dog Names That Start With M

Classic Irish surname with a lot of character and some interesting associations: the title character of a Samuel Beckett novel and basketball great Karl Malone. Malone is a popular name for baby boys in France.

The original form of the Hebrew Meyer.

The name of the young hero of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, who was raised by wolves (really) and becomes a genius hunter and trapper, was chosen as a middle name for their son Bronx (really, again) by rockers Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz. Kipling invented the name, whose first syllable rhymes with cow.

More common -- when it was common -- with the Meyer spelling.

Is Milani an elaboration of Italian city name Milan or is it a modern form of Melanie? While it's newly on the Top 1000, Milani is not a choice we recommend.

Along with August, March is one of the month names perfectly suited to boys. This brisk single-syllable name – which derives from the name of Mars, the Roman god of war – is worth considering as either a first or middle option. As a surname, it brings warm memories of the girls of Little Women, and of twentieth century actor Fredric.

Megan was one of the first trendy names to spawn lots of spelling variations: This is one of the most tenacious and confusing. But with the ascendance of British Prince Harry's fiancee Meghan Markle, Meghan with an h (after the g and before the a) may soon become more familiar and more popular.

This is a Spanish variation of Maximilian that has begun to gain some popularity. It has a luxurious feel -- maybe it's the suggestion of "millions"? -- but this is one of those Spanish baby names that come with Anglicized nicknames that can make it work across cultures.

Sometimes pronounced MAY-nerd, which is death to a name. However, the name Maynard was given to 25 boys in 2022.

Even in the Hispanic community, very religious and old-fashioned.

A recently popular spiritual name that entered the Top 500 in 2003.

Popular name in Spain drawn from the Provencal Mireio, coined by the poet Frederic Mistral. Very pretty and, though difficult to spell and pronounce, simpler than the French version.

An X-ending surname less common than the Jolie-Pitt-inspired Maddox. Grandparents might still associate it with the old TV crime show. 

The grandiose name of a French revolutionary – in full: Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau. Mirabeau likely derives from Latin mirabilis, making it a masculine cousin of Mirabelle.

Medora is a Greek name much less common here than, say, Melanie or Melissa. It has some literary references, including as the beautiful and passionate heroine of Lord Byron's poem The Corsair, and in Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, there is a character named Marchioness Melora Manson.

Mirela is a name used in Romania and Croatia and is related to popular Mira.

Marino is an Italian first and surname with distinct crossover possibilities, having pleasant seaside undertones, and is far more unusual in the U.S. than sister Marina.

She'd better be. Merry is one of the classic names for Christmas babies.

While the traditionally spelled Madison has been among the most popular names in the 21st century, this version isn't exactly unpopular. Nevertheless, the second d is superfluous.