Dog Names That Start With R

You've got the red-nosed reindeer to transcend, but there are other distinguished personages named Rudolph, Rudolf, and Rudy.

Unique, soft, and flowing.

Lovely Hebrew name with distinctive double a's, but beware of possible "banana" teasing.

Short but substantial.

Rosebud, a charming flower name, was the childhood nickname used for author Nathaniel Hawthorne's daughter Rose, who made a name for herself by founding the modern hospice movement. Rose Hawthorne Lathrop converted to Catholicism and, after her husband's death, founded a religious order called the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne. As a nun and head of that order, she became known as Mother Mary Alphonsa and is now in line for sainthood in the Catholic Church.

A quintessentially American name, Rowdy has a number of notable wearers, including Rowdy Yates, Clint Eastwood's character on the television show Rawhide, and Olympic swimmer Rowdy Gaines.

As a word, rowdy entered the lexicon in the early 1800s to describe backwoodsmen living on the fringes of society.

Perky and attractive Japanese girl name, associated with actress Rinko Kikuchi and photographer Rinko Kawauchi.

Royalty is a super-hot name for girls, but there's no reason it can't be used for boys too. In fact it is, but only about 5 percent of the time, making it one of those unisex names whose usage is tipped so far toward one gender that it isn't truly unisex. But still, English words are usually not intrinsically gendered so Royalty is perfectly appropriate for boys as well as girls and is one of the fastest-rising unisex names.

The Spanish form of popular Ruby is another addition to the list of attractive gem names for girls.

Scottish Gaelic form of Richard, also found as Risteard.

Japanese feminist Raicho Hiratsuka chose the name Raicho for herself - no doubt because of its fabulously meaning. As a journalist and publisher, Raicho fought for the rights of working class women in Japan’s textile industry and eschewed conventional domesticity, openly living with a lover and having her children out of wedlock. Thunderbirds are GO indeed!

Rongo is a masculine Maori name stemming from both the name of a god and also the Maori word for peace, "rangimarie", which itself is occasionally used as a feminine name. Rongo was the name of the Maori god of cultivated food and of peace. In Maori culture the two ideas are closely linked - food can only be cultivated and plentiful when communities are at peace and working together. If Ringo, Rango and Rocco can get a look in, why not Rongo?

Rudy has been heard as a feminine name before — most notably on Rudy Huxtable, the young girl on The Cosby Show. This spelling makes it a bit girlier, although it's occasionally used for boys as well.

Cool and casual, a la humorist Ring (born Ringgold. ) Lardner.

Remarkable Pettibone was a self-important housekeeper in James Fenimore Cooper's The Pioneers. Such names were not uncommon in early America, with such choices as Remember and Experience showing up in the records along with Puritan virtue names such as Chastity and Patience.