Dog Names That Start With W

The final -e takes this from a daring word name to a literary honor name, for the inimitable Irish author, poet and playwright Oscar Wilde, infamous for his wit and flamboyance.

This artistic and aristocratic surname is a bold and daring choice, but with nature inspired names like Wren on the rise, and surnames-as-first-names being in vogue, Wyndham was a fast riser in 2023.

Proper Bostonian.

Sweet, modern descriptive name, but perhaps a little too cute for its own good.

Asking for trouble.

In the old days, this might have been a short form for Dewitt, but today it's more likely to appear as a witty word name. We approve.

A domesticated take on Wolf, if the animal name is too ferocious for your liking. Wolfie has never charted as a given name in the US, but that may soon change now that Wolf names are of interest following Kylie Jenner's baby name change.

Unfortunate identification with an army of rats in the movie of the same name.

Warrick has recently come into the spotlight as the character Warrick Brown on the TV show CSI. The more conventional spelling is Warwick, a medieval English noble name.

Its jaunty o-ending makes this name more appealing than most of its Germanic brothers, and we hope we're beyond the constant response to his name being "Where's Waldo?" The weighty reputation of writer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson adds a measure of backbone to the name.

Spelling used by country singer Wynonna Judd, one of two celebrities (the other is Winona Ryder) who brought this unusual Native American name widespread notice.

A Leave It to Beaver/old comic-strip name, vacationing for years with the Griswolds in WallyWorld, but now back as WALL-E?

This variation of Wesley moved into the Top 1000 among boys' names in the US in 2016, perhaps because it makes the name more Western, with the cowboy nickname West., or because parents have taken inspiration from the protagonist of the movie The Princess Bride.

See WYNTON.

William was such a popular name, thanks to the Conquerer, in early England that it gave rise to a range of nicknames, including the distinctly Scottish Wilkie. Heard mostly as a surname these days, it's the middle name of Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick's son James and the first name of writer Collins. While Wilkie could make an adorable short form for a little boy, we'd recommend a more substantial full name such as, well, William.

Classic Wilhelmina is still the dominant form of this name, but the more intuitive, streamlined Willamina is rising alongside it. The phonetic spelling eliminates some of Wilhelmina's bulk, taking it from geek-chic to modern feminissima.

The Wylie spelling (with that feminine Y) is much more common among girls than Wiley, but both have been climbing the ranks. Could Wiley be the next Riley?

One of the few rainbow names that is masculine, Walken is a Noongar Aboriginal word.

Wrigley is a fast-rising name for boys and girls right now in the US. You're unlikely to hear it outside of Chicago, though, as most of these parents are huge fans of the Chicago Cubs, who play at Wrigley Field. For a more subtle Cubs-related baby name, try Addison or Clark—two streets that border the ballpark.

Wylie is one Celtic surname with as much appeal for girls as for boys. Wylie is ripe for spelling variations: Wiley is as appropriate as Wylie but when you spell it Wylei, as Corey Parker did for his son, you're getting into yooneek naming territory.