Cute Dog Names

Short for Samuel or long for Sam, Sammy is a sweet midcentury nickname name that we can see coming back.

If Frances and Fran are too serious for you, and Fanny too saucy, you might like Franny, still identified by some with J. D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey stories.

This adorable fish name debuted on the baby name charts in 2020, inspired by a young girl character in the Netflix movie Love and Monsters. Minnow resembles well-established girl names Minnie, Willow, and Marlowe.

A diminutive of the (male) name Dafydd, the Welsh form of David. In the US, it's strongly associated with the candy.

Nicky is a forever-cute short form of Nicholas once used as a full name but now relegated to nickname (no pun intended) status.

Used primarily for girls in Ireland, but sounds unisex to us.

An informal nickname for names such as Julia, Juliette, and June.

A snug word name that may appeal to hygge-minded parents. It reappeared on the US charts in both 2020 and 2022 after a gap of 55 years. It can be short for Cosima or Cosette/Cozette.

Diminutive of Imogen, rarely given as a standalone even in the UK, where Imogen is a Top 50 pick.

Up-and-coming actress Beanie Feldstein is attracting attention toward her unusual — but rather cute — nickname. She was born Elizabeth Greer Feldstein but nicknamed "Elizabeanie" by her childhood nanny. It was later simplified to Beanie by her older brothers.

Cookie is most often used as a dog name, and it should stay that way.

Sixties-style short form that sounds cool again -- though the unscrupulous Pete on "Mad Men" is not a character to emulate.

While we don't see many parents adopting Otter as a name for their own babies, Zooey Deschanel put this one in the lexicon when she used it as a middle name for her adorably-named daughter Elsie Otter. Even in the celebrisphere, Otter is one of the most unique baby names we've heard.

Friendly but flimsy.

As the former stage name of TLC founder Perri Reid and the name of the youngest member of the animated Flintstones clan, it's got some pop culture cache. But it'll be too cutesy by half for most parents.

Cutesy pet form of Clementine.

Zibby is the adorable, zippy nickname for Elizabeth used for the lead female character in the film "Liberal Arts." Zibby can make a Libby for the 21st century.

Baby is rarely seen as a given name — or even nickname — these days, although it did rank in the Top 1000 from 1989 to 2003. These instances can be accounted for in two ways. Firstly, infants whose birth certificates are not filled out on time are given generic placeholders for registration, such as Infant, Unknown, or Baby. But more influential during this decade was the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing, starring Jennifer Grey as Frances "Baby" Houseman. It's the origin of the famed line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."