If you’d like a window into the soul of Denver, consider this: The dog name Kale grew in popularity by 284 percent this year compared to 2016. And weed-inspired names—like Mary Jane and Doobie—became 25 percent more prevalent. Yes, we’re serious.

This data was compiled and recently released by Rover.com, an on-demand dog-walking service that launched in Denver in late September. Beyond tracking local and national dog-naming trends (here’s another: human names now make up 44 percent of all dog names), Rover mined its database to find the 10 most popular dog names—male and female—across the country and in the city of Denver.

Denver’s Top 10 Female Dog Names

  1. Bella
  2. Lucy
  3. Luna
  4. Daisy
  5. Sadie
  6. Stella
  7. Lola
  8. Lily
  9. Bailey
  10. Penny

Denver’s Top 10 Male Dog Names

  1. Charlie
  2. Max
  3. Cooper
  4. Jack
  5. Buddy
  6. Rocky
  7. Bear
  8. Tucker
  9. Winston
  10. Toby

Beyond names inspired by pot culture and vegetables, a few other trends emerged in Denver. Names derived from the Comedy Central show “South Park” (Butters, Bebe, Kenny, among others) rose by 22 percent this year, and—in a nod to Denver’s growing tech industry—names like Gizmo, Mac, and Cisco are up by 35 percent.

Nationally, pet parents were inspired by powerful women, as names like Oprah, Madonna, and Katniss grew in popularity by 21 percent (Ivanka increased by 88 percent). Five of the top ten male dog names nationally (Max, Charlie, Cooper, Jack, Oliver) were also among the top 100 baby names this year, as were six of the top female dog names (Bella, Lucy, Luna, Sadie, Bailey, Sophie.)

We’re not sure what all this data says about us, but at least Denver dog owners are inspired by the greener things in life.

Jay Bouchard
Jay Bouchard
Jay Bouchard is a Denver-based writer and a former editor on 5280's digital team.