Canberra's most popular dog and cat names in 2022

For the first time dogs were not the only species to have their names tallied, as compulsory registration of cats added the felines to the mix.

Coming in at first place for names, Luna takes gold for both dogs and cats. The name is of Latin origin, meaning moon and in Roman mythology it was the divine personification of the moon.

For astronomer Brad Tucker and his family, that was part of the rationale to name their golden retriever Luna, however they had other reasons too.

"Being an astronomer, astronomical themes may come quite common, but she's a very white golden retriever," he said.

"So given how white she was, we were like 'oh, Luna works really well', a nice combination of the colour and other celestial reasons."

Dr Tucker said he didn't realise how popular Luna was as a name until after they got their golden retriever.

"I don't think we appreciated how popular it was until after we chose it because it was very obvious for us for other reasons and then we've got to know quite a few other ones," he said.

Charlie was the second most popular name for both species, followed by Ruby, Molly and Bella dogs and Bella, Lily and Coco for cats.

The top five dog breeds registered this year were cavoodle, border collie, Australian kelpie, labrador retriever and dachshund.

For cats, it was the domestic short hair, domestic medium hair, ragdoll, domestic long hair and Burmese.

ACT Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel said since the government introduced compulsory cat registration in July this year it meant preferences for the pet could be recorded.

"Annual registrations provides domestic animal services with access to up-to-date information, so they can contact owners should the need arise and return lost or roaming pets to their families where they belong," he said.

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"Being a pet owner is enjoyable and rewarding, however, it involves responsibilities. It is your responsibility to ensure your pet is happy and healthy, and not negatively impacting the community."

Other information that could be gathered from pet name choices offered some food for thought on the lives of Canberrans.

Some food related names included Haloumi, Jellybean, Noodle, Taco, Schnitzel, Cookie, Crumpet and Pumpkin. Film, TV and book characters were also strongly represented in ACT pet names.

Some included Loki, Bruce Wayne, James Bond, Simba, Frodo, Homer, Gatsby, Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley.

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