Top dog names, breeds revealed

Bella and Charlie were the most popular dog names in Auckland last year, but people have also taken to naming their pooches after their favourite food, drink and Star Wars characters.

Flashy names include Gucci and Rolex, foodie names include Walnut, Bacon and Jelly, and there’s a Chewbakka and Wookie from Star Wars. Four working dogs have been registered as Dog after the famous Footrot Flats cartoon character.

There are 16 dogs registered with the name Batman, one Batgirl and four Robins.

There are no dogs named Spider-Man. Yet.

The Auckland Council has released details about dog names and breeds across Auckland, where there are 96,699 registered dogs.

Labrador retrievers are by far the most popular dog, making up 14 per cent of the population. They are followed by Staffordshire bull terriers (5.9 per cent), border collies (5.4 per cent) and jack russell terriers (4.5 per cent).

There are also 14 one-of-their-kind in Auckland dogs, ranging from a Beauceron — a guard dog from northern France — to the Eurasier, a spitz breed that originated in Germany; and the Cesky terrier from Czechoslovakia.

Throughout the year, the council’s five animal shelters ran theme months for the naming of adoptable dogs. Themes included Shortland Street characters, gems and stones, cars and chocolate.

Last year, 546 dogs found new homes from the shelters.

Six dogs were adopted into working dog groups, including to K9 Detection and the Australian Army.