NY dogs go from Rover to Rye
Tipsy trend of naming pooches after alcohol
New Yorkers are picking their favorite poison to name their pooches.
Brandy is the most popular boozy mutt moniker, with 98 canines bearing that name, according to city dog-license data, followed by Whiskey at 54.
Owners tend to name males Whiskey and females Brandy.
Some dog owners get down to specific spirits — such as the 23 who chose to call their best friends Jameson, the famed brand of Irish whiskey. Fourteen named their pets Hennessy after the cognac, and seven picked Patron, the fabled Mexican tequila maker.
Tequila is the name of 18 pups, from a labradoodle in Manhat- tan to a pug in Brooklyn. There’s only one Mezcal, and we don’t know if the dog has worms. Six dogs are named Rye, six more are named Gin, five Bourbon, two Cognac, and one each Rum and Vodka. No dogs in the city are named Wine or Beer, but there are nine Sakes, eight Pinots, seven Champagnes, four Merlots, one Malbec and one Sangria. There are also four Budweisers. In the liqueur cate- gory, Kahlua is the most popular with 13 dogs, beating out Sambuca with eight and Schnapps with one.
Andrea Carbonell named her golden retriever-collie mix for the coffee-flavored liqueur 12 years ago, after coming home from a spring-break cruise in the Caribbean.
“I was drinking a lot of those white Russians and I was like, ‘Oh, Kahlua is a perfect way to describe her coloring,’ ” said the 31year-old Upper East Sider. “I was in college and everything at that time was alcohol-related.” Kahlua’s personality even matches the sweet, smooth flavor of the drink. “I feel like most drinks that have Kahlua in it are very mellow,” Carbonell said. “It’s always fun, but not too strong and crazy, which is definitely just like her.” The traveling nurse isn’t surprised New Yorkers have booze on the brain when it comes to dog-naming. “In New York, what are we constantly doing? Drinking,” said Carbonell. “We go to brunch, we drink. We meet friends at bars and we drink. “I’m just surprised there aren’t more Rosés.”