Lasagna, Queso, and Beef Are Good Foods and Very Good Boys

Gnocchi, Tequila, Pickles. This is a list of delicious things but also a collection of very real dog names. While the majority of dogs in America are still called Max or Charlie, drool-worthy food names have been on the rise—and I, personally, am obsessed with this trend. It’s okay; I know a lot of you are reading this, eye-rolling, thinking that modern journalism has gone down the drain, and muttering to yourself that naming dogs after food isn’t a personality. To that I’m simply going to say…

…I don’t care. Long live us dog-whipped fools.  

Don’t take my word for it: According to 2022 national data collected by the training and pet care website Rover.com, pet names inspired by foods and drinks are skyrocketing. Hotpot’s traction grew the most (up a wild 1,085%), followed by Sashimi (up 785%), Pastrami (up 485%), and Yerba (also up 485%). Meanwhile, Oreo and Cookie remain the most common edible names.

I have a theory on why this is happening. Existentially distressed millennials (like me), who are more likely to delay traditional milestones like marriage and homeownership, are probably filling the emotional void with their fur children—and their meals. So a dog named after a favorite food is sort of like a double-dopamine hit. (For the record, I don’t have a dog but if I did it would be a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever called Gravlax, or Lox for short.) 

Also, unless you’re a celebrity, you can’t dub your human kid Cucumber without scarring them for life. “Naming a dog is the only acceptable time to call someone you love something totally absurd,” says Kayla Abe, the 29-year-old co-owner of Shuggie’s pizza joint in San Francisco. She adopted her Olde English Bulldogge, Beef, a couple years ago and felt the name was a perfect fit for her chunky new dog. “We wanted something unpretentious, something good and honest, something like…Beef,” she tells me.

For one pet owner, meeting a rescue already named after a favorite food sealed the deal. Queso, a bouncy Pomeranian with a ridiculous grin and sizable Instagram following, will also answer to “Mr. Cheese, Cheese Dog, and Quesarito,” says Sarah McVey, his 33-year-old human who lives in Prairie Village, Kansas. She adopted Queso from a kill shelter back in 2016, and felt his original name was fate. McVey and her husband already hosted an annual dip party and love the Tex-Mex staple. “I honestly can’t think of a better name for his sassy and spicy personality,” she says.