Chinese Dog Names

The two shapes: a doubled syllable and a lucky word

Almost every traditional Chinese pet name falls into one of these two groups. The first describes the animal. The second asks for something on the household's behalf. Both are two syllables, which is not a coincidence — two syllables is what a dog can reliably pick out of a stream of speech.

毛毛 Máo Máo

Fluffy. The reduplicated form of 毛, hair or fur, and probably the single most common Chinese pet name construction there is.

乖乖 Guāi Guāi

Well-behaved. A term of endearment normally used for children, and a name that quietly sets an expectation the dog has not agreed to.

旺财 Wàng Cái

Prosperity arrives. Traditionally given to sturdy local breeds, and charmingly down-to-earth — the Chinese equivalent of naming a farm dog after a good harvest.

来福 Lái Fú

Fortune comes, homophonous with 来富, wealth comes. Both spellings are in use and the pun is the entire point.

阿福 Ā Fú

Lucky. The 阿 prefix is a familiariser, the same one used to make affectionate nicknames for people.

大壮 Dà Zhuàng

Big and strong. Excellent on a mastiff. Considerably funnier on a Chihuahua, which is the usual reason people choose it.

小 and 大 do most of the work

Two characters carry an enormous share of Chinese pet naming. 小 xiǎo, little, attaches to almost anything to make it affectionate: 小熊 Xiǎo Xióng, little bear; 小虎 Xiǎo Hǔ, little tiger. 大 dà, big, does the opposite, and is usually chosen for the joke — the smaller the dog, the better it lands.

This is why so many Chinese pet names look like nicknames to a foreign reader. They are nicknames. Chinese pet naming borrows the machinery of family endearment wholesale, which is a different instinct from the European habit of picking a dignified personal name and putting it on an animal.

Food, which is not a joke in Chinese

Western lists of Chinese pet names reach for food as a novelty. In Chinese it is an ordinary, affectionate habit, and it is documented in the linguistic literature: the reduplicated morpheme 果 guǒ, fruit, is among the most frequent elements in Chinese dog names. Names built from dumplings, buns and beans are warm rather than ironic.

豆豆 Dòu Dòu

Little bean. Reduplicated, two syllables, and easy for a dog to hear.

包子 Bāo Zi

Steamed bun. Common, unfussy, and mildly absurd on a lean dog.

汤圆 Tāng Yuán

Glutinous rice ball — round, white and sweet. A natural fit for a small pale dog.

One warning: tones do not travel

Chinese is tonal, and a name that reads beautifully in pinyin can land on an awkward homophone. The best-known example is 四 sì, four, which sits close enough to 死 sǐ, death, that it is avoided in Chinese naming generally — one reason the number four is skipped in lifts and phone numbers across China.

If you do not speak Mandarin, have a speaker say your candidate out loud before you commit. A romanised name that looks elegant on a listicle can sound like something else entirely when spoken, and you will be saying it several thousand times.

The other half of that advice: do not worry about getting the tone wrong yourself. Your dog is not listening for tone. Pick the name you can pronounce the same way every time, because consistency is the only part the dog can hear.

About this particular page

Chinese-origin names are under-represented in our index relative to how many dogs are actually named in Chinese, so this page is short compared with the others in the Language section. It also mixes two different things, and it is worth knowing which one you are looking at: Mandarin words used as pet names, and Chinese-origin names that have drifted into English usage. The Mandarin words are the ones with characters and tones given above.

See also: Japanese dog names · Small dog names · Dog names meaning love · Bao · Yue

Common questions