Dog owners pick popular children’s names for puppies

Popular children’s names are now being picked by families for their dogs.

Mirroring the top names for babies, the most popular names for dogs in the last year are Alfie, Poppy and Molly.

Findings by pet insurance website ProtectYourBubble.com, found from the 80,000 names given to dogs in the last year, the original Lassies, Patches and Bens have been ditched for the more middle-class Ruby, Bailey and Millie.

The research also found that 40 per cent of dog owners named their pooch after television characters, 27 per cent after a pop star and 16 per cent from children’s film characters.