Bagels ranks #3350 with 24 registered pets across NYC and Seattle — and yes, the NYC share of that count is almost certainly higher, because of course it is.
Food names and the comedy of affection
Food names for pets occupy a well-worn comedic register, but Bagels earns a special spot because of its regional specificity. It's a New York name in a way that Biscuit or Pretzel simply isn't — it carries a borough accent, a bodega-adjacent attitude, a certain unhurried confidence. Among Dachshunds (whose shape does suggest a certain baked-goods resemblance) and round, compact cats, Bagels lands with genuine comic precision. It's also a surprisingly easy name to call: two syllables, hard G in the middle, the "z" at the end gives it a little zing.
The food-name tradition
Naming pets after food is older than anyone wants to admit. Medieval hunting dogs had names like Mustard and Pepper. The modern version of this tradition runs from Biscuit through Nacho to Waffle, with Bagels somewhere in the upper-middle tier — more specific than Muffin, funnier than Baguette, more defensible than Croissant. Nacho, Pretzel, and Waffle are the closest stylistic relatives in the dataset.
Who names their pet Bagels
Typically: owners with a sense of humor about the whole enterprise of pet naming, or New Yorkers who are proud of being New Yorkers in a very specific way. There's also a subset of owners who arrive at Bagels as a nod to a pet's coloring — a beige or cream dog with a round body is a logical candidate. Whatever the path, Bagels is a name that makes people at the vet's office smile, which is not the worst outcome.