Gary is the pet name that has become a joke — and by becoming a joke it has accidentally become one of the best pet names available. Naming a cat Gary from SpongeBob SquarePants is funny. Naming a dog Gary just because "Gary" is a fundamentally absurd name for an animal is also funny. At rank 998, it's an honest comedy pick.
The SpongeBob Connection
Gary the Snail is SpongeBob's pet — which means the name Gary has been, for anyone who grew up with Nickelodeon, primarily a pet name for decades. When someone names their actual pet Gary, there's a recursive loop of reference that's either brilliant or confusing depending on your relationship with children's television.
The Ironic Human-Name Appeal
Gary is a deeply mid-century American name that peaked in the 1950s and has been declining in human usage since. That decline is part of what makes it funny on a pet: it's the name your dad's coworker had, thoroughly unremarkable in the human world, which creates an excellent comedic distance when applied to a dog. Pugs and English Bulldogs with unimpressed expressions are particularly well-served.
The Honest Assessment
Gary is not a name for someone who wants to be taken seriously at the dog park. It's a name for someone who wants to make the park a more entertaining place. The human side is documented at our Gary page.