Hunter sits at #100 exactly with 1,001 entries, and the name does what it says on the tin. Owners pick it for sporting breeds, working breeds, and dogs that are at least pretending to be either. Pointers, Labradors, German shorthaired pointers, and outdoorsy mixed breeds dominate the entries. The name is descriptive in the same way Rusty is descriptive, just pointed at behavior instead of color.
The role-name pool
Hunter belongs to a pool of occupation or role names that includes Ranger, Scout, Scout, and Tracker. These names tell you something about how the owner imagines the dog. Hunter is the most literal entry in the pool, which is why it concentrates on actual hunting breeds rather than spreading the way Scout does. Compare with the Labrador Retriever leaderboard for context on where Hunter ranks among working-dog picks.
One counter-reading: Hunter occasionally lands on a lap dog or a non-sporting breed, and when it does the name reads as deliberately ironic. Owners who go that direction usually know exactly what they are doing.
The sound is engineered
Two clean syllables with the stress on the front (HUN-ter), opening on a hard H and closing on a clipped R. The structure is solid for recall in outdoor environments, which matters more for this name than for most. A Hunter is more likely than average to be off-leash in a field, where consonant attack genuinely matters.
The human Hunter has been a top-100 SSA baby name for over a decade. The baby name page shows the trajectory. Pet adoption is roughly parallel.