Lacey ranks at #297 with 386 entries, and it sits in the soft-feminine register that has held a steady place on female pet charts for decades. The name reads warm and slightly delicate, and it lands disproportionately on small fluffy breeds where the texture-imagery does meaningful naming work.
The soft-feminine tradition
Lacey clusters with Lily, Daisy, and Sadie in the warm-female register — names that read affectionate and slightly old-fashioned without sounding like a grandmother. The texture imagery (lace as fabric) gives the name a tactile quality that fits soft-coated breeds particularly well.
Sound and breed fit
The two-syllable shape (LAY-see) has soft consonants and a sing-out ending, beautiful for indoor calling but slightly less projection-friendly than harder female names. Lacey lands on small fluffy breeds at the highest rates: Bichons, Maltese, Cavaliers, Yorkies, and small white mixed breeds in particular. White and cream coats over-index strongly because the visual fit between the name's texture and the coat's softness is direct.
The Cagney & Lacey counter-reading
One reading worth flagging: Cagney & Lacey (1981-1988) gave the name a specific Gen X cultural anchor that older owners may pick from, with a slightly more practical-tough register than the modern softer reading. Younger owners almost never engage with that anchor. The Lacey baby name page shows the name peaked on the SSA chart in the mid-1980s and has been declining steadily on baby charts since.