Loki ranks #72 with 1,289 entries, and the name is essentially a self-fulfilling personality prophecy. Owners pick it for animals that already display the trickster traits — the cat who knocks things off counters, the dog who steals socks — and the name reinforces the behavior socially. The Marvel franchise gave the name its modern legibility, but the underlying Norse mythology has been doing the work for centuries.
The Tom Hiddleston wave
The 2011 Thor film and the subsequent Loki spinoff series in 2021 deposited the name into pet registries in two clear pulses. The first wave skewed male owners, often gamers or comics readers, picking Loki for a clever rescue dog or a Bengal cat. The second wave broadened the demographic — the spinoff series pulled in a more general Disney+ audience and shifted the name into more mainstream rotation.
Breed patterns reflect the trickster framing. Loki performs disproportionately on Huskies, Shiba Inus, and Bengals — three of the most independent, mischievous, escape-prone animals in their respective species. Owners pick the name because the breed reputation matches the mythological character. The match is so direct that I would be surprised if it ever fully decoupled.
The Husky-shaped story
If you look at Siberian Husky name leaderboards across the US, Loki appears consistently in the top ten. There is something about the breed's combination of striking eyes, dramatic vocalization, and famous untrustworthiness around fences that pulls the name in. Husky owners tend to lean into the breed's reputation rather than fight it, and naming the dog Loki is an early signal that the owner has accepted the chaos.
Counter-reading: not every Loki is a chaotic animal. The name has started landing on calmer pets since the mid-2010s as the Marvel association moved further from its trickster origin and toward the more sympathetic anti-hero of the spinoff series. Owners who came to the name through the 2021 show often have a quieter Loki at home — a Cavalier, a Ragdoll cat, a senior rescue with no interest in mischief.
The Norse roots
A smaller but persistent share of owners come to Loki through Norse mythology directly rather than through Marvel. These owners tend to be older, often with a longer interest in mythology or fantasy literature, and they pick the name with the trickster context fully in mind. The dog is usually a Norwegian Elkhound, an Icelandic Sheepdog, or a Husky — breeds with their own Nordic associations. The baby Loki page shows the human version is climbing on the SSA charts, with the pet version still leading by roughly five years.