McCoy is a surname-origin pet name with a satisfying double cultural reference: Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy from Star Trek, and the phrase "the real McCoy" — an idiom for authentic quality. Either reading makes it a name with substance behind it, and on a male dog with a no-nonsense personality, it lands with quiet authority.
The Star Trek Connection
Dr. McCoy — the Enterprise's gruff, compassionate chief medical officer — is one of television's most enduring characters. Naming a pet McCoy signals a specific kind of fandom: thoughtful, classic-era sci-fi, more interested in character than spectacle. It sits in better company than Spock in terms of approachability, and it works on dogs that have that reliable, slightly cantankerous quality that made Bones so beloved.
Breed and Owner Fit
McCoy fits medium-to-large working breeds particularly well — Beagles, fittingly, given the Doctor's no-frills pragmatism, and Labs. The name also works on cats for owners who appreciate the irony of a grumpy McCoy energy in a feline package.
The Counter-Reading: The Registry Artifact Question
McCoy appears in city registries with lowercase "cc" variants (Mccoy versus McCoy), which suggests some of these entries are automated capitalization artifacts rather than owner intent. If you're choosing the name deliberately, the McCoy spelling is the one that carries the cultural reference clearly. Bones is the more famous nickname for the same character.