Preston is an English place-name surname — from Old English preost-tun, meaning "priest's settlement" — that spent several decades as a human given name and has now drifted into the upper-middle register of pet names. It's a name that signals a specific kind of owner: someone who wanted something with Old World weight but not Old World stuffiness.
The Uptown Dog Register
Preston belongs to the same aesthetic family as Winston, Hudson, and Stanford — names that project a certain comfortable prosperity without irony. Standard poodles, Weimaraners, and other architecturally elegant breeds tend to attract this name. The three syllables give it a formal registry quality that matches dogs who get groomed on a schedule.
Pop Culture Assists
Preston Lacy was a regular on Jackass, which introduced a slightly absurdist dimension to the name's persona. Preston Burke appeared in Grey's Anatomy. The name has enough pop culture presence to feel familiar without being tied to a single reference. It also connects to British geography in a way that reads as casual transatlantic good taste rather than deliberate Anglophilia.
Human Name Parallel
The baby name Preston has been slowly climbing in American data, carried by the same parents who favor surnames-as-first-names. On a dog, it functions as the pet equivalent of that trend — the same sensibility, just applied to a four-legged household member. If you're in the surname-name camp, Preston is one of the more distinguished options available.