Ripley ranks at #408 with 306 entries, registered as gender-neutral. This is one of the cleanest film-anchored pet names on the chart. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in the Alien franchise (1979 onwards) gave the name its entire pet-naming meaning, and the character's tough-female-protagonist register defines the name's tone.
The Alien lineage
Ripley clusters with Leia, Sarah (as in Sarah Connor), and Trinity in the science-fiction-female-protagonist pet-naming cohort. Owners picking these names are usually engaging with a specific genre lineage — the strong, capable, often working-class action heroine. The naming choice is rarely accidental; people who pick Ripley have usually watched the films repeatedly.
The gender-neutral pattern
The chart registers Ripley as gender-neutral, which is meaningful: the original character is female, but the surname-as-given-name shape and the warrior register make it land across genders comfortably. Male Ripleys exist in the data alongside the larger female contingent. The Ripley baby name page shows the SSA chart climbing through the 2010s for both boys and girls.
Sound and breed fit
The two-syllable shape (RIP-lee) has a sharp front cluster and a singing trailing vowel, projection-friendly with a slightly tough edge. Ripley over-indexes on medium-to-large dogs with working-dog confidence — German Shepherds, Australian Cattle Dogs, Pit-mix breeds, and Belgian Malinois. The name suits dogs whose presence carries weight, matching the character's no-nonsense screen energy.