Woody ranks #511 with 240 entries, registered male. The cultural anchor for almost every American owner is Woody from Toy Story (1995-onward), the cowboy doll voiced by Tom Hanks. The pull-string drawl, the loyal-second-banana arc, and the unbroken Pixar release schedule have kept the name continuously fresh for three decades.
The Toy Story lineage
Woody on a real dog signals a specific kind of warmth — earnest, slightly dorky, deeply loyal. That template tracks closely with the on-screen character, and most owners are fully aware they're borrowing it. The name clusters loosely with Buzz in households where both pets came from the same litter or the same naming session.
Breed lean and sound fit
Two syllables (WOOD-ee), front-stressed, with an open trailing vowel that carries across a yard. The name lands disproportionately on Golden Retrievers, scruffy terriers, and rescue mixes with shaggy coats — dogs whose energy matches the cowboy-doll register. Less common on sleek toy breeds, where the rugged sound feels mismatched.
The woodworker counter-reading
A smaller cohort of owners reach Woody through the literal woody adjective — brown-and-tan markings, a name that nods to wood grain or forest aesthetics. The reading is quieter than the Pixar one but real, especially for cabin-country owners. The Woody baby name page shows minimal recent SSA presence, so the pet version essentially owns the name without competing with a strong human-baby cohort.