Yogi ranks #235 with 462 entries and is one of the most cartoon-anchored pet names in the chart. Yogi Bear, the Hanna-Barbera character that debuted in 1958 and got his own series in 1961, is the dominant reference, and pet Yogis are almost always given to bears (the dog kind) — large fluffy breeds whose appearance matches the cartoon.
The Yogi Bear visual fit
Yogi Bear in the cartoon is brown, large, and lovable — and pet owners pick Yogi for dogs that look the part. Newfoundlands, Saint Bernards, Bernese mountain dogs, and large brown mixed breeds receive a disproportionate share. The visual logic is consistent and obvious. The Newfoundland page shows the bear-dog cluster.
One counter-reading: a smaller subset of owners pick Yogi for the meditation/yoga association — "yogi" as a Sanskrit-derived term for a practitioner. This reading skews toward calmer dogs and households with yoga interest, and the name's Sanskrit warmth is genuinely there even if the cartoon dominates the field.
Yogi Berra echo
Yogi Berra (1925-2015) gave the name a sustained baseball anchor that older owners may hear. Berra was a Yankees catcher and is famous for his quotable malapropisms ("It ain't over till it's over"). The cartoon character was reportedly named after him, which makes the two anchors related rather than competing.
Sound and adjacent picks
Two syllables (YOH-gee), front-stressed, with a soft Y-opener and the universal -ee ending. Recall is moderate. Owners cross-shopping bear-large male pet names often browse Bear and Moose. Gender skew is heavily male, and the name pairs naturally with adoption stories that involve discovery moments — the cartoon Yogi Bear's foraging energy matches dogs found in unusual circumstances.