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ATTLEBORO

To be sure, there's a plethora of puppies named Max or Maggie, Sparky or Smokey, Pepper or Princess.

But then there's David Puhl's golden retrievers Romeo and Juliet, 2 -year-old Ava Lee's favorite furry friend Lebowski, and the Astin family's Blue Great Dane, Fenway. Or how about KC Sunshine?

Those were some of the more unique names found in a review of the roughly 2,500 dog licenses on file at the Attleboro City Clerk's office.

Puhl said the names for his two 4 -year-old retrievers came as he was trying to think of something that would connect the pair, especially since he was planning to breed them. So, Romeo and Juliet "was just a natural," he said.

The dogs eventually did give birth; Puhl named the puppy he kept Venus. "I decided to get away from that (Shakespeare theme)," he said.

In the case of Lauri Bernard, it was one of her favorite movies that inspired naming her yellow lab Lebowski. Patricia Wool, Bernard's mother, said her daughter loves the movie "The Big Lebowski."

But another member of the family, Bernard's young daughter Ava Lee, has her own name for the dog, shortening it to "Bow" and sometimes, "Boogie" or "Booger," Wool said.

The connection between dog and baby was made early on when it would sniff Bernard's pregnant tummy and then, upon the baby's first welcome home, licked Ava Lee's face and hands. "From then on, it's been her dog," Wool said.

Just like us

More than half of the most popular pet names are the same as those used for humans, including nicknames, according to the top 30 list put together by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Many of them are reflected in Attleboro dog licenses. There's any number of Guses and Rustys, Zoes and Zoeys, Rockys and Chloes, Reeses, Murphys and Duncans, Gretchens, Jacks and at least one Jill, on the city licensing books.

Of course, then there are the spices and flavorings, perhaps reflecting color, like Cocoas (or Coco), Gingers, Cinnamons, Sages and Jasmines.

There are states, cities and regions, like Sierra and Savannah, Dakota and Dublin, Texas, Montana and Daytona. And there's royalty: King, Prince, Princess, Baroness and Diva.

Sports figures have their own representatives, including Big Popi (one is a brown poodle mix) and Bruschi (a terrier mix).

Sports venues, too, are fair game. There are three dogs dubbed Fenway in the city, according to the files. But only one of them is a Blue Great Dane.

At age 2 and 160 pounds, Fenway "is a big baby," said owner Barbara Astin. The dog's name reflects the whole family's love for the Red Sox. "It was two years ago that they won everything, so it was a perfect name for him," she said.

And even if Fenway has been a bad dog, the name that is uttered is the same. "We wouldn't call him, say, Jeter - he'd be depressed for a week," Astin joked, referring to the New York Yankees shortstop.

Many city dog owners project their fondness for spirits onto their pets with names including Guinness, Bailey, Brewsky, Kahlua, Mocha Mudslide, Whiskey and Bud Light.

Some people are apparently driven by their affinity to certain vehicles, naming their dogs Mercedes, Lexus, Beamer and Porsche.

There are also the gods and the powerful: Athena, Zeus, Adonis, Hercules and Thor.

Then there's just cute: Cuddles.

Yet others are in tune with musicians, singers and bands. There's more than one dog named Elvis, one going by the name Ringo Starr and another called KC Sunshine - yes, it's for the 1970s band KC & The Sunshine Band, admits the dog's owner, Maureen Daniels.

"KC," as she's commonly hailed - "KC Sunshine" in full if she doesn't heed the first call - is an 11-year-old Shiba Inu. "It's like a small Akita," Daniels explains.

She hit on the dog's name after it was the first one in a bunch to run up to Daniels, with its tail wagging. "I'm thinking, the tail wagging, 'Shake Your Booty' - in the title to one of the band's songs," Daniels said.

"I was a big fan of the band. It was a good time in my life and it was a fun party band," Daniels said. "And she's a great dog."