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I am trying to think of a good name for a dog, just acquired from the pound. He's been neutered, seems to be a bit less than one year old. He's part blue heeler and part black lab with ears that do not seem to be of either of those two breeds. He's joining the alpha male guard dog and the little mama dog who are both getting up there in years. If anyone has any good suggestions for naming him, I'd appreciate it.

If you have a pet named Max, you’re hardly alone. Max was the most popular name for both male dogs and male cats in 2009, according to the Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston. The hospital compiled its unscientific list from the more than 50,000 patients it treated this year. The top name for female dogs was Bella....

The top ten most popular dog names in the two communities are similar to national trends. The Veterinary Pet Insurance Company keeps yearly track of the most popular pet names, based on a review of its database of more than 466,000 insured pets. The national 2008 list was topped by Max (eighth in Newton and sixth in Wellesley), and included many Newton and Wellesley favorites like Lucy, Molly, Bailey, Maggie, Daisy and Bella.

Honey, baby, sugar, sweetie... urgh. The list goes on. When it comes to icky pet names, sometimes it pays to be single. We've long cringed at the gooey goings-on of sappy couples. Do we really need to be privy to their public spats, their overtly touchy-feely behavior and worst of all, their heady mix of those cheesy, mushy, nausea-inducing pet names? "Should you use your affectionate nicknames in public?" questions blogger Maria. "Even if they're embarrassing like 'hi honey-squishy-wishy-loopy-poopy-pie' just because that's what you have been using around the house, or the bedroom?" Well according to most, the answer is...