What should I name a Chihuahua?

Spanish names carry the breed's origin and are short enough to call: Chico, Chiquita, Paco, Pepe, Dulce, Canela. The food puns — Taco, Churro, Nacho — are the other well-worn route, and each card says what the word actually means.

Are two-syllable names better for small dogs?

One or two, as with any dog. What matters more is that the name does not rhyme with a cue, because small dogs tend to be recalled late and from under something.

Small Dog Names, Serious or Silly

Size set to small — 204 names. "Toy" narrows it further to the 68 that only work on something you can carry.

204 names match

Girl or boyunique

Ink

clever

The solid black of a fresh ink spill.

← skip · → keep · or drag the card

All 204 matches

Will your dog answer to it?

Nothing you pick leaves this page — the filters, the shortlist and the share link all run in your browser. The “Easy to call” tag marks names of one or two syllables that end in a vowel and don’t rhyme with a training cue; the warning on a card names the cue it clashes with. Both are spelling checks you can see for yourself, not claims about what your dog hears.

Easiest to call

Of the 204 names in this group, these are one or two syllables, end in a vowel and clash with no training cue — the three conditions the tool checks on every card.

Olive
Inky
Milky
Truffle
Brownie
Teddy

Dog Translator

Shortlist down to three? Say them out loud

The one that gets the head tilt wins. Open Dog & Cat Translator Pro, say each name, and play a bark back between them — entertainment only, but it is a faster tiebreaker than another list.

Dog & Cat Translator Pro

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Two strategies, pick one on purpose

The first is to match: Peanut, Pip, Bean, Button, Pixie, Mochi, Bitsy. Short, soft, and honest about the dog's size. These are also, by accident of sound, the names that pass the callability check most often — short and ending in a vowel is exactly what the tag looks for.

The second is to contradict: Tank, Goliath, Titan, Napoleon, Bruiser, Khan, Moose. The joke works because the mismatch is immediate, and it keeps working for years. Bruiser in Legally Blonde is a Chihuahua for precisely this reason.

The one thing small-dog owners under-rate

Small dogs get picked up instead of recalled, so the name does less work in the first year and then suddenly has to do all of it — usually at the exact moment the dog is halfway under a hedge. A name that rhymes with a cue is a worse problem here than on a dog you can simply out-walk.

The clash list further down this page names the ones to watch. None of them are disqualified; you just use a different word for that behaviour.

The names in this group that clash with a cue

Not disqualifying — you can keep the name and use a different word for that behaviour. But it is worth knowing on day one rather than in week three:

Sprout rhymes with “out”
Blossom rhymes with “come”

FAQ

Small dog names, answered

Either names that match the size — Peanut, Pip, Bean, Button, Mochi, Pixie — or names that deliberately clash with it, like Tank, Goliath or Napoleon. Both work; the filter above separates them by style.

Dog Translator

Named them. Now about all that barking

A name is the one word in the conversation that comes from you. For the rest of it, Dog & Cat Translator Pro plays a bark or meow back when you speak or tap — a bit of fun, not a decoder.