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    Here, Gumbo

    Houstonians prove their love of sports with most popular pet names

    Lindsey Wilson
    Dec 31, 2019 | 9:45 am
    Justin Verlander Kate Upton dog adoption Minute Maid Park
    Sports names score a home run in Houston.
    Photo by Trisha LaCoste

    If there's anything you can count on, it's that Houston residents like their food and sports. That's reflected in what they name their pets, as sporty and delicious monikers once again reign in the most popular pet names of 2019.

    Rover.com, the nation's largest network of pet sitters and dog walkers, dug through the hundreds of thousands of names in its database to come up with the nation's top 10 male and female dog names, as well as those you might hear being called at an Houston dog park.

    Much like last year, baseball-inspired names are tops with Astro up a whopping 70 percent and Buck (presumably for sportscaster Joe Buck) up 55 percent.

    Food is also still a delicious draw, although Nacho, Taco, Brisket, Pickle(s), and Cheese were trending down this year, but Beans, Gumbo, and Chili were on the rise.

    Nationally, people are still leaning toward classic human names for their furbabies, with Max, Charlie, Cooper, Buddy, and Rocky claiming the top five for males and Bella, Lucy, Luna, Daisy, and Lola in the top five for females (only Rocky is a newcomer to this list). Houston's most popular list is completely identical, with only a few slight variations in placement. The name Bleu is rising the fastest overall in H-Town.

    Celeb and pop culture-inspired names are up too, with Games of Thrones, Lizzo, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Keanu Reeves, and even Princess Diana on the rise. Superheroes are also big, with Okoye up 250 percent, Nebula up 163 percent, and Black Widow up 100 percent. Villains find their way onto the list, too, with Sauron and Bellatrix both up 200 percent, followed by Thanos and Tywin.

    Rover also predicts comfort food names will continue to climb with Cake, Croissant, Brioche, Waffles, Cupcake, and Pancakes making the biggest leaps.

    New this year is a list of the most popular cat names, and overall the winners are pretty much a mirror of the pups. The top five male cat names in Houston include Oliver, Ozzy, Max, Simba, and Charlie, while the females are Luna, Bella, Lily, Kitty, and Chloe, with Ozzy as the No. 1 trending name among cats.

    listsdrinkstrendspets
    news/city-life

    This Week's Hot Headlines

    Sudden shutter of Killen's Barbecue leads our top 5 Houston stories

    CultureMap Staff
    Dec 6, 2025 | 11:00 am
    Killen's barbecue meat platter with sides
    Photo by Robert Jacob Lerma
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    Editor's note: It's time to look back at the top Houston news of the week, including a sudden shutter and our favorite dishes of the month. Catch up on our most popular stories below, then plan your weekend right here.

    1. Exclusive: Killen's Barbecue will soon shutter in The Woodlands. Killen’s Barbecue’s location in The Woodlands closed for good on Thursday, December 4, just a few days after the shutter was announced.

    2. 2-acre Houston patio bar rebrands with new name and family-friendly menu. A bar in Houston’s Near Northside neighborhood is switching things up with a new name and revised menu. Effective immediately, Woodland Social is now known as White Oak Social.

    3. 2 Houston suburbs named top-10 best Texas cities to move to. Several Houston neighbors have been deemed the best Texas cities to move to, with two local suburbs placing in the top 10.

    4. CultureMap editor's 10 favorite dishes at Houston restaurants in November. November’s dining adventures consisted of a couple of new restaurants; an upscale, contemporary Chinese restaurant in River Oaks; an ambitious neighborhood eatery in Garden Oaks; and a buzzy barbecue spot on the border of Conroe and The Woodlands. Here are Eric Sandler's favorite dishes.

    Lazy Lane birria beef paccheri Lazy Lane is already winning fans in Garden Oaks. Photo by Eric Sandler

    5. Astros and Rockets finally launch streaming service for Houston sports fans. Houston sports fans finally have a way to watch their favorite teams without a cable or satellite subscription.


    most popular storiesclosingskillens woodlandsbest places to livesuburbsastroshouston rocketshot-headlines
    news/city-life

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