Death Note Inspired Dog Names

Introduction

Heralded as one of the most prolific manga/anime franchises of all of time, Death Note primarily follows the rise and fall of a Japanese Honor Student by the name of Light Yagami as he stumbles across an otherworldly notebook that can take a person's life once their name is written in it. After being informed of the titular Death Note's surreal powers by the notebook's owner, a Japanese Grim Reaper-like spirit named Ryuk, Light endeavors to use the Death Note to purge the world of all evil or corrupt people in order to make the world a perfect (in his eyes) place. Throughout the manga's original 3 year run, Death Note meditates on a number of weighty philosophies and ideas; chief among them are the concepts of "the true meaning of Justice" and the risk of becoming a monster after fighting them for so long.

Death Note Dog Names In Pop Culture

Featured Famous Dog With a Death Note Name

Kira

There are no canine characters to be found in the Death Note franchise. There's not a single one of any sort of particular note or importance in the original 2003 Manga, nor are there any dogs to be found in the 37 Anime adaptation, nor are there any pups to be found in any of the games or musicals based off of the show. There are a few Shinigami that are seen lumbering about the Shinigami Realm who ever so slightly resemble a dog or wolf of some kind, but these characters are either unnamed or so unimportant to the plot that they could be taken out of the series and a single thing wouldn't change.

A real-world dog named after a Death Note character is Kira. While Death Note's Kira is more of a mantle shared by a number of individuals who have conformed to Light's worldview, Kira the dog is a sweet Siberian Husky who's known to be incredibly friendly towards others. Interestingly enough, Kira (the cute Husky not the megalomaniacal character from the Death Note series,) once ran for the position of student body president at UC Berkeley all the way back in 2016.

As the story goes, Kira was the prime candidate of the SQUELCH! party - a campus group who's become well known for their tendency to elect outrageous and unconventional candidates to represent them during campus elections. SQUELCH! has gone on record saying that their goal is to satirize the entire concept of campus elections, so it was a genuinely monumental moment for the party when Kira the Siberian Husky very nearly made it into office at UC Berkeley. Kira was about 3 years old when she ran for the position of ASUC President, making history as one of the youngest animals to nearly gain a position of office at UC Berkeley... or anywhere, really.

Death Note Inspired Dog Name Considerations

Over the course of its run, the Death Note series created some of the most memorable and multifaceted characters in all of fiction, let alone manga or anime. Huge fans of the series, we can vividly remember watching episode after episode while sitting in nail-biting suspense, wondering whether Light Yagami or the enigmatic L would come out on top of their metaphorical cat and mouse game. If you're looking to give your dog a name that represents high intelligence, and don't want to name your pet Sherlock or Watson due to how prevalent both of those names are, consider naming your pet after Light or L; two of the greatest minds to have ever emerged from Japanese fiction. Taking into account the vastly opposing views of Justice that Light and L respectively championed, We'd highly recommend considering your dog's prospective name more carefully than usual; Light's Justice resembled more of a "might makes right" philosophy by the end of the series, and many people who weren't at all evil were felled by his hand because they "got in his way", but he did lower crime rates and very nearly established a new world order. L's justice, on the other hand, represents an adherence to law & order; L always considered Light's Justice to be flawed because Light was an "ends justify the means" type of guy while L never compromised and was always level-headed. Peruse our list and choose the Death Note name that suits your addition the most.

Male Death Note Inspired Dog Names

Votes	Name	Vote
2	Light The man who aspired to become a God and the main character of the series
2	Kira The alias Light created when he first set out on his mission
2	Yagami Light's last name contains the Japanese character for God
2	Lawliet L's last name, only given near the end of the series
2	Ryuzaki The name L told his task force to call him by
2	Ryuk The original owner of Light's Death Note
2	Soichiro The name of Light's father, who was an honorable man and loving parent
2	Chief Light's father was also the Chief of police and leader of the Japanese Task Force
2	Mikami Teru Mikami was one of Light's most zealous and devout followers
2	Matsuda In the end, Touta Matsuda is the man who lands the finishing blows on Kira
2	Mello L's blonde haired successor who sought to solve the Kira case on his own
2	Watari The old man who served as a father figure to L and was his closest companion
2	Near The enigmatic detective who finally exposed Light's machinations to the world, with the help of L, Mello, and everyone hunting Kira
1	Brad Based off of Light's English voice actor Brad Swaile
1	Mamoru Light's seiyu is Mamoru Miyano
1	Hideki L once posed as Hideki Ryuga in an effort to get close to Light
1	Deneuve The name of the third most famous detective in the Death Note world
1	Asahi Another name L periodically made use of
1	Taro A reference to the main character from the Death Note pilot
1	Eraldo The name of the second most famous detective in the Death Note world
1	Coil After winning a detective war, L took on the names of Eraldo Coil and Deneuve
1	Yonjuro One of the names Soichiro took up during an operation
1	Shuichi Based off of Shuichi Aizawa, one of Soichior's men who was always suspicious of Light
1	Monchichi A pet name given to Shuichi by Light's girlfriend
1	Quillsh Watari's true name was Quillsh Wammy
0	L The enigmatic detective who tried to expose Light's machinations to the world
-1	L-Kira Light's prescribed alias near the end of the series
-1	L-Prime The alias L was referred to as in L: Change the WorLd
-1	Brian Brian Drummond of Spider-Man and Sonic fame voiced over Ryuk in English
-1	Shidō The first name of Ryuk's seiyu, Shidō Nakamura

Female Death Note Inspired Dog Names

Votes	Name	Vote
2	Misa The pop star who fell in love with Light and became the second Kira
2	Amane Based off of Misa's last name
2	Rem The gaunt, skeletal Shinigami who loved Misa and hated Light
2	Kiyomi Another woman who fell in love with Light/Kira and served him faithfully
2	Naomi The name of a former FBI agent who nearly exposed Kira early on
1	Shannon Misa was voiced over by Shannon Chan-Kent in English
1	Aya Misa Misa's seiyu was Aya Hirano
1	Colleen The first name of Rem's English voice actress, Colleen Wheeler
1	Kimiko Kimiko Saitō voiced Rem over in Japan
1	Takada Taken from Kiyomi's last name
1	Todai One of Kiyomi's aliases was Miss Todai
1	Taki Kiyomi was also known as Taki
1	Maaya Maaya Sakamoto was one of Kiyomi's seiyu's
1	Shoko Shoko Maki was one of Naomi's aliases
1	Maki Taken from the latter half of Namoi's Shoko Maki alias
1	Misora Naomi's maiden name, as she was engaged to Raye Penber
1	Syoko The name Naomi was called by in one of the Death Note films
1	Sayu The first name of Light's younger sister
1	Haruka Japanse voice actress Haruka Kudō voiced Sayu over in Japan
1	Kelly Kelly Metzger initially voiced Sayu over in the English Dub
1	Kristie Kristie Marsden voiced Sayu over after the time skip in the English Dub
1	Midora A Shinigami that resembled a Salamander
1	Daril Daril Ghiroza a Shinigami who likes to stack human skeletons in the Shinigami Realm
1	Bullook Halle also went by the alias Halle Bullook
1	Halle A blonde woman who helps Near later in the series
1	Lidner Based off of Halle's last name
1	Sachiko The first name of Light and Sayu's mother, as well as Soichiro's wife
1	Arma An all white Shinigami who only appeared in the first series of films
-1	To-oh Based off of Kiyomi's Miss To-oh alias
-1	Heather Heather Doerksen provided Kiyomi's voice in the English Dub
-1	Nu A Shinigami who's said to be the second most powerful member of her species