Playful Dog Names

Introduction

While it is typically considered a luxury, playing is actually a very important part of our lives and this is true for nearly all living creatures, including both humans and canines. It gives us an outlet for daily stress, teaches us social skills, encourages healthy bonding, and improves our cognitive and creative abilities as well as our fine motor control. This skill is one that can often get buried in the everyday business of life and one of the many benefits to having a canine companion is that they make energetic and accepting playmates that help to remind us to play a little each day.

Playful Dog Names in Pop Culture

Featured Famous Dog With a Playful Name

Keystone Teddy

Playful dog names are plentiful and many names that can be found on this list can also be found in newspaper headlines and in Hollywood, both for characters and for canine actors. Tonka, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier in Sydney, Australia, made headlines with his unusually strong bond with a baby deer that the human members of the household had chosen as a natural method to keep their lawn short and neat, and Ginny was the name of a rescued Schnauzer mix who was also a well-known rescuer of abandoned animals, although she preferred to specialize in cats. Chase was the name given to a Golden Retriever in New Jersey who served as the bat-dog for the minor league baseball team known as the Trenton Thunder. Also known by the title of “That Golden Thunder,” Chase’s job was to retrieve the bats and balls and return them to the dugout, a service he performed admirably until he retired in July of 2013, just days before he crossed over the rainbow bridge.

Playful names are popular in animation as well; Nickelodeon’s Paw Patrol has a German Shepherd police pup named Chase, as well as a newly developed character named Tracker, a dog with extraordinary hearing who drives a Jeep, and the movies Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 3 feature the popular Slinky Dog as a supporting character, a toy dog designed with a slinky for a body. Names that are playful have their place on television and in movies as well. The long-running television show from the late 70s and early 80s, Little House on the Prairie, featured a canine character named Bandit, a black and white stray that followed Charles Ingalls home and the Australian Cattle dog Zip, the name of both character and the actor, played a significant role in the 1995 American Western called Last of the Dogmen, a feature film starring Tom Berenger and Barbara Hershey.

Keystone Teddy was another significant canine actor that was given a playful name, by all accounts, however, Teddy was a very serious actor. He was one of the first canine actors, a Great Dane who was either fawn colored or a lightly marked brindle, began his career by acting in the popular one-reelers and two-reelers of the time, short black and white movies that could fit on one real, around 10 to 12 minutes in length or two reels, around 15 to 24 minutes in total. His first movie was a one-reeler called The Nick of Time Baby, in which the heroic canine star rescues an infant from in front of a trolley car, and he went on to star in at least 18 more movies, one-reelers, two-reelers, and eventually feature-length films, the most famous of which was an 18 minute comedy short called Teddy at the Throttle, co-starring Gloria Swanson and Bobby Vernon.

Playful Dog Name Considerations

Choosing your new dog’s name is an exciting and important step, and one that you will hopefully be living with for quite some time. People have many reasons for choosing the names they do for their pets. Some people choose to give their pet a name that embodies a trait they either admire or that they desire for their canine companion, such as playfulness. There are many names for dogs that could be considered playful, and these can be further narrowed down by examining the animal’s own skills and personality so that your dog that is constantly making holes in the garden may end up as Digger and the dog that knows exactly what time dinner and walks are supposed to occur may receive the moniker Clockwork. Your personal interests may also guide you to a name; computer aficionados may be more likely to gravitate towards a name like Atari while a car enthusiast may be drawn to a name like Matchbox. It is important to note that although this list is separated out into lists of male and female names, many of the names below, such as Frisbee, Hopscotch, and Splash are equally suitable for either, so you may want to peruse both lists.

Male Playful Dog Names

Votes	Name	Vote
1	Bandit For some dogs, stealing your things is the most fun way to play
1	Rover Red Rover is a group playground game requiring no equipment that has been played by children since the 1800s
0	Atari One of the best known of the earlier video game consoles in the 70s and 80s
0	Bubbles Bubbles are a fun way to play that dogs can often enjoy as well, as long as non-toxic varieties are used
0	Chase Dogs love to play by chasing things
0	Clockwork Wind-up and clockwork toys were very popular in the early 1900s
0	Crayola Edwin Binney and Harold Smith introduced the world’s first Crayola crayons in 1903
0	Digger Digging is a favorite form of play for many canines
0	Dutch Double Dutch is a jump rope game involving two twirling ropes
0	Fetch Many dogs enjoy playing a game or two of fetch when they get the chance
0	Frisbee A flat, usually plastic disc designed for throwing and catching; a great interactive toy for man or canine
0	G.I. Joe Action figure that centers around the United States Armed Forces; inducted into the National Toy Hall of fame in 2004
0	Goose Duck, duck, goose is a playground or party game, usually played by small party-goers
0	Hide Hide and seek is a classic kids game that can be played nearly anywhere and requires no equipment
0	Hoop Hoop rolling, also known as Hoop and Stick or Hoop Trundling, has been a popular game since ancient Greece
0	Jacks Jacks is a hand-eye coordination game involving small metal jacks and a rubber ball
0	Kong A popular brand of dog toy that is well-known for standing up to tough chewing
0	Lego The popular Lego toys from Denmark are sets of toys revolving around innovative interlocking bricks
0	Marco Polo A form of tag played in a swimming pool
0	Monkey Monkeys are very playful animals that like to swing in the trees
0	Odyssey The first official home video game console was the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972
0	Simon A game in which only Simon calls the shots
0	Slinky A popular spring toy that was designed by naval engineer Richard James in 1943; Slinky means graceful in Swedish
0	Splash Many animals love to play and splash in the water
0	Sport Sports are a type of regulated social play
0	Teddy The Teddy bear, named for President Teddy Roosevelt, is an iconic and comforting bear-shaped stuffed toy
0	Telephone A humorous game of misunderstandings and mumblings
0	Tonka A popular American brand of toy truck that was introduced into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2001
0	Top Records of games involving spinning tops go back thousands of years
0	Zip Dogs, and sometimes kids, enjoy zipping around from here to there when they are playing

Female Playful Dog Names

Votes	Name	Vote
0	Baby Doll Many children had beloved baby dolls when they were little
0	Barbie An iconic fashion doll launched in 1959 who has multiple cars, pets, occupations, and dream houses and comes in many varieties
0	Blythe A type of big-eyed doll originally released for only a year in 1972 that has been recently redeveloped in Japan
0	Button A classic group guessing game; button, button, who’s got the button?
0	China A china doll is made with a glazed porcelain or china, usually with a leather or cloth body
0	Dollfie A brand of vinyl fashion doll that has greater flexibility than most due to additional joints
0	Dolphin Dolphins are some of the most playful animals in the oceans
0	Domino A game played with spotted rectangular tiles and a 2012 inductee into the National Toy Hall of Fame
0	Doodle Doodling is a fun way to play with paper and a pencil or pen
0	Duck Duck, duck, goose is a playground or party game, usually played by the younger set
0	Flirt A flirt pole is a long pole with a rope and a lure and can be a great way to play chase games with your canine
0	Fulla A Barbie-like doll created in 2003 designed to better fit the culture and standards of Islamic and Middle-Eastern countries
0	Furby A furry animatronic toy with interactive capabilities that was released in the 1990s
0	Ginny A popular eight-inch doll that was introduced in 1951 and named for the daughter of the line’s creator
0	Hopscotch A playground hopping game played with stones and numbered squares
0	Hot Potato Hot Potato is a quick moving tossing game played to music
0	Jumpy Jump Rope can be played individually or in small groups and involves jumping over a moving rope without tripping
0	Licca-chan A fashion doll that has been extremely popular in Japan since 1967
0	Marble A sphericle toy which may be constructed with many materials, including glass, clay, steel, and stone
0	Matchbox Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars are very popular and enduring die-cast miniature vehicles, introduced in 1953
0	Mimic Mimicry is a category of play in which one person imitates another
0	Otter Otters are curious and playful both in the water and on land
0	Rubik's Added to the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2015, this colorful puzzle toy was invented in 1974
0	Seek Hide and seek is a classic kids game that can be played nearly anywhere and requires no equipment
0	Splash Splashing in puddles is a great way to play, for dogs and for kids in raingear
0	Sprite These mythical beings are small, playful residents of the fairy realm
0	Tag A playground chasing game in which one person, designated “it,” attempts to tag other players; those touched by “it” become “it”
0	Tracker One way to play with your dog is by hiding treats in the house for them to “track” and find
0	Yoyo A simple toy made with interlocking disks and string that spawns annual international competitions
0	Zoe A zoetrope is an early device that triggered the optical illusion of an animated picture