This medium-sized British breed brandishes a distinctive personality, making it ideal for dog owners. Golden retrievers are courageous mutts, as well as smart and multitalented, so the pool of potential names is rather wide (we’ll try to narrow the selection for you a bit).
Names related golden to retriever’s fur coat
Golden retriever’s silky fur is a great starting point for naming your pup. While Goldie is too obvious, Blondie, Sunny, Corn, Pikachu, Fawn, and Dandelion are more suitable names that accentuate the animal’s fur coat.
The golden coat references keep piling up: Bee, Butterscotch, Ducky, Chick, Honey, Dijon (hot dogs, anyone?), Amber, Tiara, Amarillo, Queen, Oro, Sequin, Caramel, Minion, Sunflower, Banana, Homer & Sponge Bob for animated sitcom lovers, Canary, Leaf, Smiley, Daffodil, and Lemon.
Golden retriever’s silky fur is a great starting point for naming your pup.
Golden retriever names for ladies and gentlemen
Although female golden retrievers are smaller in size and somewhat slower than males, they are easier to train and have a more mild temperament. That is why names like Gracie, Lucy, Molly, Ruby, Sandy, Penny, Luna, Maggie, Phoebe, Sasha, Dixie, June, Lulu, Rosy, Sophie, and Winnie are ideal for a golden retriever lass.
In most cases, males have a slightly longer coat, a broader head, and a thicker ruff than females. Therefore, suitable male golden retriever names include Scout, Gus, Hank, Oakley, Jack, Milo, Leo & Lion (because of the mane), Bentley, Hunter, Finn, Baxter, Harper, Tucker, Wrigley, Louie, etc.
Golden retriever names that mean business
Even since the end of the 19th century, golden retrievers have been used as hunting dogs, meaning they had a reputation to maintain.
These are some of the names to honor that heritage: Ace, Zeke, Chase, Ranger, Moose, Maverick, Rocco, Viper, Rebel, Chief, Tank, Zeus, Loki or Thor (after Norse deities), Apollo, Harley, Atlas, Remington, Rocky, etc. For girls, Xena and Minerva are wicked names.
Even since the end of the 19th century, golden retrievers have been used as hunting dogs, meaning they had a reputation to maintain.
Cute names for golden retriever pups
Moving on from tough golden retriever names to more benign suggestions, as the breed is used today mostly as guide dogs. Bingo, Dash, Bunny, Ginger, Boomer, and Ollie are cute enough to be puppy names.
If you wish to up the adorableness, then go with Pepper, Tomato, Biscuit, Obi, Chloe, Simba, Fluffy (this name says it all), Amor, Crumb, Button, Ivy, Dolce, Goose, Bubbles, etc.
Do you like food as much as your pet dog? No, problem, as these two loves can coexist!
Food-inspired names
Do you like food as much as your pet dog? No, problem, as these two loves can coexist if you name your golden retriever accordingly.
Butternut, Apricot, Bonbon, Taco, Cheddar, (Sour)Dough, Muffin, Cinnamon, Cookie, Berry, Carrots, Sugar, Peaches, Whiskey, Jellybean, Lemonade, and Pancake are just some of the food and drinks- related names that would go well with a golden retriever.
One-of-a-kind golden retriever names
Some dog owners want their mutt to stand out, especially if they own golden retrievers which are quite common pets in the United States and Europe. Names like Koda, Comet, Aspen, Maui, Dimitri, and Arya stand out enough to make your dog unique, yet they are suitable enough.
Other uncommon names are Summer, Winter, Jax, Bowie, Cosmo, Blue (Blu), Ophelia, River, Adelaide (for all the fans of the Land Down Under), Shiloh, Dasher, Riley, Kobe, Luke, and Hazel.
Jackie Chan has two golden retrievers, JJ and Jones!
How celebrities named their golden retrievers
As previously mentioned, it is so popular to own a golden retriever that many famous people have a Goldie in their backyard and aren’t shy of sharing it on social networks. For instance, all true Maroon 5 fans know that Adam Levine’s golden retriever is called Charlie.
Jackie Chan has two golden retrievers, JJ and Jones, while the boxer Jake Paul chose a divine name for his mutt: Thor. Jennifer Garner named her golden retriever Birdie, Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield own a Golden Ren, and Diane Keaton is raising Golden Emmie.
While in office from 1974 to 1977, the American president Gerald Ford owned a golden retriever called Liberty. Tucker is the name of Denise Richards’ pup, while Conan O’Brien likes to share ice-cream with Coco. American actor Chris Colfer keeps Cooper by his side and Jimmy Fallon’s pet friend is called Gary.
Actress and producer, Lori Loughlin has two dogs named Luka and Bianca, Lisa Vanderpump’s golden retriever is called Rumpy, Neil Patrick Harris’ pet dog is named Ella, and Neymar even made an Instagram account for his retriever Poker.
Golden retrievers on Instagram
One of the main reasons the public knows about pet golden retrievers of the rich and famous is Instagram, i.e. other social networks. In fact, if you search Instagram using the #goldenretriever hashtag, you’ll find an abundance (more than 31 million posts) of name ideas.
During our quick search, we came up with the following: Ray Charles, Molson, Chester, Hugo, Google, Rusty, Theo, Kona, Flufie, Maple, Ellie, Watson, Tongue, Marshall, Booker, Huxley, Cricket, Orvel, Kiko, Vader, Champ, Kylo, Dave, Glee, Lizzie, etc.
If you search Instagram using the #goldenretriever hashtag, you’ll find an abundance (more than 31 million posts) of name ideas.
Golden retriever name borrowed from fiction
So far, all of the specimens we spoke about were real but golden retrievers are so famous that they were featured in countless books and films.
Some of the most famous fictional golden receivers are Digby, Ned’s dog from Pushing Daisies, Duke that starred in the Bush’s Baked Beans commercial, and Enzo (the dog actor’s name was Parker) from the movie The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019).
The list goes on: in Smallville, Shelby was Clark Kent’s dog, Buddy is the main protagonist of Air Bud (Bud) and Full House (Comet), while Brinkley is Tom Hanks’ companion in the 1998 romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail.
Spray is the name of the dog from Flipper, Alex the Dog was famous during the 1980s when he advertised Stroh’s beer, while Speedy (played by a golden retriever called Ajax) starred on The Drew Carey Show during the late 1990s.
From using the golden color of their fur coat to borrowing a name from a celebrity dog, there is no lack of inspiration when it comes to naming your golden retriever.
Precisely because three-quarters of a million Americans own a golden retriever, you need to come up with a unique name that will fully reflect the bond you share with Goldie.
