Pet names

62 Tough Dog Names, With Meanings

Strong, bold dog names — Zeus, Rocky, Titan, Rex and more, with meanings where they carry real weight.

Golden Retriever with a wavy golden coat outdoors
Photo: Dietmar Rabich — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A tough name earns its keep on a big, confident dog — a guardian breed, a working line, or a small dog who thinks it's one. This list is full of them: Zeus, Thor, Titan and Apollo from myth; Rocky, Rambo and Bruce from the screen; Tank, Diesel and Hulk from sheer bulk.

Several carry real weight in their meaning as well as their sound — Rex is Latin for king, Brutus means heavy, Draco is Latin for dragon, Gunner is a bold warrior. The word-names like Bear and Kong are left unglossed. It runs A to Z below, and every one of them is a name a dog can grow into.

All 62 tough dog names, A–Z

Ace Male

Latin · one, unity

Apollo Male

Greek myth

Ares Male

Greek myth

Axel Male

Scandinavian · father of peace

Bagheera Male

Word name

Bandit Male

English · outlaw

Bear Male

Word name

Blaze Male

English · flame

Bruce Male

Scottish

Bruno Male

German · brown

Brutus Male

Latin · heavy

Caesar Male

Latin

Cash Male

English

Champ Male

English · champion

Chief Male

English

Diablo Male

Spanish · devil

Diesel Male

Word name

Draco Male

Latin · dragon

Duke Male

English · noble rank

Flame Unisex

English · flame

Fox Unisex

Word name

Fritz Male

German · peaceful ruler

Ghost Unisex

Word name

Gunner Male

Norse · bold warrior

Hades Male

Greek myth

Hank Male

English · home ruler

Harley Unisex

English · hare meadow

Hulk Male

Word name

Hunter Male

English · one who hunts

King Male

English

Kong Male

Word name

Kylo Unisex

Word name

Lenny Male

German · brave lion

Mac Male

Scottish · son of

Major Male

English

Maximus Male

Latin · greatest

Moose Male

Word name

Nero Male

Italian · black

Ninja Unisex

Japanese · stealth warrior

Obsidian Unisex

Latin · black volcanic glass

Odin Male

Norse myth

Onyx Unisex

English · black gemstone

Panther Male

Greek · the panther

Pluto Male

Roman myth

Rambo Male

Word name

Ranger Male

English · forest guardian

Raven Unisex

English · the raven bird

Rex Male

Latin · king

Rocky Male

English · rock

Roman Male

Latin · citizen of Rome

Shadow Unisex

Word name

Simba Male

Swahili · lion

Storm Unisex

English

Tank Male

Word name

Thor Male

Norse myth · thunder

Tiger Male

English

Titan Male

Greek myth

Tyson Male

English · firebrand

Vinnie Male

Latin · conquering

Vlad Male

Slavic · ruler

Wolf Male

German · the wolf

Zeus Male

Greek myth

How this list is put together

Every name here is one people genuinely use for a pet, and each is drawn from the same hand-checked list behind our full names finder. Where a name has a real, settled meaning we give it; word-names like Biscuit or Shadow are marked as word-names rather than dressed up with an invented origin. The count in the title is the real number on the page, and we add to it over time.

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Browse all names →Filter every dog and cat name by pet, gender or style in one place. How old is your dog? →Work out your dog's age in human years by size, the vet way. How much to feed a dog →Daily calories for your dog's weight and life stage.