From the everyday to the unbelievable and the futuristic to the otherworldly, sci-fi is the genre that entertains, wows, reshapes what is possible, and reveals new hopes, possibilities, mysteries, and dreams to aspire to. So it shouldn't be a surprise that animal lovers look to it for inspiration when naming their new pets and furry critters.
To this end, we've compiled 111 names drawn from about as many years from science fiction's long and distinguished history, including movies, television shows, novels, video games, and more. Some are popular, foundational, and to be expected but others are a measure more obscure and will test the recall function of even the most hardcore sci-fi buff.
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111 Science Fiction Inspired Names For Your Male Or Female Dog
• Apoc (Julian Arahanga's character from The Matrix)
• Arethusa (The unbreakable Nazi code in Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon)
• Art3mis (Olivia Cooke's character from Ready Player One)
• Astro (The animated dog from The Jetsons)
• Ava (Alicia Vikander's character from Ex Machina)
• Banks (Amy Adams' character in Arrival)
• Beckett (Scott Bakula's character on Quantum Leap)
• Belloq (Paul Freeman's character in Raiders Of The Lost Ark)
• Biff or Tannen (The time-traveling bully from the Back To The Future films)
• Bing (Daniel Kaluuya's character on Black Mirror)
• Blue (Noah Segan's character from Rian Johnson's pre-Last Jedi sleeper surprise, Looper)
• Boomer (Grace Park's character on Battlestar Galactica)
• Brenner (Matthew Modine's character from a little Netflix show called ... oh ... Stranger Things)
• Burton (Kurt Russell's truck-driving, check-mailing lead character from Big Trouble In Little China)
• Burtt (As in Ben Burtt, best known as the voice of WALL-E and the creator of numerous Star Wars sound effects, including Chewbacca's iconic RRRAAARGGGHHH!)
• Cage (Tom Cruise's character in Edge Of Tomorrow)
• Chevette (The bike messenger heroine at the heart of William Gibson's dystopian novel, Virtual Light)
• Clementine (Kate Winslet's character in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind)
• Crichton (As in Michael, the author of Jurassic Park, Westworld, The Andromeda Strain, and others)
• Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio's character from Inception)
BELOW: Video of me greeting other dog owners who also love sci-fi
• Cooper (Matthew McConaughey's character from Interstellar)
• Cypher (Joe Pantoliano's character from The Matrix)
• Deckard (Harrison Ford's character from Blade Runner)
• Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood's character on HBO's Westworld)
• Drax (Dave Bautista's character in Guardians Of The Galaxy)
• Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in Predator)
• Egon (Harold Ramis' character in Ghostbusters)
• Einstein (Dr. Emmett Brown's DeLorean-piloting pup in Back To The Future)
• El or Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown's character in Stranger Things)
• Fidgit (One of the dwarves from Time Bandits (fun fact: the same actor, Kenny Baker, also played R2-D2!))
• Flash (The titular character from 1980's Flash Gordon)
• Freck (Rory Cochrane's character from Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly)
• Furiosa (Charlize Theron's character from Mad Max: Fury Road)
• Gaff (Edward James Olmos' character from Blade Runner)
• Gibson (As in novelist William Gibson, who coined the term cyberpunk)
• Groot (The talking tree voiced by Vin Diesel in Guardians Of The Galaxy)
• Harvey (The golden retriever from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial)
• Hauk (Lee Van Cleef's character from Escape From New York)
• Hawkins (Shane Black's character from Predator and the fiction Indiana setting for Stranger Things)
• Hicks (Michael Biehn's cool-under-fire Space Marine from Aliens)
• Hiro (The hacker and pizza delivery man at the center of Neal Stephenson's epic novel, Snow Crash)
• Hopper (David Harbour's character in Stranger Things)
• Hurley (Jorge Garcia's character from Lost)
• Jackson (Kyle Chandler's character from the J.J. Abrams-directed nostalgic throwback, Super 8)
• Joh (Alfred Abel's character from 1927's Metropolis)
• Joshi (Robin Wright's character from Blade Runner 2049)
• Kaneda (The main protagonist of the Akira manga and anime franchise)
• Kazak (A "space hound" who appears in two of Kurt Vonnegut's books)
• Keys (Peter Coyote's character from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial)
• Kilgore (A fledgling science fiction writer from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five)
• Klaatu or Gort (The alien and robot from The Day The Earth Stood Still)
• Korben (Bruce Willis' character from The Fifth Element)
• Krank (Daniel Emilfork's character from The City Of Lost Children)
• Lacombe (Francois Truffaut's character from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind)
• Leeloo (Milla Jovovich's character from The Fifth Element)
• Locke (Terry O'Quinn's character from Lost)
• Lomax (Benedict Wong's character in Annihilation)
• Lotte (Cameron Diaz's character in Being John Malkovich)
• Maeve (Thandie Newton's character on Westworld)
• Major (Scarlett Johansson's character in the live-action remake of Ghost In The Shell)
• Marlow ( John C. Reilly's character in Kong: Skull Island)
• McCoppin (The beatnik artist and junkyard owner from The Iron Giant)
• Morbius (Walter Pidgeon's character from Forbidden Planet)
• Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne's character in The Matrix franchise)
• Muffit (A robot dog from the original Battlestar Galatica)
• Murdoch (Rufus Sewell's character from Dark City)
• Murphy (The deceased police officer brought back to life as an enhanced cyborg in 1987's RoboCop)
• Mulder or Fox (David Duchovny's character from The X-Files)
• Nada ("Rowdy" Roddy Piper's character in They Live)
• Nebula (Karen Gillan's character in Guardians Of The Galaxy)
• Needles (Jeff Imada's character from Big Trouble In Little China)
• Neo (Keanu Reeve's character in The Matrix trilogy)
• Newt (Carrie Henn's character from Aliens)
• Neytiri (Zoë Saldana's character from Avatar)
• Nux (Nicholas Hoult's character from Mad Max: Fury Road)
• Og (One of the dwarves from Time Bandits)
• Otto (Emilio Estevez's character from Repo Man)
• Parzival (Tye Sheridan's character from Ready Player One)
• Persephone (Monica Bellucci's character in The Matrix Reloaded)
• Plissken or Snake (The antihero from Escape From New York)
• Poole (Gary Lockwood's character in 2001: A Space Odyssey)
• Porthos (The adorable beagle from Star Trek: Enterprise)
• Preston (Samuel L. Jackson's character in Kong: Skull Island)
• Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger's character from Total Recall)
• Reese (Michael Biehn's character from the 1984 tech-noir classic, The Terminator)
• Rico (Casper Van Dien's character from Starship Troopers)
• Ripley (Sigourney Weaver's character from the Alien franchise)
• Rydell or Berry (The security guard from Virtual Light)
• Samus or Aran (The female protagonist of Nintendo's platforming classic, Metroid)
• Sapper (Dave Bautista's character from Blade Runner 2049)
• Sawyer (Josh Holloway's character from Lost)
• Seraph (Collin Chou's character in The Matrix Revolutions)
• Seymour (Fry's dog from Futurama)
• Scully or Dana (Gillian Anderson's character from The X-Files)
• Spoor (Bob Hoskins's character in Terry Gilliam's 1985 classic, Brazil)
• Spunkmeyer (One of the Space Marines to meet their untimely demise on LV-426 in Aliens)
• Strax (Dan Starkey's character on Doctor Who)
• Strutter (One of the dwarves in Time Bandits)
• Traxler (Paul Winfield's character from The Terminator)
• Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss' character from The Matrix films)
• Tuttle (Robert De Niro's character from Brazil)
• Tyrell (The fictional company developing replicant technology in the Blade Runner films)
• Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein's tough-as-nails Space Marine from Aliens)
• Venkman (Bill Murray's character in Ghostbusters)
• Watney (Matt Damon's character from The Martian)
• Wickus (Sharlto Copley's character from District 9)
• Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans' character from Planet Of The Apes)
• Zebes (The planet in the original Metroid for the Nintendo Entertainment System)
• Zed (Rip Torn's character in the Men In Black films)
• Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson's character in Ghostbusters)
• Zorg (Gary Oldman's character from The Fifth Element)
Do you need more inspiration for your new pet’s name?
Pets are like our children. We love them, care for them, and we get to dress them up in adorable outfits — if that's a thing we feel like doing! So it's extra important that we take time to find the perfect pet name that reflects their personality and potential. Because pinning a handle on your pet can be hard and emotionally wrenching (oh the indecision!), we've gathered nine pet-naming techniques to find the perfect fit, as well as assembled a handful of our most beloved lists of pet names!