Sporty Dog Names

If sport is your passion, why not give your dog a classic sporty name? These dog names are inspired by sports and famous athletes.

Tap the arrow to see a name's meaning, and the heart to save it to your shortlist.

Ace
Meaning: One Or Expert
Arby
Meaning: Fast food restaurant chain.
Ash
Meaning: Success
Batter
Meaning: strike violently and repeatedly
Beanball
Meaning: Baseball with beans.
Beezer
Meaning: Fun, playful, lively, joyous
Bender
Meaning: One Who Bends
Birdie
Meaning: Little Bird
Blitz
Meaning: An overwhelming all out attack.
Buzzer
Meaning: a push button at an outer door that gives a ringing or buzzing signal when pushed
Caddy
Meaning: a can for storing tea
Captain
Meaning: The leader of a group of people
Chase
Meaning: Skilled hunter or huntsman.
Cheese
Meaning: erect or decumbent Old World perennial with axillary clusters of rosy-purple flowers; introduced in United States
Clutch
Meaning: a pedal or lever that engages or disengages a rotating shaft and a driving mechanism
Coach
Meaning: teach and supervise (someone); act as a trainer or coach (to), as in sports
Crackerjack
Meaning: someone excellent of their kind
Crank
Meaning: start by cranking
Curveball
Meaning: Tricky surprise twist.
Cutter
Meaning: Gem Cutter
Derby
Meaning: From The Deer Park Farm
Deuce
Meaning: one of the four playing cards in a deck that have two spots
Diamond
Meaning: Brilliant Gem
Driver
Meaning: Coachman, Operator Of A Vehicle
Dugout
Meaning: a canoe made by hollowing out and shaping a large log
Earnie
Meaning: Brave, strong, noble.
Eephus
Meaning: Unusual baseball pitch.
Fungo
Meaning: Baseball practice bat.
Gambit
Meaning: A chess opener in which a pawn is sacrificed to obtain an advantage.
Gopher
Meaning: any of various terrestrial burrowing rodents of Old and New Worlds; often destroy crops
Grand Slam
Meaning: Major tennis tournament.
Grounder
Meaning: (baseball) a hit that travels along the ground
Gunner
Meaning: Strong in battle (in Swedish).
Homer
Meaning: Inspired by homer simpson.
Hoops
Meaning: a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop
Jumbo
Meaning: of great mass; huge and bulky
Junior
Meaning: Younger; lower in rank or experience.
Kayo
Meaning: Good, Beautiful, Generation
Kicker
Meaning: a player who kicks the football
Maddux
Meaning: Son Of Madoc
Meatball
Meaning: ground meat formed into a ball and fried or simmered in broth
Mitt
Meaning: Diminutive Form Of Milton
Mulligan
Meaning: Irish version of burgoo
Pecota
Meaning: Baseball player projection system
Pepper
Meaning: The pepper pad a handheld game console.
Pickle
Meaning: informal terms for a difficult situation
Pitcher
Meaning: the position on a baseball team of the player who throws the ball for a batter to try to hit
Racket
Meaning: celebrate noisily, often indulging in drinking; engage in uproarious festivities
Rally
Meaning: the feat of mustering strength for a renewed effort
Relay
Meaning: electrical device such that current flowing through it in one circuit can switch on and off a current in a second circuit
Ribbie
Meaning: Cute nickname for Riba
Rookie
Meaning: an awkward and inexperienced youth
Runner
Meaning: (football) the player who is carrying (and trying to advance) the ball on an offensive play
Salami
Meaning: highly seasoned fatty sausage of pork and beef usually dried
Screwball
Meaning: a whimsically eccentric person
Shortstop
Meaning: the fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed between second and third base
Slider
Meaning: a person who slips or slides because of loss of traction
Slugger
Meaning: a boxer noted for an ability to deliver hard punches
Southpaw
Meaning: a person who uses the left hand with greater skill than the right
Stretch
Meaning: Always stretching.
Striker
Meaning: someone who hits
Sweeper
Meaning: a cleaning implement with revolving brushes that pick up dirt as the implement is pushed over a carpet
Swish
Meaning: elegant and fashionable
Tackle
Meaning: put a harness
Tag
Meaning: a label written or printed on paper, cardboard, or plastic that is attached to something to indicate its owner, nature, price, etc.
Tater
Meaning: an edible tuber native to South America; a staple food of Ireland
Whiff
Meaning: a short light gust of air
Windup
Meaning: a concluding action
Zip
Meaning: Energy, vim and vigor.

Planning to raise a lean machine? If you have an active breed, these athletic dog names will help to represent their speed, agility and zest for life.

If you’re a big sports fan, getting a dog can be a great opportunity to express your superfan identity. And choosing a sporty dog name can be an excellent way to celebrate the athleticism and energy associated with many dog breeds. Border Collies, Australian Shepherds, and Siberian Huskies, are some of the many working dog breeds well-suited to sporty names that represent their impressive abilities and relentless determination.

Whether you’re craziest about football, ice hockey, baseball or soccer, being a sports fan means you appreciate competition, teamwork and ambition. If you’ve ever seen a group of Borders Collies carrying wood, or even just a Golden Retriever chasing a stick, you’ll see some of sport’s most admirable traits on display. And that’s what makes sporty dog names so appropriate for energetic pups.

For male dogs, there are so many classic sporty dog names to choose from that it’s hard to pick a favorite. Ace, meaning “expert”, is a firm favorite with dog owners everywhere. It’s such a positive, timeless and recognizable name to give to pups of all shapes and sizes.

We also adore the name Junior. It’s incredibly cute for young puppies, for obvious reasons, and we don’t consider dogs to ever necessarily outgrow this name, because it will always represent their place in the pack! And if those options don’t appeal to you, you could consider Striker instead. The name represents a goalscorer and pack leader, and is guaranteed to resonate with soccer and ice hockey fans.

For female dogs, we’re going to pitch a couple of golf names first. Birdie is a cute option for girls, and it lets people know that your pup is indisputably better than average! And along similar lines, we love the name Caddy for girls – because it represents the partnership and companionship that we love to share with our dogs.

And if tennis is more your thing, why not name your pup Rally? To us, it expresses consistency, determination and resilience – all traits that we love to associate with our furry companions.