On the cover: A Bushwick pup out for a walk. Photo from the Bushwick Daily archives.
A recent study has provided an answer to a very important, long contested subject: we now know conclusively know which dog names are most unique to various parts of Bushwick.
A Department of Health survey of the names of the city’s 84,054 pups registered with the city in 2015 includes a breakdown of dog name by neighborhood conducted by local digital cartography company CartoDB.
Rather than use the superlative of most popular, the map identifies the most unique dog name for each part of the city. “‘Unique dog name by neighborhood’ is determined by comparing the citywide rank and the neighborhood rank of dog names with at least 50 occurring citywide. For example, in Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill, ‘Ella’ is ranked 6th. Citywide, Ella is ranked 118th. Therefore Ella’s “uniqueness ratio” in Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill is 19.67 (118/6), highest in that neighborhood,” explain the mapmakers.
In the map, Bushwick is divided in half: in “Bushwick South,” the part of the neighborhood bounded by Broadway to the south, Wilson Ave to the north, Flushing Ave to the west and the Evergreens Cemetery to the east, the most unique dog name is “Nena.” In “Bushwick North,” sandwiched between Wilson and the Brooklyn-Queens border, the most distinctive name is “Mabel;” east of Flushing in East Williamsburg, “Frankie” leads the pack, and in Ridgewood, “Junior” is the name that earned the title. Citywide, “Bella” and “Max” are the most commonly chosen dog name, by gender.
Why was this Very Important Project undertaken, you may ask? To raise awareness about dog registration in New York City, of course! You can find more information about that here.
Check out that map below: