Ellie, Ella, Emma. The three most registered E names in this catalogue are two syllables each, female each, and built from the same handful of letters. Then Elsa, then Eddie, then Ernie. E is a small letter that keeps producing the same word.
A small letter that is not a thin one
Only 257 names begin with E, which puts it among the smaller initials. But it averages 75 registrations per name, which is right at the catalogue's own figure. Few names, ordinary use — the animals are concentrated on a short list rather than spread thin.
It is the most female-leaning of the small letters
105 measure female against 81 male, and 58 end in -a. An E at the front and an -a at the back is a shape English reads as feminine before it reads anything else, and this letter is largely made of it.
Short, despite appearances
103 of the letter is four letters or fewer, a higher share than most letters manage. The long ones — Elizabeth, Evangeline — are the exception here, not the rule, whatever the letter's formal reputation suggests.
What are popular pet names starting with E?
Ellie, Emma and Ella lead by a wide margin, then Enzo, Elvis and Eddie. The ordering comes from registration counts in the live catalogue.
Are E names usually for female pets?
Mostly: 105 female against 81 male, and 58 of the letter ends in -a, which is the ending that carries the reading.
Are there short pet names starting with E?
103 of them are four letters or fewer — Ella, Elsa, Enzo, Echo. The letter is shorter on average than its formal reputation suggests.
Every count on this site is a tally of real registrations: pet licences and shelter intakes published as open data by New York, Seattle, Austin, Montgomery County, Cambridge, Zurich, Basel and four Australian councils. Popularity here is the average share a name holds across those registers, so a name common in a small city is not buried by one common in a large one. Five of the eleven registers are North American and they supply 86% of the records, so read the ordering as naming in those places rather than worldwide. Browse the whole catalogue or read how the data is put together.