Meaning and background
The story behind Achilles
Achilles is the Greek hero at the centre of the Iliad, and that literary reference is much more secure than any claimed literal translation. Scholars have proposed several explanations for the ancient name without reaching a settled etymology. The usual English reading has three syllables, with the stress in the middle.
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About Achilles
Recorded as a dog’s name
Achilles appears in 16 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/əkɪliz/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the second syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/əkɪliz/ · primary stress on syllable 2AH0 K IH1 L IY0 Z
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.