Meaning and background
The story behind Akela
Akela is the wolf leader in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Unusually, the author himself supplied both a meaning, “alone”, and a pronunciation: approximately “uk-KAY-la”. That first-hand explanation is stronger evidence than a generic baby-name list. For a dog, the literary association is especially apt, but it does not make Akela a claim about an animal’s pack status.
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About Akela
Recorded as a dog’s name
Akela appears in 6 dog licence records in the 2022 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.
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Sources and research notes (1)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — all seven available extract years, retrieved 24 October 2026 — Recorded name spellings in NYC licence-period rows, extract years 2016–2018, 2022–2024 and 2026. Evidence selects one stated year per name. Annual snapshots overlap; never sum them as unique dogs. No national popularity, etymology or owner naming-intent claim.
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.