Meaning and background
The story behind Buster
Buster began as an English nickname for someone who broke things, according to Behind the Name. The reference connects it with bust, a dialect form of burst, and separately identifies silent-film star Buster Keaton, whose original first name was Joseph. That gives a dog’s name both a nickname history and a possible cinema tribute. A household can state its intended association without treating the historical nickname as a prediction of destructive behaviour.
- Origin
- English nickname from bust, a dialectal form of burst, historically applied to a breaker of things. Source
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About Buster
Recorded as a dog’s name
Buster appears in 117 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
/bʌstɚ/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/bʌstɚ/ · primary stress on syllable 1B AH1 S T ER0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- 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.