Meaning and background
The story behind Casper
Casper has Dutch and Scandinavian use as a form of Jasper. It also has a very different, twentieth-century association through the animated character Casper the Friendly Ghost. Those are two distinct parts of its story: one is naming history and the other popular culture. The short, soft sound works well when called across a room or park.
- Origin
- Dutch and Scandinavian form of Jasper Source
Try Casper out loud
Everyday moments“Casper, come here!”
Say it as you would on a walk or at home. Does it feel natural alongside your usual commands and other pets’ names?
About Casper
Recorded as a dog’s name
Casper appears in 64 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
/kæspɚ/
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
/kæspɚ/ · primary stress on syllable 1K AE1 S P 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.