Meaning and background
The story behind Cereal
Cereal is a word that travelled a long way before it became a breakfast-table staple. It ultimately comes from Latin Cerealis, meaning belonging to Ceres, the Roman goddess associated with grain and agriculture. The English word first applied to grain crops, then to food prepared from them. As a dog name, the food connection is immediately recognisable; there is no established personal-name ancestry to imply.
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About Cereal
Recorded as a dog’s name
Cereal appears in 5 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.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/sɪɹiəl/
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
/sɪɹiəl/ · primary stress on syllable 1S IH1 R IY0 AH0 L
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 — 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.
- 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.