Meaning and background
The story behind Daphne
Daphne has a clear Greek laurel meaning and a separate mythological story built around that plant. In the cited account, the nymph is transformed into a laurel to escape Apollo’s pursuit. That makes the name both botanical and mythological, rather than simply a decorative classical sound. For a dog, an owner can choose the tree association without adopting every part of the story. The English reference reading is DAF-nee; the ph represents an f sound, which is useful when comparing spelling and everyday pronunciation.
- Origin
- Greek name associated with the laurel; borne by a nymph in Greek mythology. Source
Try Daphne out loud
Everyday moments“Daphne, come here!”
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About Daphne
Recorded as a dog’s name
Daphne appears in 46 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
/dæfni/
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
/dæfni/ · primary stress on syllable 1D AE1 F N IY0
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.