Meaning and background
The story behind Dobby
Dobby is widely recognised as the house-elf character in the Harry Potter stories, and the official character guide identifies him clearly. The spelling has an older English life too: dobby or dobbie was a dialect word for a household sprite, connected historically to the nickname Dob. Those are useful cultural and lexical facts, though they do not prove which reference inspired the fictional name or any particular dog's name. The difference matters more than inventing a translation.
- Origin
- English dialect noun dobby/dobbie for a household sprite, from the familiar name Dob Source
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Everyday moments“Dobby, come here!”
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About Dobby
Recorded as a dog’s name
Dobby appears in 41 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.
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Sources and research notes (1)
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.
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.