Meaning and background
The story behind Drake
Drake has two well-established English word associations: a male duck and an older word for dragon. The family surname Drake can historically reflect either, according to surname dictionaries, while some continental family names have separate histories. A dog called Drake might also be named after a person; this catalogue gives no clue. Its single syllable is sharp in everyday use, but an automatic translation of every Drake as 'dragon' would be wrong.
- Origin
- English nickname surname from Middle English drake, “male duck” or “dragon”; other continental surname lines exist Source
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Everyday moments“Drake, come here!”
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About Drake
Recorded as a dog’s name
Drake appears in 8 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
/dɹeɪk/
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
/dɹeɪk/ · primary stress on syllable 1D R EY1 K
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 — 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.