Meaning and background
The story behind Ebony
Ebony starts with a dense, dark wood and also carries a deep-black colour association. The word's route into English has uncertainties, so the visible material reference is stronger than a single unqualified claim about its earliest language. For a dog name, the appeal can be colour, texture or the sound of the full word. Compare Ebony with Jet if you want another dark-material reference in a shorter form. Neither choice establishes ancestry or temperament, and either can be used beyond a matching coat colour.
- Meaning
- a dense black wood; also a deep black colour Source
Try Ebony out loud
Everyday moments“Ebony, come here!”
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About Ebony
a dense black wood; also a deep black colour
- Word language
- English
More about the name
Ebony has both a wood sense and a colour sense. Those provide the basis for its dark-coat association; this profile does not add a temperament or a claim about a dog's ancestry.
About this meaning
Language of the selected vocabulary reference; full personal-name derivation not asserted.
Recorded as a dog’s name
Ebony appears in 10 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
/ɛbəni/
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
/ɛbəni/ · primary stress on syllable 1EH1 B AH0 N IY0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Editorial styles
Sources and research notes (3)
- 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
- Wiktionary contributors ebony — English section — Selected dictionary sense, not proof of each dog owner's naming intent or complete personal-name etymology
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.