Meaning and background
The story behind Goku
Goku is best known as the leading character in Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball, but its literary ancestry is older. The Japanese name 悟空 is a rendering of the Chinese Wukong, familiar from the Monkey King in Journey to the West. The character association is thus a later use of a pre-existing literary name. Goku should not be confused with Gohan, the separate Japanese word for rice and meals.
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Everyday moments“Goku, come here!”
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About Goku
Recorded as a dog’s name
Goku 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.
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Sources and research notes (1)
- 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.