Meaning and background
The story behind Gorilla
Gorilla refers to the largest living primates, so its most direct use as a pet name comes from the animal word. That word has an unusually complex documented history: nineteenth-century scientific usage borrowed a form found in an ancient Greek account of an African voyage. The account described beings whose identification is uncertain. It would therefore be misleading to say that Gorilla is simply an old African word with a known, literal personal-name meaning.
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About Gorilla
Recorded as a dog’s name
Gorilla appears in 2 dog licence records in the 2022 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
/ɡɚɪlə/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the second syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/ɡɚɪlə/ · primary stress on syllable 2G ER0 IH1 L AH0
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 — all seven available extract years, retrieved 24 October 2026 — Recorded name spellings in NYC licence-period rows, extract years 2016–2018, 2022–2024 and 2026. Evidence selects one stated year per name. Annual snapshots overlap; never sum them as unique dogs. No national popularity, etymology or owner naming-intent claim.
- 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.