Meaning and background
The story behind Hannibal
Hannibal follows a Punic name route combining an element connected with grace or favour and the divine name Baal. The Carthaginian commander Hannibal Barca is a documented historical bearer, but the name’s linguistic history is not a literal translation of general or warrior. Its English reference reading has three syllables with the emphasis at the beginning. For a dog, an owner can choose the historical association while deciding how comfortable they are with the name’s strong cultural references. Those associations do not establish the dog’s character.
- Origin
- Latinized Punic name combining a grace or favour element with the divine name Baal. Source
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Everyday moments“Hannibal, come here!”
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About Hannibal
Recorded as a dog’s name
Hannibal appears in 6 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
/hænɪbəl/
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
/hænɪbəl/ · primary stress on syllable 1HH AE1 N IH0 B AH0 L
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.