Meaning and background
The story behind Hercules
Hercules is the usual Latin form of the Greek heroic name Heracles, transmitted through an Etruscan intermediary. Heracles itself is traditionally analysed as 'glory of Hera', combining the goddess's name with a Greek word for glory. That is more precise than translating Hercules as simply 'strong'. The hero's twelve labours explain its widespread cultural link with extraordinary feats, while English pronunciation has three syllables.
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About Hercules
Recorded as a dog’s name
Hercules appears in 49 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
/hɝkjəliz/
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
/hɝkjəliz/ · primary stress on syllable 1HH ER1 K Y AH0 L IY2 Z
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- 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.