Meaning and background
The story behind Hobbes
Hobbes is an English surname derived from the medieval given name Hob, a short form of Robert. It is also the surname of philosopher Thomas Hobbes, and some people know the spelling from the tiger in Calvin and Hobbes. Those later associations are distinct from the surname's original formation. In British English Hobbes is pronounced with one syllable, rhyming with 'jobs', not as two separate syllables.
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About Hobbes
Recorded as a dog’s name
Hobbes appears in 12 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
/hɑbiz/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
Other dictionary readings and notation
/hɑbiz/ · primary stress on syllable 1HH AA1 B IY0 Z
/hɑbz/ · primary stress on syllable 1HH AA1 B Z
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Dictionary readings have 1 or 2 syllables.
- 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.