Meaning and background
The story behind Mako
Mako has a well-documented Māori vocabulary connection: it names the shortfin mako shark and can also refer to one of its teeth or a shark-tooth ornament. The shark’s common English name draws on Māori too. The same Latin-letter spelling can be used for Japanese names with unrelated written characters, so the shark meaning cannot safely be attached to every bearer. As a dog’s call name, the two open syllables are distinctive.
- Meaning
- Māori noun mako: shortfin mako shark, shark tooth or shark-tooth ornament. Source
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About Mako
Recorded as a dog’s name
Mako appears in 9 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
/mɑkoʊ/
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
/mɑkoʊ/ · primary stress on syllable 1M AA1 K OW0
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.