Meaning and background
The story behind Mama
Mama is documented in English as a familiar word for mother, including its use when speaking directly to one's mother. Cambridge labels the usage informal in American English and old-fashioned in British English; it also records a separate American slang sense referring to a woman. For a dog named Mama, family affection may be the intended association. The English dictionary account does not establish that every similar form in other languages has one common personal-name derivation.
- Association
- Mama is an English familiar word for mother; Cambridge also documents a separate American slang use for a woman. Source
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About Mama
Recorded as a dog’s name
Mama appears in 21 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
/mɑmə/
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
/mɑmə/ · primary stress on syllable 1M AA1 M AH0
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.