Dog name guide

Minou

The meaning, background and naming story of Minou.

Letters
5
Starts with
M

Meaning and background

The story behind Minou

Minou is an affectionate French word for a cat. The Académie française records it as familiar usage and dates it to the nineteenth century as a variant of minet. That gives the spelling a precise pet-language association, even if an owner playfully uses it for a dog. The dictionary explains the word rather than documenting Minou as a traditional human given name with a separate meaning.

Association
French familiar affectionate word for a cat, recorded as a nineteenth-century variant of minet. Source

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About Minou

Recorded as a dog’s name

Minou appears in 4 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.

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Sources and research notes (1)

References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.

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Suggestions by sound, written form or existing editorial selections. Similarity does not imply a shared origin.

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