Meaning and background
The story behind Moxie
Moxie has an English word history involving energy, courage, determination and practical skill. Merriam-Webster traces the lower-case word to the commercial name Moxie, originally a nineteenth-century tonic sold in New England. That gives the spelling both a vocabulary meaning and a product-name history. A dog may receive Moxie as an affectionate expression of spirit, while the explanation should describe the chooser’s intention rather than treating the word as a guaranteed temperament.
- Association
- Informal English word for energy, courage, determination or know-how, developed from the tonic name Moxie. Source
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Everyday moments“Moxie, come here!”
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About Moxie
Recorded as a dog’s name
Moxie appears in 29 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
/mɑksi/
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
/mɑksi/ · primary stress on syllable 1M AA1 K S IY0
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.