Meaning and background
The story behind Petunia
Petunia names a genus of flowering plants familiar from summer gardens and hanging baskets. The botanical word travelled through scientific naming from a Tupi-Guarani term associated with tobacco, to which petunias are related. As a dog name, Petunia supplies an immediately recognisable floral reference; the tobacco connection belongs to the genus's history, not to a dog's qualities.
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About Petunia
Recorded as a dog’s name
Petunia appears in 24 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
/pətuniə/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the second syllable in the recorded US readings.
Other dictionary readings and notation
/pətuniə/ · primary stress on syllable 2P AH0 T UW1 N IY0 AH0
/pətunjə/ · primary stress on syllable 2P AH0 T UW1 N Y 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.
Dictionary readings have 3 or 4 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.