Meaning and background
The story behind Possum
Possum is the familiar short form of opossum, originally the English name of an American marsupial. The longer word was borrowed from an Indigenous Powhatan language, and this deeper history should not be flattened into an invented pet-name translation. In Britain, possum can also evoke the marsupials of Australia and New Zealand. As a dog name the two-syllable sound is easy to call, although it has no necessary connection to a dog's habits.
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About Possum
Recorded as a dog’s name
Possum appears in 3 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
/pɑsəm/
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
/pɑsəm/ · primary stress on syllable 1P AA1 S AH0 M
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.