Meaning and background
The story behind Puma
Puma is an English word for the cougar. Merriam-Webster also records the animal’s fur or pelt under the same spelling and recognizes more than one initial-consonant pronunciation. This gives a pet name a specific wild-cat association rather than a generic meaning such as strong. A household may intend a feline comparison, while a sporting brand or fictional character would be a separate association requiring its own evidence.
- Association
- Puma is an English word for the cougar. Source
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About Puma
Recorded as a dog’s name
Puma appears in 11 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
/pumə/
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
/pumə/ · primary stress on syllable 1P UW1 M AH0
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.