Meaning and background
The story behind Smalls
Smalls has a particular British-English sense that can get lost in international name lists: it is an informal, rather old-fashioned word for underwear, especially items of washing. It also looks like a playful plural or nickname built on Small. Those readings should not be confused. Used for a dog it sounds lightly comic, without implying a fixed history for every owner who chooses it.
- Meaning
- In British informal English, “smalls” refers to underwear or small items of personal laundry. Source
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About Smalls
Recorded as a dog’s name
Smalls appears in 5 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
/smɔlz/
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
/smɔlz/ · primary stress on syllable 1S M AO1 L Z
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.