Meaning and background
The story behind Teddy
Teddy is the best-known affectionate form of Edward or Theodore in English. It also calls to mind the teddy bear, which is a later cultural association rather than the original derivation of the personal name. With two recognisable syllables, Teddy works naturally as a spoken dog name without needing any promise of cuddliness.
- Origin
- English diminutive of Edward or Theodore. Source
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Everyday moments“Teddy, come here!”
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About Teddy
Recorded as a dog’s name
Teddy appears in 605 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
/tɛdi/
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
/tɛdi/ · primary stress on syllable 1T EH1 D 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.