Meaning and background
The story behind Turkey
Turkey is an English name for a large North American bird, widely raised for food. The identical spelling has also been used in English for the country now officially known as Türkiye, but the two associations are not the same as a personal-name etymology. The bird is the most immediate ordinary noun sense. No evidence in the existing catalogue shows whether the pet name was chosen for the animal, a place or simply the sound.
- Meaning
- A large North American bird, Meleagris gallopavo, also raised for meat. Source
Try Turkey out loud
Everyday moments“Turkey, come here!”
Say it as you would on a walk or at home. Does it feel natural alongside your usual commands and other pets’ names?
About Turkey
Recorded as a dog’s name
Turkey appears in 4 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
/tɝki/
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
/tɝki/ · primary stress on syllable 1T ER1 K IY0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
Compare your favourites
Put Turkey beside another name before you decide.
Explore names like Turkey
Narrow the finder by the features you want to keep.
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.