Meaning and background
The story behind Yahoo
Yahoo first gained literary prominence as the name of a brutish, humanlike people in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. English later developed the word yahoo for an uncouth or noisy person. Modern readers will also recognise it as an internet company name, but that is a separate association from the dictionary word. As a dog name, Yahoo is an exuberant sound with a more complicated literary background than it initially suggests.
- Meaning
- A Yahoo is a rough or uncouth person in English, from Jonathan Swift’s fictional Yahoos in Gulliver’s Travels. Source
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Everyday moments“Yahoo, come here!”
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About Yahoo
Recorded as a dog’s name
Yahoo appears in 3 dog licence records in the 2016 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
/jɑhu/
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
/jɑhu/ · primary stress on syllable 1Y AA1 HH UW2
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 — all seven available extract years, retrieved 24 October 2026 — Recorded name spellings in NYC licence-period rows, extract years 2016–2018, 2022–2024 and 2026. Evidence selects one stated year per name. Annual snapshots overlap; never sum them as unique dogs. No national popularity, etymology or owner naming-intent claim.
- 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.