1,028 Puppy Names That Start With “A”

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Did you decide to get a puppy? Can you guess the first thing we do before bringing home a puppy?

1. Buy and study a book or course on how to raise and train a puppy – WRONG
2. Start gathering supplies for your new puppy – WRONG
3. Jump up and down yelling at the top of your lungs: “I’M GETTING A PUPPY!!!” – mmm…MAYBE?

The correct answer is we start thinking about a name for our puppy.

There are so many names out there it’s tough to narrow it down to that one perfect name.

An easy way to shorten your list is to think of different themes for your puppy’s name.

For instance, maybe you love the Avengers or Lord of The Rings? How about Loki or Frodo?

Or maybe you wanted your puppy’s name to start with the letter “A” so your initials Debbie Cannon would go perfectly with your puppy’s initials Archer Cannon.

Get it? A.C.D.C.

Okay, it’s a stretch but we do have a good reason for trying to find the perfect puppy name that begins with the letter “A”.

Why Puppy Names Starting With Letter “A”?

As I just mentioned. It’s one way to narrow down your list of names.

However, we have another reason, and that reason is why we put together puppy name lists for all 26 letters of the alphabet.

We raise guide and service dog puppies. At Guide Dogs of America – Tender Loving Canines they assign each litter a letter. The school allows you to choose a name for your puppy but it has to start with the litter letter. Also, you can’t use the same name of a puppy already in the guide/service dog program.

I’ve had three “A” litter puppies who have graduated from different service dog schools:

We compiled lists of names by alphabet by asking friends, family, polling our social media accounts and asking our readers.

Every time we raise a new puppy we get an enormous number of suggestions for puppy names. Our puppy name posts are often some of the most popular blog articles and social media posts getting hundreds of responses with thousands of names.

We first published our puppy names list way back in 2008 when we got our second puppy, Derby. Our puppy names by alphabet are the results of:

1. First a starter list of names I really loved and…
2. Second everyone’s suggestions over the years.

Every time we come across a new name we update our lists so please feel free to add any suggestions to the comment section and we’ll add new names to our puppy names lists.

1,028 Puppy Names That Start With “A”

We divided our list into groups of 100 to reduce strain on your eyes.

Without further adieu, here’s our massive list of puppy names starting with the letter “A”:

“A” Puppy Names 1 – 100

“A” Puppy Names 101 – 200

“A” Puppy Names 201 – 300

“A” Puppy Names 301 – 400

“A” Puppy Names 401 – 500

“A” Puppy Names 501 – 600

“A” Puppy Names 601 – 700

“A” Puppy Names 701 – 800

“A” Puppy Names 801 – 900

“A” Puppy Names 901 – 1,000

“A” Puppy Names 1,001 – 1,028

What Are Boy Puppy Names That Start With “A”?

Here are our top 20 boy puppy names starting with “A” – This is my list and totally subjective. FYI my favs start with the guide and service dogs I’ve worked with over the years.

Names in bold were guide and service dog puppies we worked with over the years.

1. Archer
2. Apache
3. Ace
4. Alex
5. Austin
6. Asher
7. Arlo
8. Atlas
9. Alfie
10. Archie
11. Arrow
12. Artie
13. Aiden
14. Aibo
15. August
16. Angus
17. Abbott
18. Achilles
19. Amos
20. Andy

What Are Girl Puppy Names That Start With “A”?

Here are our top 20 girl puppy names starting with “A” – This is my list and totally subjective. FYI my favs start with the guide and service dogs I’ve worked with over the years.

Names in bold were guide and service dog puppies we worked with over the years.

1. Adelle
2. Anya
3. Airess
4. Abby
5. Asha
6. Aspen
7. Autumn
8. Anna
9. Astrid
10. Aster
11. Azra
12. Ariel
13. Angel
14. Addie
15. Arya
16. Annie
17. Apple
18. Aurora
19. Arwen
20. Alanis

Puppy Names By Alphabet

Tips For Choosing A Name For Your Puppy

We’ve been choosing puppy names for over 15 years now and have named dozens of puppies. Here are a few tips we learned along the way:

1. Take your time choosing a name. Your puppy will be with your for the next 10+ years.
2. Two syllable names work the best. When training your puppy, two syllables seems to flow off the tongue the best. It’s tough to say: “Abacadabra, sit” vs “Abby, sit”.
3. One syllable is second best.
4. Three or more syllables can be a bit clunky. If your set on three or more syllables you might consider using a nickname. (we can’t use nicknames with our guide/service pups). See #2.
5. Your pup’s personality can be used for naming. We named our puppy Elsa but she’s more of a Dash.
6. Your pup’s looks can be used for naming. Our friends named their white German Shepherd, Snow.
7. Try a reverse name. We have two: Raven is an English Cream Golden Retriever. Elsa is a black Labrador Retriever.

Final Thoughts

The name you choose for your puppy will be with him or her for the next 10+ years. Choose wisely and find a name you love.

So, why did we decide to update our list of puppy names starting with the letter “A”? You might have guessed that we are raising another service dog puppy and she is from the “A” litter.

Our next service dog puppy is going to be a female, yellow Golden/Lab cross.

Let us know what you think we should name our latested service dog puppy in training in the comment section below.

What’s your puppy’s name? Do you have a puppy whose name begins with the letter “A”?

Is your pup’s name on our list of puppy names starting with “A”?

If you have a puppy name that’s not on our list please leave us a comment and we’ll be sure to update our list ASAP!

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UPDATED 12/15/2021: Original post was published June 18th, 2008! We began compiling a list of puppy names by letter way back in 2008 before we got our second Guide Dog puppy, Derby.

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Check out more of our favorites on our New Puppy Checklist.