The reigning cats and dogs names of the year

QUESTION: Why must people give their pets human names? Q2: Which Twilight character is top dog? Q3: Twilight. Really?  

cat and dog

QUESTION one: Why must people give their pets human names?

Question two: Which Twilight character is top dog?

Question three: Twilight. Really?

[Enough. Take me to the list. Now.]

We found the answers to these puzzling queries in a comprehensive survey of 2.5 million dogs and cats conducted in the US state of Oregon, Discovery News reports.

Portland's Banfield Pet Hospital tallied the top names from 2012 and came up with 10 most popular monikers for our most popular family pets.

Let's start with dogs. The most popular name was Bella (Twilight, ugh), followed by Max.

Thankfully names like Buddy and Rocky help to rescue a list dominated by people names. Baby name experts say we like to do this because more and more people consider pets as a key part of their families.

The top name for cats didn't take much invention: Kitty. The best of the rest would be Shadow. But we'll let you be the judge(s).

Top dog names

1. Bella
2. Max
3. Buddy
4. Daisy
5. Bailey
6. Coco
7. Lucy
8. Charlie
9. Molly
10. Rocky

Top cat names

1. Kitty
2. Bella
3. Tiger
4. Max
5. Smokey
6. Shadow
7. Tigger
8. Lucy
9. Chloe
10. Charlie

What's your pet's name? Do you reckon it's better to pick a pet name like Rover, or a human name like Max?