If you have recently welcomed a cat into your home and found yourself considering the name Andarna, you are not alone. Chewy reports the name - taken from the dragon at the heart of Rebecca Yarros's Fourth Wing series - has risen 400% as a trending cat name this year. That is not a typo. Four hundred per cent. One fantasy novel, one charismatic dragon character, and suddenly a name that barely registered in pet naming circles a couple of years ago is one of the fastest-growing cat names in the English-speaking world.
It says something fascinating about the relationship between the stories we love and the names we choose - for our children, yes, but perhaps even more freely for our pets.
Why we name our pets after the things we are watching
With a baby name, there are guardrails. You think about how it will age. You think about what a teacher will make of it, or what a future employer will see on a CV. You factor in grandparents' reactions. You negotiate with a partner. The whole process is shaped by a kind of long-range projection - imagining this name on a person through their whole life.
With a pet, almost none of that applies. A cat named Andarna does not need to worry about university applications. A dog called Grogu is not going to be embarrassed at a job interview. The naming is freer, more instinctive, and much more directly tied to what you love right now. Your pet's name is a small, affectionate flag for your enthusiasms.
That is why pet names are such a reliable cultural barometer. They tell you what people are watching, reading, and caring about in a way that baby names - filtered through practicality and social expectation - do not always reveal as cleanly.
The names having a moment in 2026
Look at what is reportedly trending in pet names this year and the cultural map practically draws itself.
Andarna is the most striking example. Fourth Wing - and its sequel, Iron Flame - has built one of the most devoted fantasy readerships in years, and Andarna, the small but fierce dragon who bonds with the story's protagonist, has clearly captured something in that audience. Chewy's reported 400% rise makes her the fastest-growing cat name they track. Alongside Andarna, broader fantasy-inspired names are climbing - Fae and Samwise are both reported to be rising, suggesting the Lord of the Rings crowd is naming pets with the same enthusiasm as the Fourth Wing fandom.
Elphie is there for everyone who saw Wicked and felt something. It is gentle, slightly whimsical, and carries the warmth of a beloved character without being quite as on-the-nose as naming your cat Elphaba outright. Grogu - the small, enormous-eyed creature from The Mandalorian - has had remarkable staying power as a pet name, which makes sense: the character is essentially written to evoke the same tenderness people feel toward small animals.
Mochi sits at the intersection of food names and K-pop cultural enthusiasm. Shakira is reportedly climbing fast too, which reflects a different kind of affection - less fandom, more admiration and energy.
And then there is Luna, which multiple sources confirm as the dominant cat name and a consistent presence in dog name charts as well. Luna has been a favourite for several years running, drawn from both the Harry Potter universe (Luna Lovegood) and a broader cultural fondness for celestial names. It is the name that has graduated from trending to established.
What these names have in common
Look at Andarna, Elphie, Grogu, Mochi, and Shakira side by side and a few things emerge. They are all names with personality built in. You already have a feeling for what kind of creature each one might be - Andarna sounds fierce and elegant, Grogu sounds small and endearing, Mochi sounds round and soft. The name does not just label the pet; it arrives carrying associations that colour how you see them.
That is actually a very good instinct. The most useful thing a pet name can do is fit the animal in front of you - their energy, their look, the specific way they behave when they think nobody is watching. The names that stick best are the ones where there is an obvious, felt match between the name and the creature.
Trend lists are useful for inspiration, and the pop culture hooks are genuinely fun. But borrowing a name because it is having a moment is a different thing from finding the name that suits your specific pet.
A quiz built around your pet, not the charts
findaname.app's pet quiz takes a different starting point. Instead of offering a list of trending names to scroll through, it asks you eight questions about your pet - their personality, their energy, their physical presence, the kind of name you want to be calling across a room. From those answers, it generates names that fit the animal you actually have.
Your cat might turn out to suit Andarna perfectly - fierce, independent, a little dramatic. Or the quiz might take you somewhere you would never have found on a trend list: something quieter, or stranger, or more personal. The point is that the name comes from your pet's character rather than from whoever is at the top of a chart this week.
If you have a new pet and you are still searching for the name that clicks, the quiz takes about three minutes - and it starts with your pet, not with what everyone else is watching.