Puppy Bowl 2025's Cutest Dog Names

Well, folks, it's here: the biggest sports event of the year. You know, the game featuring unforgettable commercials, a stellar halftime show, and the opportunity to indulge in pizza, wings, and beer? You guessed it: We're talking about the Puppy Bowl! Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl XXI, aka the Super Bowl but Way Cuter, airs on Sunday, February 9 at 2 p.m. ET.

Every year, Team Ruff and Team Fluff go head to head and leave it all out on the field (including some ill-timed poos) in order to win the Lombarky Trophy. According to Animal Planet, Puppy Bowl XXI features 142 puppies from 80 different shelters and rescue organizations from 40 different states around the U.S.

The two teams are made up of some of the cutest puppies of all shapes and sizes — and names. While there are usually your fair share of Fidos and Benjis in the mix, there are some dogs with truly unique, hilarious names on the teams this year. And as we all know, dog names are everything. There are unusual and unique dog names and science-geek pet names, but the pups of Puppy Bowl XXI have names that defy categorization, though we did our best to categorize our favorites. 

If you're a football fan, you're in luck because there's no shortage of Puppy Bowl competitors named after professional athletes. The scruffy Dee-Bone Samuel clearly has a name inspired by San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel, and with a namesake like that, you can bet they'll be running up and down the field all game long for Team Ruff. On Team Fluff, Paws Allen, who's named after none other than Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, hopes to take home the trophy. Back on Team Ruff, Saquon Barky is competing in the Puppy Bowl, while his namesake, Saquon Barkley, will take the field for the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.

If sports aren't quite your jam, don't worry! Lin-Manuel Furanda is competing for Team Ruff, and we're pawsitive that this pup is just as charismatic as Lin-Manuel Miranda. If you're into classic superheroes like Superman, you'll love this next face off. Bark Kent, named after Clark Kent, on Team Fluff will go paw to paw with Lex Woofer, named after DC supervillain Lex Luthor, on Team Ruff. We just hope Bark Kent wears glasses like his namesake because dogs wearing glasses is just about the cutest thing in the world.

Another popular name category for Puppy Bowl competitors this year is food, which makes sense because these pups are so adorable that you just want to eat them up! We have a whole list of dessert-themed dog names for your sweetie, but when it comes to the Puppy Bowl, we simply couldn't get enough of names like Mr. Pickles, Candy Button, Parsnip, Potato, Gumbo, Huckleberry, Meatball, Pepper, Sprinkle, Strudel, and Raspberry. 

Finally, our personal favorite names of pups competing in Puppy Bowl XXI are silly-sounding words that really capture the goofy looks and personalities of the pups themselves. Smoosh, for example, is the first Pekingese to take the field at the Puppy Bowl, and "smoosh" definitely describes Smoosh's adorable face and vibe. A scruffy great Pyrenees pup named Whoopie will also be playing this year. Imagine calling her to go out for a walk. "Whoopie! Here Whoopie! Whoopie, come on!" It doesn't get much more hilarious than that. Doodle the Bernese mountain dog and Australian shepherd mix will also compete, as will Pizzazz, a mix between a poodle and a miniature American shepherd. 

All of this said, one puppy name, in particular, really stood out from the rest. It's simultaneously a super-silly word and ultra-timely slang, appropriate for the event at hand and emblematic of the whole idea of losing yourself in joyful puppy-based sports events. According to us here at Cuteness, the absolute cutest name of a pup playing in the 2025 Puppy Bowl belongs to a Shih Tzu-Maltese mix named Delulu. If you've been on the internet lately, you've probably heard the term, which is short for "delusional" but way more fun. Here's to Delulu and all the competitors in the 2025 Puppy Bowl!