Most Popular Pet Names: Real NYC and Seattle License Data

Key findings

What the records say

Bella is the most common NYC dog name (3,461 dogs, 1.0% of the 332,918); Luna is second with 3,040. In Seattle, Luna is number one for both dogs (247) and cats (111).
Luna overtook Bella in 2017. Luna has been the most common name for NYC dogs born in every year from 2017 to 2023, while Bella led every birth year from 2010 to 2016.
Luna is the fastest riser. Among NYC dogs, Luna went from 5.2 per 1,000 dogs born in 2010–2013 to 13.9 per 1,000 born in 2020–2023 (average of the first four and last four birth years). Bella (12.7 → 8.8) and Max (10.5 → 6.5) went the other way.
Names are less concentrated than you would guess. The ten most common names cover 7.4% of NYC dogs, 5.6% of Seattle dogs and 4.1% of Seattle cats. 20,092 of the 34,608 distinct NYC dog names (58%) belong to exactly one dog.
Cats and dogs share about half their favorites. 26 of Seattle's top 50 dog names are also in its top 50 cat names. Cat-only favorites include Shadow, Loki, Willow, Momo, Cleo, Jasper.
The two cities agree more than you might expect. 34 of the NYC top 50 dog names are also in Seattle's top 50, but order differs: Rosie is #5 in Seattle and #32 in NYC.
Breed shifts the leaderboard. Frankie is the top Dachshund name (80 dogs, not counting dogs literally named “Dachshund”), and Blue is the #2 name among NYC pit bulls (193 dogs) while ranking only #31 across all NYC dogs.

Every figure on this page comes from the two public datasets listed under Sources; see “How we counted” for the exact steps.

Want ideas, not data? Try our pet name generator, browse dog names with meaning, or look at Russian pet names for something less common.

Rankings

Top pet names, by city and species

Top 20 dog names in New York City

1Bella3,461

2Luna3,040

3Max2,977

4Charlie2,600

5Coco2,593

6Lola2,095

7Rocky2,076

8Milo1,992

9Teddy1,914

10Lucy1,788

11Daisy1,699

12Buddy1,534

13Lucky1,520

14Bailey1,480

15Princess1,384

16Leo1,353

17Toby1,331

18Chloe1,277

19Penny1,225

20Oliver1,217

Top 50 NYC dog names

Filter this list by name

#	Name	Dogs	Share	Sex	Seattle rank
1	Bella	3,461	1.04%	99% F	#10
2	Luna	3,040	0.91%	99% F	#1
3	Max	2,977	0.89%	98% M	#19
4	Charlie	2,600	0.78%	85% M	#2
5	Coco	2,593	0.78%	70% F	#12
6	Lola	2,095	0.63%	99% F	#18
7	Rocky	2,076	0.62%	98% M	#37
8	Milo	1,992	0.60%	98% M	#6
9	Teddy	1,914	0.57%	95% M	#23
10	Lucy	1,788	0.54%	99% F	#3
11	Daisy	1,699	0.51%	100% F	#4
12	Buddy	1,534	0.46%	99% M	#17
13	Lucky	1,520	0.46%	86% M	#73
14	Bailey	1,480	0.44%	54% F	#16
15	Princess	1,384	0.42%	99% F	#269
16	Leo	1,353	0.41%	99% M	#14
17	Toby	1,331	0.40%	98% M	#34
18	Chloe	1,277	0.38%	99% F	#62
19	Penny	1,225	0.37%	99% F	#8
20	Oliver	1,217	0.37%	99% M	#25
21	Oreo	1,163	0.35%	71% M	#113
22	Mia	1,126	0.34%	99% F	#73
23	Cooper	1,114	0.33%	97% M	#13
24	Molly	1,044	0.31%	99% F	#35
25	Cookie	1,032	0.31%	77% F	#113
26	Ruby	1,030	0.31%	98% F	#9
27	Stella	1,026	0.31%	100% F	#19
28	Lily	1,018	0.31%	100% F	#30
29	Jack	1,010	0.30%	99% M	#31
30	Prince	1,003	0.30%	99% M	#251
31	Blue	989	0.30%	74% M	#67
32	Rosie	978	0.29%	99% F	#5
33	Bruno	898	0.27%	99% M	#102
34	Bear	869	0.26%	91% M	#24
35	Benji	865	0.26%	99% M	#150
36	Pepper	850	0.26%	78% F	#15
37	Lulu	842	0.25%	98% F	#38
38	Riley	824	0.25%	51% F	#46
39	Sophie	822	0.25%	100% F	#48
40	Maggie	819	0.25%	100% F	#21
41	Ginger	811	0.24%	96% F	#59
42	Zeus	805	0.24%	100% M	#109
43	Lady	802	0.24%	100% F	#175
44	Louie	794	0.24%	97% M	#40
45	King	771	0.23%	99% M	#403
46	Sadie	753	0.23%	100% F	#28
47	Zoey	742	0.22%	100% F	#79
48	Gizmo	729	0.22%	92% M	#150
49	Ollie	727	0.22%	91% M	#21
50	Frankie	723	0.22%	59% M	#31

Share = percent of the 332,918 counted dogs. Sex = the larger share of dogs with that name recorded as male (M) or female (F).

Top 20 dog names in Seattle

1Luna247

2Charlie176

3Lucy161

4Daisy158

5Rosie124

6Milo122

7Poppy118

8Penny116

9Ruby112

10Bella108

11Scout106

12Coco103

13Cooper96

14Leo95

15Pepper94

16Bailey93

17Buddy92

18Lola90

19Stella88

20Max88

Top 50 Seattle dog names

Filter this list by name

#	Name	Dogs	Share	NYC rank
1	Luna	247	0.97%	#2
2	Charlie	176	0.69%	#4
3	Lucy	161	0.63%	#10
4	Daisy	158	0.62%	#11
5	Rosie	124	0.48%	#32
6	Milo	122	0.48%	#8
7	Poppy	118	0.46%	#144
8	Penny	116	0.45%	#19
9	Ruby	112	0.44%	#26
10	Bella	108	0.42%	#1
11	Scout	106	0.41%	#78
12	Coco	103	0.40%	#5
13	Cooper	96	0.38%	#23
14	Leo	95	0.37%	#16
15	Pepper	94	0.37%	#36
16	Bailey	93	0.36%	#14
17	Buddy	92	0.36%	#12
18	Lola	90	0.35%	#6
19	Stella	88	0.34%	#27
20	Max	88	0.34%	#3
21	Maggie	87	0.34%	#40
22	Ollie	87	0.34%	#49
23	Teddy	86	0.34%	#9
24	Bear	85	0.33%	#34
25	Olive	83	0.32%	#62
26	Oliver	83	0.32%	#20
27	Gus	81	0.32%	#100
28	Sadie	79	0.31%	#46
29	Finn	76	0.30%	#108
30	Lily	75	0.29%	#28
31	Frankie	74	0.29%	#50
32	Jack	74	0.29%	#29
33	Winnie	73	0.29%	#81
34	Toby	72	0.28%	#17
35	Molly	71	0.28%	#24
36	Ellie	67	0.26%	#77
37	Rocky	66	0.26%	#7
38	Hazel	65	0.25%	#69
39	Lulu	65	0.25%	#37
40	Louie	64	0.25%	#44
41	Kona	63	0.25%	#226
42	Millie	63	0.25%	#98
43	Henry	63	0.25%	#57
44	Bodhi	60	0.23%	#356
45	Ziggy	60	0.23%	#76
46	Moose	59	0.23%	#129
47	Riley	59	0.23%	#38
48	Sophie	58	0.23%	#39
49	Archie	58	0.23%	#65
50	Mochi	57	0.22%	#94

Share = percent of the 25,569 Seattle dogs with a usable name.

Top 20 cat names in Seattle

1Luna111

2Lucy59

3Lily51

4Oliver43

5Leo43

6Charlie43

7Pepper42

8Bella42

9Milo42

10Shadow41

11Loki40

12Willow39

13Momo39

14Max37

15Mochi36

16Cleo34

17Jasper34

18Penny33

19Oscar32

20Kiki31

Top 50 Seattle cat names

Filter this list by name

#	Name	Cats	Share	Seattle dog rank
1	Luna	111	0.87%	#1
2	Lucy	59	0.46%	#3
3	Lily	51	0.40%	#30
4	Oliver	43	0.34%	#25
5	Leo	43	0.34%	#14
6	Charlie	43	0.34%	#2
7	Pepper	42	0.33%	#15
8	Bella	42	0.33%	#10
9	Milo	42	0.33%	#6
10	Shadow	41	0.32%	#80
11	Loki	40	0.31%	#57
12	Willow	39	0.31%	#50
13	Momo	39	0.31%	#121
14	Max	37	0.29%	#19
15	Mochi	36	0.28%	#50
16	Cleo	34	0.27%	#121
17	Jasper	34	0.27%	#70
18	Penny	33	0.26%	#8
19	Oscar	32	0.25%	#59
20	Kiki	31	0.24%	#206
21	Jack	30	0.24%	#31
22	Freya	29	0.23%	#86
23	Olive	28	0.22%	#25
24	Sophie	27	0.21%	#48
25	Oreo	26	0.20%	#113
26	Coco	26	0.20%	#12
27	Gracie	25	0.20%	#67
28	Lulu	25	0.20%	#38
29	Phoebe	25	0.20%	#73
30	Poppy	25	0.20%	#7
31	Cosmo	25	0.20%	#96
32	Rosie	25	0.20%	#5
33	Ollie	24	0.19%	#21
34	Hazel	24	0.19%	#38
35	Smokey	23	0.18%	#667
36	Lola	23	0.18%	#18
37	Theo	23	0.18%	#62
38	George	23	0.18%	#82
39	Penelope	22	0.17%	#159
40	Daisy	22	0.17%	#4
41	Miso	22	0.17%	#206
42	Felix	21	0.16%	#185
43	Finn	21	0.16%	#29
44	Juniper	21	0.16%	#96
45	Mimi	21	0.16%	#447
46	Cricket	21	0.16%	#121
47	Buddy	21	0.16%	#17
48	Stella	21	0.16%	#19
49	Suki	21	0.16%	#269
50	Boo	20	0.16%	#447

Share = percent of the 12,732 Seattle cats with a usable name.

Over time

How dog names have changed since 2010

NYC records include each dog's birth year, so we can compare names across generations. The chart shows how many dogs per 1,000 born that year carry a name, 2010 to 2023.

Add a name to the chart

The most common name for each birth year

Born	#1	#2	#3
2023	Luna (1.27%)	Milo (1.14%)	Teddy (0.88%)
2022	Luna (1.39%)	Milo (1.01%)	Bella (0.86%)
2021	Luna (1.57%)	Bella (0.98%)	Milo (0.93%)
2020	Luna (1.33%)	Milo (0.9%)	Bella (0.81%)
2019	Luna (1.35%)	Bella (1.0%)	Coco (0.77%)
2018	Luna (1.24%)	Bella (1.13%)	Charlie (0.81%)
2017	Luna (1.16%)	Bella (0.94%)	Max (0.89%)
2016	Bella (1.16%)	Max (1.0%)	Luna (0.99%)
2015	Bella (1.1%)	Max (0.99%)	Charlie (0.89%)
2014	Bella (1.12%)	Max (0.93%)	Charlie (0.9%)
2013	Bella (1.24%)	Max (0.92%)	Charlie (0.88%)
2012	Bella (1.17%)	Max (1.08%)	Charlie (0.88%)
2011	Bella (1.3%)	Max (1.06%)	Coco (0.9%)
2010	Bella (1.37%)	Max (1.15%)	Coco (0.94%)

Percent = share of all counted NYC dogs born that year (about 12,000 to 28,000 dogs per year).

Biggest risers and fallers

Rising (names per 1,000 dogs born)

Name	2010–13	2020–23
Luna	5.2	13.9
Milo	4.2	9.9
Teddy	4.8	7.5
Archie	1.0	3.2
Nova	0.4	2.5
Loki	0.9	2.9
Benji	1.7	3.4
Winnie	0.9	2.5

Falling (names per 1,000 dogs born)

Name	2010–13	2020–23
Max	10.5	6.5
Bella	12.7	8.8
Buddy	5.9	3.1
Lola	7.8	4.9
Lucy	6.6	3.8
Lucky	5.5	2.9
Molly	4.3	1.8
Princess	5.2	2.8

Names given to at least 150 NYC dogs born 2010–2023, sorted by change between the first four and last four birth years.

Famous owners break the pattern: see the names behind Kylie Jenner's dogs and Elon Musk's pets.

Read this carefully: a dog only appears if it was licensed in one of the dataset's extract years (2016–18, 2022–24 and 2026). Older birth years therefore only include dogs that lived long enough to be on file, and 2024–25 births are left out because many of those puppies are not licensed yet. We use shares of each birth year, not raw counts, which keeps the comparison fair but does not remove the bias.

Girl and boy names

Top names by sex, and names that go both ways

NYC records the sex of every dog, so we can rank girl and boy names separately and find the names that go both ways.

Top 10 girl dog names

#	Name	Dogs
1	Bella	3,441
2	Luna	3,022
3	Lola	2,081
4	Coco	1,803
5	Lucy	1,775
6	Daisy	1,693
7	Princess	1,369
8	Chloe	1,265
9	Penny	1,214
10	Mia	1,118

Top 10 boy dog names

#	Name	Dogs
1	Max	2,926
2	Charlie	2,215
3	Rocky	2,028
4	Milo	1,954
5	Teddy	1,810
6	Buddy	1,521
7	Leo	1,345
8	Toby	1,310
9	Lucky	1,300
10	Oliver	1,204

Names that go both ways (300+ dogs, between 35% and 65% male): Bailey (46% male), Riley (49% male), Frankie (59% male), Harley (42% male), Peanut (62% male), Brooklyn (43% male), Baby (36% male), Scout (39% male). Want more? See 400+ girl dog names.

NYC vs Seattle

Which names belong to which city

With two cities we can see which names belong to one place. Each ratio compares the name's share of dogs in one city with its share in the other. Seattle's list is smaller, so treat big ratios as a hint, not a law.

More common in NYC than Seattle

Name	NYC dogs	Seattle dogs	Ratio
Fluffy	325	2	12.5×
Princess	1,384	15	7.1×
Pebbles	309	4	5.9×
King	771	10	5.9×
Brooklyn	592	8	5.7×
Baby	576	8	5.5×
Chase	480	7	5.3×
Romeo	517	8	5.0×

More common in Seattle than NYC

Name	Seattle dogs	NYC dogs	Ratio
Bodhi	60	152	5.1×
Poppy	118	333	4.6×
Kona	63	223	3.7×
Juno	54	238	3.0×
Arlo	40	181	2.9×
Maple	49	239	2.7×
Scout	106	523	2.6×
Mabel	45	231	2.5×

Cat names that dogs rarely get

Name	Seattle cats	Seattle dogs	Cat share ÷ dog share
Kiki	31	19	3.3×
Momo	39	30	2.6×
Cleo	34	30	2.3×
Shadow	41	41	2.0×
Oreo	26	31	1.7×
Freya	29	37	1.6×
Loki	40	53	1.5×
Jasper	34	47	1.5×

Seattle only; names carried by at least 25 cats.

More cat name ideas: black cat names, male cat names and orange cat names.

By breed

Most common names for each breed

Breed changes the leaderboard. This table shows the three most common names for NYC's biggest breed groups. Names that just repeat the breed (192 Poodles are named “Poodle”, 130 French Bulldogs are named “French”, 103 Dachshunds are named “Dachshund”, 77 Pomeranians are named “Pom”) are left out.

Breed	Dogs	#1 name	#2 name	#3 name
Shih Tzu (incl. crossbreeds)	21,350	Bella (348)	Oreo (319)	Teddy (314)
Yorkshire Terrier (incl. crossbreeds)	20,469	Bella (373)	Coco (295)	Max (269)
Poodle (incl. crossbreeds)	18,583	Coco (253)	Teddy (253)	Luna (209)
Labrador Retriever (incl. crossbreeds)	18,507	Luna (197)	Charlie (160)	Bella (160)
Chihuahua (incl. crossbreeds)	18,320	Coco (192)	Bella (170)	Luna (143)
Pit Bull (incl. mixes)	15,703	Bella (206)	Blue (193)	King (160)
Maltese (incl. crossbreeds)	11,577	Bella (179)	Coco (165)	Max (141)
Dachshund (incl. crossbreeds)	7,751	Frankie (80)	Charlie (72)	Max (63)
German Shepherd	7,482	Max (110)	Bella (102)	Luna (82)
Pomeranian (incl. crossbreeds)	7,079	Coco (84)	Bella (82)	Teddy (77)
Beagle (incl. crossbreeds)	6,848	Bailey (84)	Max (76)	Buddy (73)
French Bulldog	5,443	Luna (78)	Lola (70)	Stella (42)
Golden Retriever (incl. crossbreeds)	5,308	Charlie (62)	Bailey (59)	Max (52)
Goldendoodle	5,115	Charlie (88)	Teddy (73)	Cooper (57)

Pick a breed for its top 10

21,350 Shih Tzu (incl. crossbreeds) dogs in the NYC list

Top 10 names

Bella — 348
Oreo — 319
Teddy — 314
Coco — 291
Max — 277
Gizmo — 223
Luna — 217
Milo — 189
Charlie — 176
Rocky — 174

Seattle: names by breed

Dog breed	Pets	#1 name	#2 name	#3 name
Labrador Retriever	2,271	Luna (33)	Lucy (20)	Daisy (16)
Chihuahua (short coat)	1,338	Buddy (10)	Bella (9)	Luna (9)
Golden Retriever	1,276	Daisy (17)	Luna (14)	Penny (11)
German Shepherd	894	Luna (11)	Zeus (9)	Bella (8)
Miniature Poodle	848	Charlie (14)	Milo (10)	Henry (8)
Standard Poodle	815	Luna (13)	Theo (7)	Lucy (6)
Terrier	636	Charlie (6)	Benji (6)	Lexi (5)
Australian Shepherd	603	Luna (9)	Milo (8)	Ruby (5)

Cat breed	Pets	#1 name	#2 name	#3 name
Domestic Shorthair	6,939	Luna (63)	Lily (33)	Pepper (28)
American Shorthair	1,496	Luna (14)	Willow (8)	Jack (8)
Domestic Medium Hair	1,434	Bella (9)	Luna (8)	Milo (8)
Domestic Longhair	807	Lucy (7)	Chloe (6)	Leo (5)
Siamese	411	Willow (3)	Momo (3)	Billy (3)
Maine Coon	179	Leo (4)	Oscar (3)	Ellie (2)

Seattle breed labels are as recorded by the city (primary breed only). Mixed-breed dogs are left out of the dog table.

Method

How we counted

NYC. “NYC Dog Licensing Dataset” (NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, via NYC Open Data), downloaded November 8, 2026; portal data last updated July 15, 2026. It holds 819,323 license-period rows with issue dates from 2014-09-12 to 2025-12-31 across the extract years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2026. The portal notes that a record is a license period, not a unique dog, so the 332,918 NYC dogs on this page are an estimate of the number of dogs (de-duplicated by name, sex, birth year, breed and ZIP code), not a count of license documents.

Seattle. “Seattle Pet Licenses” (City of Seattle, data.seattle.gov, dataset jguv-t9rb), current as of October 6, 2026: 38,413 active licenses (dogs, cats and 14 goats and pigs, which we ignored). 75.5% were issued in 2026, so this is a snapshot of current pets, not a history.

Cleaning steps

Decoded HTML entities in names, trimmed spaces and compared names case-insensitively (BELLA, Bella and bella are one name).
Removed 40,797 NYC rows and 95 Seattle rows whose name was a placeholder (Unknown, Name not provided, None, N/A and similar), one character long, or contained a digit.
NYC only: counted a dog once per combination of name, sex, birth year, breed and ZIP code, because renewals repeat the same dog. This took 778,526 usable rows to 332,918 dogs. It is an estimate: two identical dogs in one ZIP would be merged, and a dog whose owner moved could be counted twice.
Seattle only: removed 3 repeated license numbers.
Ranked names by number of pets; tied names share a rank.
Birth-year trend: for each birth year 2010–2023, names per 1,000 NYC dogs born that year (names given to 150+ dogs in that window).

What this data cannot tell you

Only licensed pets are counted. Licensing rates are well below 100%, and owners who license may not match owners who do not.
Names are as typed by owners. Spellings are not merged (Cocoa and Coco are separate).
Two big cities are not the US. Seattle’s list has no cat history and NYC’s has no cats at all.

What’s new

Edition history

November 8, 2026 (first edition): NYC Dog Licensing Dataset (portal update July 15, 2026) and Seattle Pet Licenses (as of October 6, 2026) analyzed from the raw files; top-50 lists, breed tables, a birth-year trend for NYC dogs and a searchable table.

Use this data

Cite it, download it

Cite this page as:

PetNicki. “Most Popular Pet Names: Real NYC and Seattle License Data.” November 8, 2026. https://www.petnicki.com/most-popular-pet-names/. Original data: NYC Open Data (NYC DOHMH) and City of Seattle.

The CSV has every name in the search box with rank and count per list. No owner, address or ZIP data is included.

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Questions

Frequently asked questions

What is the most popular dog name in NYC?

Bella, with 3,461 of the 332,918 dogs in our cleaned NYC list. Luna is second (3,040) and Max third (2,977). Luna is climbing fast among younger dogs, while Bella and Max are slowly losing share (see the birth-year chart).

What is the most popular dog name in Seattle?

Luna, with 247 of 25,569 licensed Seattle dogs, then Charlie (176) and Lucy (161). Seattle's list is a snapshot of active licenses as of October 6, 2026, so it shows today's pets rather than a trend.

What is the most popular cat name?

In Seattle it is Luna (111 of 12,732 licensed cats), followed by Lucy (59) and Lily (51). We only found one large public list of cat names with breeds, so cats are Seattle-only for now.

Are these the most popular pet names in the whole US?

No. They are the names on two cities' license records, so they lean urban, they reflect owners who bother to license, and they are not a national count. We use them because every row is public and anyone can re-run the numbers, which most “top pet names” lists cannot say.

How did you handle duplicates and junk names?

NYC lists one row per license period, so a dog renewed several times appears several times. We counted a dog once per name, sex, birth year, breed and ZIP combination, which brought 778,526 usable rows down to 332,918 dogs. We dropped placeholders such as “Unknown” and “Name not provided”, single letters and names with digits. The method section has every step.

Why is a name missing from the search box?

The search lists names shared by at least 10 NYC dogs, 5 Seattle dogs or 5 Seattle cats. Below that, one or two dogs would be identifiable by their owners, and small counts are noisy anyway. A name that is not listed is rare in these cities.

Can I use these numbers in an article?

Yes. Please link to this page and credit the original data to NYC Open Data and the City of Seattle. A CSV of the full searchable table is available from the “Use this data” section.

I just named a new dog. What should I plan for next?

Budget for the first year and check growth: our guide to dog insurance cost per month covers what owners pay, and the dog age calculator turns your dog's age into human years.

How often is this page updated?

Once a year, when the city datasets refresh. The first edition is November 2026. Each update will list what changed in the “What’s new” box.

More resources

Keep exploring

Guide1,500 pet namesDogs, cats, birds, rabbits and more.GuideBest pet insurance in the USAWhat plans cost and cover, compared.HubAll pet toolsCalculators and checkers for dogs and cats.ToolDog age calculatorConvert your dog's age to human years.GuideTop 100 cat breeds and pricesBreeds, temperament and typical cost.GuideBunny names250+ ideas for girls, boys and bonded pairs.

Sources

Where the numbers come from

NYC Open Data — NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; downloaded November 8, 2026.
City of Seattle — Seattle Pet Licenses (jguv-t9rb) — current as of October 6, 2026; public domain per the portal.

Counts are our own analysis of the public datasets above. License records are not a complete census of pets. Last reviewed November 8, 2026.

Most Popular Pet Names: 371,000 Real Dog and Cat Licenses, Ranked

🔎Find your pet’s name

What the records say

Top pet names, by city and species

Top 20 dog names in New York City

Top 50 NYC dog names

Top 20 dog names in Seattle

Top 50 Seattle dog names

Top 20 cat names in Seattle

Top 50 Seattle cat names

How dog names have changed since 2010

The most common name for each birth year

Biggest risers and fallers

Top names by sex, and names that go both ways

Which names belong to which city

Cat names that dogs rarely get

Most common names for each breed

Top 10 names

Seattle: names by breed

How we counted

Cleaning steps

What this data cannot tell you

Edition history

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Frequently asked questions

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Where the numbers come from