Dog Names Meaning Great One

There are many names that mean great or great one that make excellent names for dogs, and it's not surprising that some of those names show up in popular culture on occasion. What might surprise you is just how often the name Max shows up as a canine name in books, television, and movies. In 1957, the name Max was used for the canine companion to the titular character in the children’s book, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, a role that was played by six different dogs in the 2000 live-action film starring Jim Carrey, and in the early 2000s a fictional dog named Max became the main character in a series of educational books known as the “Max the Dog Science Adventures.” When an exceptionally intelligent and capable bionic German Shepherd was introduced in the third and final season of the television show "The Bionic Woman" in 1978, he was dubbed Maximillian which was typically shortened to Max, the beloved and protective Doberman Pinscher dog that belonged to Jaime Lloyd in the 1989 slasher film “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers” was named Max and the character of Max the Dog was featured on many of the episodes of the television series "Little Men" in 1999. A 2015 movie called "Max" featured a canine character by the same name, a Belgian Malinois who has just returned from a traumatizing tour of duty in Afghanistan to live with the family of his fallen handler and the name Max shows up in animated movies as well, as Prince Eric’s faithful English Sheepdog in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” and in a more prominent role in the recent 2016 feature-length film, “The Secret Life of Pets.”  

The name canine moniker of Max is not restricted to the page or screen, however, and in spring of 2014, a rescued German Shepherd with that name became a real-life hero. When the home that Max shared with his owner became filled with deadly carbon monoxide due to a malfunctioning wall heater Max was unable to rouse the 80-year-old Jack Ferrell, and it was at that point that Max took things into his own paws. Grasping the unconscious man’s arm in his powerful jaws, Max proceeded to drag Jack from the bedroom and into the kitchen, away from the dangerous fumes. When Jack woke in the kitchen, the dog still using his jaws to grip the larger man’s arm, the profuse bleeding from his arm prompted him to call 911 and when firefighters arrived, they discovered the lethal levels of carbon monoxide and natural gas in the home, and credited Max with saving his owner’s life.