Pumpkin to Freddy Krueger: These Are the Most Popular Halloween Pet Names

As Halloween approaches, it seems that some pet owners live with a little bit of the spooky spirit all year round, thanks to their pet's Halloween-inspired names.

Pet health insurance provider Embrace Pet Insurance recently released their list of Halloween-inspired pet names, sharing the most common and most unusual favorites.

With over 5,000 pets named Pumpkin, Ghost, Boo, and Salem, and more than 2,000 named Autumn, Candy, Spooky, Monster, and Magic, it's clear that some animal lovers are also fans of fall.

Jenna Mahan, director of claims and a registered veterinary technician at Embrace Pet Insurance, told Newsweek: "Halloween is a favorite holiday for many, so it wasn't surprising to see that it has inspired the names of many dogs and cats, from pups named for pumpkins to cats called after classic scary movie characters. Our large database of insured pets allows us to identify trends in pet names, breeds, insurance claims, and more."

Not just a friendly ghost, Casper appears more than 5,000 times in the database, while other Halloween names inspired by the Disney classic Hocus Pocus are popular too, with thousands of pets named Winnie, Binx, and Winifred.

Meanwhile, some owners like to go a little darker, as seven pets insured by Embrace are named Freddy Krueger as inspired by Nightmare on Elm Street.

"Pets have truly become members of the family. Similarly to choosing names for children, pet parents are selecting names for their 'fur babies' that are meaningful to them," Mahan said. "Pet owners are finding inspiration for unique names in everything from favorite movies and TV shows to holidays and seasons. Pet parents may use their personal interests, hobbies, passions, frequent travel destinations, and favorite characters to come up with options that are meaningful to them."

Over 150 dogs and cats in the database are named Beetlejuice—assuming they can never call their pet's name more than twice. Embrace also ensures hundreds of pets with Ghostbusters-inspired names including Egon, Zuul, and Gozer.

Other pets could happily join The Addams Family with popular names including Pugsley, Gomez, and Morticia.

There is also evidence that pet owners are inspired to name their new family members depending on the time of year.

"We do see some correlation between holiday-themed names and gotcha days [adoption days]," Mahan said. "For example, the majority of adoption days for Halloween-inspired pet names like Pumpkin, Salem, and Boo are in October."

Earlier this week, a video of a Labrador who isn't such a fan of the spooky season was viewed over 5 million times as the pup froze in place after seeing his owner's seasonal decorations.