The person who owns the dog at the time the application for registration is submitted to the American Kennel Club (AKC) has the right to name it. Names are subject to AKC approval and the following guidelines:

• Name choices are limited to thirty (30) letters. Spaces betweenwords, apostrophes and hyphens are counted.

• All letters in a dog's name are limited to the standard Englishalphabet. Diacritical markings (accent grave, accent acute, umlaut, etc.) are not printed on Registration Certificates in a dog's name. When Registration Certificates are printed, all letters are capitalized.

• A Registered Kennel Name cannot be included in a dog's nameunless its use is authorized by the owner of the name.

• Roman numerals must not be included at the end of the dog'sname. The AKC reserves the right to assign roman numerals for identification purposes.

• The AKC permits thirty-seven (37) dogs of each breed to be assignedthe same name.

• Words and phrases that may not be included in a dog's name:

• Champion, champ, sieger or any other AKC title or show term, eitherspelled out or abbreviated.

• Obscenities and words derogatory to any race, creed or nationality ortransliterations of such words.

• Kennel(s), male, stud, sire, bitch, dam and female.

• Breed names alone.

• There are no restrictions on arabic (1, 2, 3),

• cardinal (one, two, three)and ordinal (first, second, third) numbers that are spelled out.

• An imported dog must be registered with the same name underwhich it was registered in its country of birth, except for the addition of a Registered Kennel Name.

No change in the name of a dog registered with The American Kennel Club will be allowed to be made except for a one-time change for a dog whelped in the United States which the breeder(s) has registered with The American Kennel Club.

However, no change in the name will be recorded by The American KennelClub after the dog has produced or sired an AKC registered litter or received an award at an AKC licensed or member event. Additionally, no change may be made to the dog's registered name unless the breeder(s) of record has consented in writing to the AKC approving the change.