IT is often said that Britain is a nation of pet lovers and many of us will know that owning a dog or cat is like having an extra family member.

For many people it’s important to give a unique name to their furry friend, but some of these names may not be as unique as they may think.

So how can you find out how many Bellas and Poppies are out there in Cornwall?

Well, financial services comparison website GoCompare – usually associated with TV advertising campaigns featuring a comic Italian opera singer – has now analysed more than 500,000 pet names across the UK listed in its pet insurance quote database, and says it can now reveal the most popular cat and dog names in Cornwall, the South West and the UK generally.

The database – which can be accessed via https://www.gocompare.com/pet-insurance/pet-names/ –allows you to discover how popular or unique your pet’s name is. GoCompare says that its research method for creating the database involved analysing a total of half a million pet names from the last two years of pet insurance data. When a quote was requested for the same pet more than once during this period, the duplicates were removed.

So what are the top 10 pet names in the PL (Plymouth) postcode area into which South East Cornwall falls? The database lists the following, with the most popular at the top:

1 Poppy - 86 pets are named this;

2 Bella – 80;

3 Molly – 72;

4 Alfie – 71;

5 Buddy – 66;

6 Charlie – 62;

7 Ruby – 61;

8 Max – 57;

9 Lola – 54;

10 Millie – 46.

Interestingly Poppy and Bella were also the two most popular names in the Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, Dorchester and Taunton postcode areas – and, indeed, across the UK as a whole.

However, further west in Cornwall in the TR (Truro) postcode area, the name Alfie takes top spot, with Poppy relegated to second position and Bella down to fifth:

1 Alfie – 37 pets are named this;

2 Poppy – 36;

3 Molly – 36;

4 Charlie – 31;

5 Bella – 30;

6 Lola – 30;

7 Ruby – 28;

8 Oscar – 26;

9 Max – 25;

10 Buddy – 22.

Alfie also took top spot in the Swindon area, and was second most popular after Bella in the Exeter and Torquay postcode catchments, while proving the third most popular name in Bath and Bournemouth and, indeed, across the UK as a whole.

The UK-wide results are as follows:

1 Bella – 6,635 pets are named this in the UK;

2 Poppy – 6,478;

3 Alfie – 6,426;

4 Charlie – 5,301;

5 Molly – 4,784;

6 Max – 4,570;

7 Lola – 4,548;

8 Oscar – 4,004;

9 Daisy – 3,990;

10 Bailey – 3,965.

Find out how popular your pet’s name is at https://www.gocompare.com/pet-insurance/pet-names/