Chihuahuas reign as Los Angeles County's most popular dog breed

There are that many tiny pooches with the royal moniker registered in Los Angeles County and almost 60,000 registered Chihuahuas in total.

"L.A.’s Top Dogs," a new database compiled by the Los Angeles Times and launched this week on its website (latimes.com/dogs) provides facts and figures on more than half a million registered dogs in Los Angeles County. That's fewer than half the number of dogs actually living here, because many pet owners don't comply with county and city requirements to register them. Nonetheless, the database offers a fascinating census of the dogs we live with and those we encounter.

In the law-abiding canine universe of Los Angeles County, Chihuahuas and Labradors and pit bulls abound. There are, to be exact, 59,684 registered Chihuahuas, 58,071 labs and 20,851 American pit bull terriers.

If Shakespeare was wrong and there is something in a name, then ours is a world filled with people's fantasies about and hopes for their dogs. There are pit bulls named Angel and poodles named Rocky and 15 fluffy Pomeranians named Rambo.

Across the county there are 6,502 dogs whose owners literally deemed them lucky to be theirs. is the most popular name among registered dogs. An additional 743 dogs are Happy. And as proof that size doesn't matter for happiness, there are 66 Chihuahuas and 63 German shepherds called Happy.

Either because they're talented or as a homage to a rap star, two dogs are named 50 Cent. (A beagle and a Rottweiler.) And one Chihuahua -- whose people, perhaps, couldn't abide bad grammar -- is named 50 Cents.

There are dogs named Beyonce, George Bush and George Burns. There are Madonnas and 192 Shaqs. There is a pit bull named Bradpitt and a pointer named Mike Piazza and 1,020 dogs named Kobe. And if you think the dog named is a Chihuahua, the breed popularized -- for better or worse -- by the celebutante, you'd be wrong. It's a Jack Russell terrier.

The canine compendium, which was researched and created by L.A. Times database producer Ben Welsh, reveals the most popular names, ranks breeds in terms of abundance and tracks the most common dog breeds by . (You can also plug in most breeds and see the top ZIP Code locations for registered dogs of that breed.) It lets the user play with it in a variety of ways. For example, where is the top locale for dogs named Daisy? Lancaster (ZIP Code 93536).