How to choose a name for your chickens
There are no rules for naming chickens, but most keepers settle on one of four kinds of name, which are the four groups in Mile Four’s list above: cute pet names, puns on famous people, old-fashioned human names and one-off “unique” names taken from food, nature or a bird’s looks [1]. A few practical points help a name stick:
- Pick names you can tell apart. You will be calling across a garden, so short names with different sounds (Coco, Pearl, Fudge, Zelda) work better than a flock of Lola, Lulu and Lily.
- Wait to see the bird. Colour, markings and personality give the best names. A golden hen suits Ginger, Fudge or Cinnamon; a pale grey one suits Cloud; a fast one suits Comet [1].
- Use a theme for a flock. Naming every bird in one style, such as all old ladies’ names or all celebrity puns, makes the set easy to remember and fun for visitors.
- Keep it kind. Children often help name the flock, so a name that gets a laugh is good, one that mocks the bird is not.
Cute chicken names
Cute names are short, soft and easy to call. Mile Four’s favourites are Coco, Frankie, Lola, Lulu, Minnie, Phoebe, Poppy, Olive, Pearl, Stella, Rosie and Ruby [1]. Most are two syllables ending in a vowel sound, which is what makes them carry when you shout them. Ruby and Pearl also suit hens by colour: Ruby for a red bird such as a Rhode Island Red, Pearl for a white one.
Funny chicken names based on famous people
Celebrity puns are the most popular way to get a laugh out of a chicken name. Mile Four’s list has ten, and each swaps part of a famous name for a chicken word:
- Amelia Egghart, after the aviator Amelia Earhart
- Goldie Hen, after Goldie Hawn
- Grace Smelly, after Grace Kelly
- Hennifer Lopez, after Jennifer Lopez
- Hilary Fluff, after Hilary Duff
- Lindsay Lohen, after Lindsay Lohan
- Marilyn Henroe, after Marilyn Monroe
- Margaret Hatcher, after Margaret Thatcher
- Mary Poopins, after Mary Poppins
- Meryl Cheep, after Meryl Streep [1]
The usual tricks are to swap in “hen”, “egg”, “cheep”, “fluff” or “hatch”, or a rhyme on a sound in the original name. They work best with names people will recognise straight away, so the pun lands without explanation.
Classic and old-fashioned chicken names
Old-fashioned human names suit chickens surprisingly well, perhaps because hens behave like a group of busy, opinionated neighbours. Mile Four’s classic names are Beatrice, Betty, Bonnie, Cheryl, Chloe, Fiona, Janice, Jasmine, Mildred, Ramona, Rhonda and Winifred [1]. Names like Mildred and Winifred are the ones people tend to remember, because they are so rarely used for babies now.
Unique chicken names
Unique names come from anywhere: food, drinks, nature and character. Mile Four suggests Almond, Dolly, Cinnamon, Comet, Cloud, Fudge, Ginger, Jazz, Puff, Tequila, Trixie and Zelda [1]. Food names such as Almond, Cinnamon and Fudge are a natural fit for brown and buff hens, while Cloud and Puff suit fluffy breeds.
Famous chickens from films and cartoons
If you would rather borrow a name than invent one, film and television have plenty:
- Ginger is the hen who leads the escape in Chicken Run, the 2000 stop-motion film by Peter Lord and Nick Park. Her co-star is an American rooster called Rocky Rhodes [2]. Ginger is also on Mile Four’s list of unique names [1].
- Foghorn Leghorn is the loud Looney Tunes rooster who starred in 29 cartoons between 1946 and 1964 [3].
- Heihei is the pet rooster in Disney’s 2016 film Moana [4].
- Chicken Little is the title character of Disney’s 2005 animated film, loosely based on the folk tale Henny Penny [5].
Henny Penny itself is a good name for a hen, as is any other name from the same tale, which also features Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky and Goosey Loosey [5].
Names for roosters
Mile Four’s names are mostly for hens. For a rooster, the famous cockerels above (Foghorn, Rocky, Heihei) are popular choices, and the bolder names on the list, such as Comet, Jazz, Frankie and Tequila, work for a cockerel as well as a hen [1][2][3][4].
Questions about chicken names
What are some good names for hens?
Short, friendly names such as Coco, Lola, Pearl, Poppy and Rosie, or old-fashioned names such as Betty, Mildred and Winifred, are some of the most popular. For a laugh, celebrity puns such as Hennifer Lopez and Meryl Cheep are hard to beat [1].
What are funny chicken names?
Puns on famous people work best: Amelia Egghart, Goldie Hen, Hilary Fluff, Marilyn Henroe, Margaret Hatcher and Mary Poopins are all on Mile Four’s list [1].
What is the name of the chicken in Chicken Run?
Ginger is the hen who leads the escape, and Rocky Rhodes is the American rooster who joins her [2].
What is a good name for a chicken coop?
Coop names usually play on house names: ideas include the Hen House, Cluckingham Palace or Fort Knox for a well-secured run. Pick one that suits the flock’s naming theme.
Should you name chickens you keep for eggs?
Many keepers do, especially with small back-garden flocks, because named hens are easier to keep track of when one is off her food or stops laying. Keepers raising birds for meat often avoid names for the opposite reason.
Sources
- Mile Four, Chicken names, the article this list was published with. The page has since been expanded into a longer list.
- Wikipedia, Chicken Run.
- Wikipedia, Foghorn Leghorn.
- Wikipedia, Heihei.
- Wikipedia, Chicken Little (2005 film), and the folk tale Henny Penny.
Last reviewed 2 November 2026
