A popular monthly dog subscription service has found that a long-running Broadway show and now-“Popular” movie franchise has changed dog owners “For Good.”
According to new subscriber data from BARK (created by BarkBox), dog parents are naming their new pups after characters from the Wicked movie in record numbers.
Wicked is a musical that first hit the stages of Broadway in 2003, adapted from the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. The musical tells a prequel story of characters in the well-known Wizard of Oz, namely, the story of Glinda the Good witch and her friendship with Elphaba, the future wicked witch of the west.
The first of two parts of a movie adaptation was released in 2024, bringing in about $261 million domestically from the box office, and over $750 million worldwide. The second part will be released later this month.
BarkBox found that names from Wicked among their subscribers have jumped 2,867% over the past year.
Some of the most popular names were:
- Elphaba: 68 dogs (up from 5)
- Glinda/Galinda: 47 dogs (up from 1)
- Fiyero (Love interest): 44 dogs (up from 0)
- Nessarose (Elphaba’s sister) and Boq (student at Shiz University): 8 each (up from 0)
- Chistery (name of the leader of the flying monkeys): 3 (up from 0)
Wicked: For Good hits theaters on Nov. 21. Amazon Prime members can use their membership to see the movie a few days earlier than the general public.
BarkBox has created a collab box to celebrate the launch, with Wicked-themed toys available for dogs.
©2025 Cox Media Group
