“Rabbit” was the baby word. Middle English borrowed it from French as the name for the young of the animal, and the grown-up word for the species, coney, slowly faded instead. This table holds 65 receipts like that: the word in ten languages, the burrow vocabulary with glosses, five real rabbits with records, and documented fiction from 1865 to 2016.
65 real names, five registers, one rule. The word lane rows rabbit across ten languages with the etymology attached. The burrow and field register rows the documented vocabulary of what rabbits do. The breed register holds real breed words with their histories. The real lane rows five animals with records, and the fiction lane names every source. Nothing invented; contested claims flagged on the row or in prose.
Grouped by register. The register stays on every row.
Rabbit names with builds, meanings and lanes
Name
Built from
Meaning
Lane
Copy
The word lane: rabbit in ten languages, glosses attached
Rabbit
Middle English rabet, from French
the word first named the young of the animal; it grew up and took over the whole job
word
Coney
Latin cuniculus, the burrow word
the old English word for the animal; its first saying drifted into trouble, and speakers moved on
word
Cuniculus
Latin, burrow (plain read, flagged)
the Roman word; the domestic rabbit’s scientific name still ends in it
word
Lapin
French
the French word; one of the few French animal words with no clean Latin parent, origin debated
word
Lapereau
French diminutive
the word for a young rabbit, a little lapin
word
Conejo
Spanish
from the same burrow root as coney
word
Kanin
Scandinavian
the northern word; German builds Kaninchen, the little one, from the same root
word
Coniglio
Italian
the Italian branch of the same family
word
Coelho
Portuguese
the Portuguese branch; a famous novelist wears it as a surname
word
Królik
Polish
the Slavic branch, the little-one ending again
word
Usagi
Japanese
the Japanese word; the moon rabbit and the year of the rabbit ride on it
word
Lepus
Latin, hare
the hare’s genus and the constellation the Greeks set under Orion’s heels
word
Cuniculture
Latin root + culture
the proper word for rabbit keeping, the whole craft in one term
word
The burrow and field vocabulary: what rabbits do, said plainly
Burrow
the dug home
the rabbit’s own architecture; the back door is the part to remember
burrow
Nest
the fur-lined one
the doe builds it with her own pulled fur; the kittens arrive into it
burrow
Kitten
documented rabbit husbandry
a baby rabbit is a kitten or a kit; not a cat loan, the keeper’s own word
burrow
Doe
the female word
deer, goats and rabbits share it; the mother rabbit is a doe
burrow
Leveret
Old French, little hare
the young hare’s own word; leverets are born furry and seeing, kittens bald and blind
burrow
Binky
keeper vocabulary, young word
the twisting leap a rabbit makes when the day is good; the word is new, the jump is real
burrow
Thump
the alarm drum
the hind-foot warning, drummed by wild and domestic alike
burrow
Flop
the sideways rest
the flop-over of a rabbit safe enough to stop sitting upright
burrow
Scut
the old tail word
the proper word for the white tail; hares and deer wear one too
burrow
Dewlap
the keeper’s word
the loose fold under a doe’s chin; pure animal husbandry
burrow
Kindle
Middle English, to bring forth young
the rabbit keeper’s verb for giving birth; the doe kindles
burrow
Hutch
Old French hutche, a chest
the box word; a storage chest turned animal house
burrow
Fluffle
North American keeper slang
the half-serious word for a group of rabbits; colony is the formal word
burrow
Bound
the two-foot gait
rabbits bound, both hind feet landing together; the honest word for the hop
burrow
Hopper
the gait made a name
what the animal does, worn as a call name
burrow
Jackrabbit
the American West
the giant-eared hare; a jack and a hare, whatever the second half of the word says
burrow
Glean
to gather after the harvest
the field word; the rabbit’s whole diet in one verb
burrow
The breed register: the real breed words with their receipts
Angora
Ankara, Turkey
the long-wool breed named for the city; the wool word is the same root
breed
Lop
the ear that falls
the breed word for the dropped ear; the French type is called bélier, ram
breed
Flemish
Flanders
the Flemish Giant, the breed that makes toddlers look small
breed
Beveren
the Belgian town
the blue-coated breed that carries its home town’s name
breed
Chinchilla
the South American rodent
the rabbit breed built to mimic the rodent’s coat; two animals, one word
breed
Havana
the chocolate coat
named for the dark brown of the cigar, not for Cuban rabbits
breed
Harlequin
the patched costume
the French pattern breed; first shown as the Japanese, renamed after the First World War
breed
Satin
a 1930s mutation
the breed whose guard hairs carry a sheen; a documented mutation, not a marketing word
breed
The real rabbits: five animals with records
Peter Piper
Beatrix Potter’s real rabbit
the Belgian buck she bought in the 1890s and walked on a leash; Peter Rabbit, 1902, is his literary echo
real
Benjamin Bouncer
Potter’s second real rabbit
the lop she sketched in her letters; Benjamin Bunny, 1904, followed in print
real
Darius
the record Continental Giant
recognized as the world’s longest rabbit, about 129 cm; stolen from his Worcestershire garden in 2021, never found
real
Oolong
the internet’s first famous rabbit
the Japanese rabbit of the early 2000s, photographed balancing teacups and wafers on his head; died 2003
real
Yutu
Chinese, jade rabbit
the moon rabbit’s name, given to China’s lunar rover in 2013; folklore became hardware
real
The fiction lane: documented books and film, sources named
Peter Rabbit
Beatrix Potter, 1902
the blue-jacketed raider of Mr McGregor’s garden; the best-selling rabbit story ever told
fiction
Benjamin Bunny
Potter, 1904
the cousin who helps Peter go back for the clothes he lost in the garden
fiction
Br’er Rabbit
Joel Chandler Harris, 1880
the trickster of the African American folktales Harris wrote down; the tar baby story is older than the book
fiction
Flopsy
Potter, 1902 and 1909
one of Peter’s three sisters; she grew into her own book
fiction
Mopsy
Potter, 1902
the middle sister; the three names run as one joke
fiction
Cottontail
Potter, 1902
the third sister; the desert cottontail is a real species wearing the same word
fiction
White Rabbit
Lewis Carroll, 1865
the waistcoated, watch-checking rabbit; the phrase still describes a person late and flustered
fiction
March Hare
Carroll, 1865
the tea-party hare; mad as a March hare was an old saying before the book
fiction
Bugs Bunny
Warner Bros, 1940
the rabbit of A Wild Hare; nominative use, the character belongs to the studio
fiction
Roger Rabbit
the 1988 film
the framed toon of Who Censored Roger Rabbit, 1981, and the film that followed; nominative use
fiction
Lola Bunny
Space Jam, 1996
the basketball rabbit; nominative use
fiction
Buster Bunny
Tiny Toon Adventures, 1990
the student rabbit; nominative use
fiction
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Walt Disney, 1927
the silent-era rabbit who lost his studio and kept his fame; nominative use
fiction
Judy Hopps
Zootopia, 2016
the first rabbit officer of the Disney city; nominative use
fiction
Thumper
Bambi, 1942
the foot-thumping friend; the thump is real behavior, the film made it famous; nominative use
fiction
Fiver
Richard Adams, 1972
the runt who sees what is coming; his Lapine name is Hrairoo, little thousand
fiction
Bigwig
Adams, 1972
the fighter of Watership Down; Lapine Thlayli, fur head
fiction
Woundwort
Adams, 1972
the general of Efrafa; a woundwort is a real healing herb
fiction
Dandelion
Adams, 1972
the warren’s storyteller; the plant word doubles
fiction
Miffy
Dick Bruna, 1955
the Dutch rabbit, Nijntje at home; one of the most drawn rabbits alive; nominative use
fiction
Velveteen
Margery Williams, 1922
the toy rabbit made real by being loved
fiction
Bunnicula
Deborah and James Howe, 1979
the foundling rabbit who may be a vampire; the children’s classic of the pale vegetable
fiction
The plain register, and its neighbors
This page is the plain, English-language register of rabbit naming. The fantasy and game lane for companion animals lives on fantasy pet names and D&D pet names; script-checked, neither page rows rabbits, so the whole plain register lands here without overlap. The deep Japanese lane is its own world: Japanese pet names rows Pyon, the hop onomatopoeia, and Ninjin, the carrot word, and those rows stay there. The wider pet grid starts at the pet names hub.
Twelve receipts, cut to the signatures
The same data, no new claims, trimmed to the quick read.
Famous rabbit names with clean builds
Name
Built from
Meaning
Coney
Latin cuniculus
the old word, retired politely
Usagi
Japanese
the moon rabbit’s own word
Binky
the joy jump
young word, real behavior
Kindle
Middle English
the doe kindles, the keeper’s verb
Scut
the tail word
hares and deer wear one too
Angora
Ankara
the city in the wool
Peter Piper
Potter’s real rabbit
walked on a leash in the 1890s
Darius
the record giant
129 cm, stolen 2021
Oolong
the balancing rabbit
teacups on his head, died 2003
Yutu
jade rabbit
the moon rover of 2013
Br’er Rabbit
Harris, 1880
the trickster, written down
Peter Rabbit
Potter, 1902
the blue jacket itself
The moon rabbit
Several civilizations looked at the moon and saw a rabbit. Chinese tradition keeps the jade rabbit pounding the elixir of life up there; Japanese tradition has him pounding mochi; Mesoamerican traditions saw the rabbit too, and one Nahua story explains the dim patches as a rabbit laid on the moon’s face. China named its 2013 lunar rover Yutu, jade rabbit, after him, which makes the old folklore the youngest receipt on this page. The rabbit of the Chinese classics is kept respectfully in prose here, and the Usagi and Yutu rows above carry the naming side.
The Australia ledger
Rabbit history has one genuinely dark page, and it ships as prose, not as names. In 1859 a landowner named Thomas Austin released two dozen rabbits at Barwon Park in Victoria, and within decades the continent was fighting a plague of them, building thousands of kilometers of rabbit-proof fence in the 1900s when the poisoning and hunting fell short. The rabbit as pet and the rabbit as invasive catastrophe are the same animal wearing two histories, and a naming page that never mentions the second one is not telling the truth.
The brand bunnies
The most famous rabbits alive are trademarks, so they stay in prose.The Lindt Gold Bunny has worn its ribbon since 1952, the Duracell bunny drummed first in 1973, the Energizer bunny followed in 1989 as a parody that outgrew the original in the American market, and the cereal rabbit has chased the same cereal since the 1950s. All of them belong to their owners, none of them rows here, and that is the honest line between a receipt and an advertisement.
How to pick one
Say it from across a room. A rabbit name gets called at hop speed, so two beats with a bright vowel carries best, and the kitten and burrow registers reward the keeper who says the name at feeding time the same way every day. The word lane suits the quiet one, the breed register the show-table animal, the fiction lane the household with kids. The full procedure is the how to name a pet guide, and the pet name generator runs the lanes live.
Rabbit names questions, answered
What is a group of rabbits called?
A colony, formally, and a fluffle half-seriously. The biology word is colony, old rabbit husbandry said herd, and North American keepers coined fluffle for the sight of several together. The word warren names the burrow system itself, and that word has a second life as a legal term: medieval English land records granted the right of free warren, the documented right to keep rabbits on your land.
What is a baby rabbit called?
A kitten or a kit, and the verb is to kindle. The kitten word is documented rabbit husbandry, not a loan from the cat world, and the doe giving birth is said to kindle, an old English verb kept alive by breeders. The young hare has its own word, leveret, because hares are born furry and seeing while rabbits are born bald and blind, and the two words keep that difference.
Was there ever a rabbit in space?
No, and this page keeps the lane honestly empty. The Soviet program flew dogs, Laika in 1957 among them, and France flew a cat, Félicette in 1963 (her name rows on the cat names list). No rabbit ever made an orbital flight in any documented program, so no space-rabbit row ships here. An empty lane, said plainly, is a receipt too.
Why is Hazel not in the table?
Because the site never rows a name twice. Hazel, the chief rabbit of Watership Down, shares his name with a row on the dog names list, so he stays here in prose with his brothers in the table: Fiver the seer, Bigwig the fighter, Woundwort the general, Dandelion the storyteller. The same rule holds the invisible rabbit Harvey in prose; the name rows on the cat and dog pages, and the 1944 play and 1950 film are documented either way.
Where this data comes from.Language glosses follow standard dictionary etymologies; the coney and rabbit histories follow the Oxford English Dictionary’s record. Real-rabbit receipts follow published accounts: Beatrix Potter’s letters (Peter Piper, Benjamin Bouncer), Guinness World Records and BBC reporting on Darius (stolen 2021), and the documented internet career of Oolong (died 2003). Yutu follows the China National Space Administration’s 2013 announcement. Fiction rows name their sources; nominative-use rows say so. Where every name's receipt comes from →