Last week, dog fans across the internet squealed at their desks when we found out Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got a French bulldog puppy (I say “we” because I am a dog fan on the Internet who squealed at their desk). Of course, as with most things AOC tends to stan (tuition-free college, Bernie, Stila lipstick, Rent the Runway), the puppy purchase incited a conversation: PETA called out the Congresswoman for not adopting a shelter dog and Twitter users ran the gamut from “OMG, I have a Frenchie, too!!!” to “Ah, yes, another liberal, coastal elite with a four-figure designer dog.”
But the real question remained unanswered: What would she name this pointy-eared pupper? The Congresswoman originally posted an Instagram story saying she and her partner, Riley Roberts,were leaning toward a name either Star Trek-, New York-, or social good-related (which, while interesting, could be a lot. Picture going to the dog park and calling “Medicare For All! Drop that dead squirrel right now!!!!“)
Thankfully, at long last, we have a name: Deco the French bulldog puppy. After Sunday brunch mimosas at the Navy Yard Dacha yesterday, Ocasio-Cortez posted an update via Instagram stories that the couple named the dog after “Art Deco,” which is one of their favorite styles of design and “inspired by the themes of optimism & social and technological progress, and is a fixture in iconic NYC architecture.”
It’s probably fair to say that this selection won’t exactly quell the right-wingers. Naming your dog after an architectural style associated with Gatsby-era gilded-ness probably plays more into the lib-elite stereotype than naming it, say, Spot or Rambo or America First. But, come on—the Baby Yoda ears on Deco! Who could ponder the deep abyss of political polarization when staring at a face like that?
Despite what the internet may think, I’m here to say that I am 100 percent team Deco. My decidedly not-online parents also just welcomed a French bulldog puppy into the family (Hi, Goose!! Stop peeing on my mom’s stuff!), so I’m here to tell AOC that I am always, without a doubt, down for four-legged brunch at Dacha. I’m just really, really glad she didn’t name her dog Captain Kirk.
Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. She’s written for The Washington Post, Garden & Gun, Outside Magazine, Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Del Ray.
