Blog instalments have been on a bit of a hiatus of late due primarily to a hectic academic schedule. Apologies for the dry spell. I’m breaking the drought now to say a big, big thanks to everyone who took the time to answer our survey questions on baby naming preferences. The response was truly overwhelming and has been invaluable in helping to guide the development of the Brainstormer: Mach 2 (development of which continues unabated).

In the meantime, I thought I would make available some results from the survey which may have broader public-interest.

Our survey asked, among other things, which of 15 name attributes most influenced preferences in choosing a name. According to readers of this blog, the most influential decision factors are:

• Sounds (68%)
  
• Feelings and associations (53%)
  
• Style (49%)
  
• Popularity / originality (47%); and
  
• Honouring of family members (45%)

The middle ranks are made up of more special interest factors such as meanings (43%), origins (27%) and spellings (39%). Rhythm is also a popular consideration at 43%.

Compatibility with siblings names was a consideration for only 26% of respondents, but this number might be skewed because less than half of the respondents admitted to having had children.

Historical and literary references are favoured by a relatively small minority; while the least important factor for respondents was association with a prominent namesake (only 16%); a result consistent with an earlier survey I ran on the subject: Namesakes where voted least popular feature request in an earlier poll. Okay—I get the message.

Perhaps most interesting of all is how diverse preferences are with regard to these categories. Only two categories received more than 50% of the vote with the remainder fairly equally represented. And perhaps it’s not surprising. You can’t get much more personal than in choosing a name, and these numbers reflect that.