Today I’m happy to announce that after many a late night, these ideas have at last come together in a uniquely powerful search tool specifically design to help you:

• find names which perfectly match your personal tastes and criteria
• research name origins and usage trends 
• generate creative name suggestions through association

Try the new baby name search engine now!

For some preliminary notes on how to get started with the new search tool, please see the Brainstormer Help. I’ll be posting further details and tutorials over the next few weeks.

Thanks to everyone who participated in and sent in feedback during the private beta testing. We’re happy to be now able to offer this great new tool to an even wider audience where it can continue to grow and develop.

A very special thanks also to Stuart Yoder of inogolo for generously providing pronunciation data for the brainstormer. The pronunciation data from inogolo helps to power our unique rhythm search feature and will also be instrumental in the forthcoming improvements to the sounds-like search.

The Brainstormer will continue to develop and improve over the coming months so stay tuned for further updates and keep sending your feedback. We’re always glad to have it as we’re committed to making this the best baby name search tool on the web.

Every parent-to-be knows the giddy excitement of the big news and the first question that inevitably follows:

“Have you thought about a name?”

Oh, the joy, the privilege, the responsibility!

Like many modern day progenitors, you have turned to the internet in search of inspiration. So it’s with acute disappointment, that you soon discover, too many baby name websites read like a dictionary printed on recycled wrapping paper; and excitement quickly turns to tedium as you wade through thousands upon thousands of alphabetised name lists amid a chorus of blinking banner ads.

But why? When this should be such an enjoyable time. How can you filter out the babble yet still discover new ideas and possibilities? 

Wouldn’t it be great if you could feel your way to the perfect name?

The solution, I’m pleased to announce, is close at hand. Places have just closed for the private beta programme of the Brainstormer Mach 2:

The worlds most advanced baby name search engine is just a few short days away. 

This new, purpose built, search engine creates beautifully presented baby name suggestions according to your personal preferences. Using the unique search tools, you can build customised search patterns by combining advanced criteria including:

• rhythmic stress patterns
• phonetic similarity
• recent popularity
• historical popularity
• meanings and origins
• style, theme or arbitrary associations

Results are generated using sophisticated scoring algorithms and dynamically re-organise as you tweak your search parameters and weightings. You can also exclude names matching particular criteria or arbitrarily block unwanted results.

And of course you can still Brainstorm names through the graph view as well.

Eye glazing lists, be gone!

The search engine is due for release sometime in May. In the meantime, please enjoy this sneak peak at the interface.

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.

What’s the biggest problem with baby name search engines?

Is it…

a) they’re no fun

b) they’re not helpful

c) they’re all the same

d) all of the above

If the threat of immanent parenthood has suddenly flung you, wide eyed into the spellbinding world of baby name websites, chances are you answered… D. The more seasoned and enthusiastic among you, on the other hand may have found passion and euphoria have gradually dulled your sense of agony at the unfortunate dearth of beneficial tools in this area.

But whatever your circumstance, If you’ve ever found yourself asking for a better way, allow me to let you in on a little secret: there is a better way. We’re making it.

Work is underway on secret weapon which we’re optimistic will revolutionise the way you search for name ideas from now on. And the best part is that you get to help design it.

If you’re a baby name addict, or an expectant parent in search of baby name inspiration, please take 2 minutes to answer 10 quick questions about your baby name preferences.

Your feedback will help us design a baby name search and suggestion engine which best suits your needs and interests.

And watch this space for more exciting updates on our progress.

Tally ho.

When my wife and I were searching for a name for our daughter, we wanted to find one that rang true on all levels. The meaning was an important aspect of that. And, while not the deciding factor, it’s certainly satisfying to find a name that ticks all the boxes and has a cool meaning as well.

Unfortunately though, word etymologies are not always clear cut and name meanings sometimes vary depending on who you ask. But even if you’re not particularly concerned with literal meanings, chances are your associations to a name are very important.

The original concept behind the Brainstormer was a means of visualising the phonetic and semantic relationships between names in a virtual space. Meanings and origins are key piece of the puzzle. That’s why it’s with great exuberance that we announce the addition of this important feature to the Brainstormer. Check out the screenshots:

Some of you may have noticed that meanings began to trickle in over the last several weeks, unannounced. Well, now it’s official. So far we’ve gathered almost 2,000 meaning and origins covering about 15% of our database which, thanks to the valuable contributions of our users, has grown to over 13,000 names. Many thanks to all those contributors for your generous support!

We’re very pleased to announce this exciting addition to the Brainstormer as it brings a sense of completion to our original vision. But as the saying goes, ‘every journey’s end is another’s beginning’; and that’s certainly true here. 

The baby name muses have struck again and inspired us to a whole new level of possibility. I won’t let the cat out of the bag just yet, but suffice to say there are many fun and exciting features in the works and we will be looking to the community to help guide in creating a truly outstanding resource for baby name inspiration. Stay tuned.

Amor/Amora (unisex)—meaning “love” in French and apparently popular in Spain for both girls and boys.

Anabel, Anabella (female)—the Spanish feminine form of Annabel. This name apparently emerged in Scotland during the Middle Ages.

Annabella (female)—this is a variant of Anabella as well as Amabel. This name seemingly came from the Latin amabilis which means “loveable” and/or the Gaelic Aine which means “joy”.

Annabel (female)—possibly from an old Norman name from the element arn which means “eagle”; or arin which means “a hearth”. This name was popular during the 12th century or the Middle Ages.

Annabelle (female)—a combination of Anna (gracious or grace) and Belle (beautiful). It also means loveable and amiable in Scottish.

Agape (unisex)—from Greek origin which means “love” or “love of the next”. This is the namesake of martyr Saint Agape and is also associated with St. Valentine.

Carys (female)—derived from the Welsh caru which means “love”. It also means “to love” in English.

Caryl (female)—an English variant of Carol which is a Latin feminine form of Carolus. It means “song” or “hymn” in the English vocabulary.

Love (unisex)—all you need is Love.

Honor (female)—derived from the English word honour, which is also of Latin origin meaning “esteem”, “dignity”, or “integrity”. It is one of the virtue names taken on by the Puritans during the 17th century.

Cherish (female)—an English word which means “to treasure”. Cherish seems to have been something of a fad over the 70s and 80s but has suddenly shot up the charts over the last year.

Faith (female)—plainly from the English word faith as well as from the Latin fidere which means “to trust”. This was also one of the virtue names implemented by the Puritans during the 17th century.

Ceiro (male)—of Spanish origin and derived from Cyrus which means “sun” or “throne”. This name first came into use during the Protestant Reformation and among the Puritans.

Caron (unisex)—derived from the Welsh word caru which means “to love”. This name was most used during the 1950’s and 1960’s along with its variations: Carol, Carys and Caryl.

Eros (male)—from Greek origin which means “love”. In Greek mythology, Eros was the son of Aphrodite—the goddess of love—and was armed with arrows that cause his victims to fall in love. 

Valentin/Valentina (male/female)—feminine version of Valentine which originates from the Latin Valentinus. It may also be derived from valens which means “strong”, “powerful”, or “vigourous”.

Valentine (male)—came from the Roman family name Valentinus which is derived from the Latin valens, meaning “strong” or “vigorous”. It was borne by St. Valentine who was a third-century martyr and whose feast day was the same as the Roman fertility festival; this consequentially associated Valentine’s Day and love.

When you’re introduced to a little baby Bailey, what gender do you assume? What colour jumpsuit do you buy for a little Robin? and how should you address an unknown Morgan by email? In a world where gender neutral names are becoming more popular, and the lines between traditionally male and female names are becoming blurred, Geoff Peters’ Baby Name Guesser was designed to answer these and other vexing questions.

This fun little tool helps you find names based on their gender and popularity. The interesting thing is that for the Baby Name Guesser, gender isn’t a simple binary affair. Rather, you can search for names which are relatively “more masculine” or ”more feminine” based on the statistical probabilities derived from analysing the usage of the name throughout the internet. Exactly how this works I’m not too sure, and the tool often gives some curious results; so it turns out that the gender identity of names, often isn’t as black and white as you might have thought.

It will also show you names with similar statistical profiles. For example, according to the guesser: Alexander, Anderson, Murphy and Campbell are pretty much equally masculine (and about equally popular). There are almost three times as many boys named James as there are girls (making the name about 75% male, if I’m not mistaken). Some other interesting ratios include Hayley (82.1% Female), Ashley (77% Female), Adrian (90% Male) and Morgan (69% Male). Sue remains most definitely feminine at 98%. The most gender neutral names apparently include Bailey, Page, Robin and Paul(!?), all of which have ratios approaching 1.

The big surprise for me is how many exceptions there are for traditionally gender-specific names. For example, apparently, about 1 in 6 Josephs are girls. According to Baby Name Guesser, Henrietta is the most feminine name and Yashwant the most masculine (never met a girl called Yashwant, have you?).

Which names do you feel are the most characteristically male,  female, or gender neutral?

I recently stumbled across Wordle: an online toy for generating beautiful “word clouds”. If you’re familiar with a tag cloud, you’re understand Wordle. Wordle was designed to be a way to visualise the semantic content of texts, giving greater prominence to words appearing more frequently. It’s been used to visualise everything from blogs to presidential speeches.

I thought it would be interesting to use Wordle to visualise the popularity of baby names using records from the Social Security Administration. With a dash of custom programming to tie it all together, hey presto: baby name word clouds.

These images visualise the popularity of the top 500 names for boys and girls based on the SSA’s data for 2007.

There are some interesting insights to be gleaned from comparing the images. For example, you will probably notice more definitive standouts among the girl names than the boys. That’s because the popularity of the top girls names is more concentrated around the top 10 names than is that of the boys names.

Our new baby name search engine was just released. You can use it to search for names based on recent and historical popularity, as well as many other attributes such as rhythmic stress patterns and associations. Check it out.

All right, all you baby name wizards out there: think you’re hot stuff? Here’s a fun little diversion for you: Step up and test your intellectual might against this diabolical gauntlet of brain-twisting baby name conundrums.

A word of warning: IQ is not about what you know but rather how well you can reason. While a general knowledge of names may be an asset here, it is not necessary to do well on this test. Success will be determined by your ability to spot patterns. In most cases, the answers are hiding in plain sight.

Have fun and don’t take it too seriously. Solutions will be revealed in a future instalment of the Baby Name Brainstorm.

Note: sometimes the full question is not immediately visible in the quiz widget. Mouse over the question area to reveal the full text.

A taste of the new treats:

• The new-look name graph is leaner and meaner, showing multiple levels of name association concurrently for a greater contextual view and more flexible navigation.
• Associations are no longer limited to 20 links per node. The new relation chaining feature now allows you to explore literally thousands of connections for each name so you can delve deeper into the name universe.
• There are more great name themes being published every day and an updated theme manager which makes it easier to keep track of your own.

New Brainstormer Screenshots