The Baby Name Brainstormer is a powerful, purpose built search engine which helps you:

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

Getting started

With the Brainstormer you generate creative name suggestions by combining a variety of criteria:

	Find names with particular phonetic qualities
	Find names matching particular rhythmic stress patterns
	Find names based on recent popularity
	Find names characteristic of a particular historical period
	Find names by theme or category
	Find names beginning with a particular letter or sequence
	Find names ending with a particular letter or sequence
	Find names containing a particular letter or sequence
	Find names by meaning
	Find names by language of origin
	Find names by gender (boys, girls, gender neutral)

Building a search: the basics

To start building your search criteria, simply begin typing a word into the search field on the preferences screen. The Brainstormer immediately begins searching the database for names and concepts matching the word you are typing and presents them in a list underneath the search field.

 

 

The matches may be names, meanings, origins or tags.

Use the UP and DOWN arrows on your keyboard to scroll through the list of matches, or continue typing to narrow the list.

Press RETURN to add the selected match to your list of criteria. You can continue adding further criteria to customise your suggestions.

 

 In the above example, the Brainstormer will look for names which are male or unisex, preferably of Irish origin, having two syllables with an emphasis on the first, ending with the letters ‘us’ or ‘an’ and containing an ‘r’. It will also favour names which have been relatively uncommon for babies born in the last 7 years.

Refining your search

The Brainstormer is designed to generate creative name suggestions by combining your selected criteria. Not every criteria you enter will be exhibited by every suggested name, but the search engine scores the names so that the best matches rise to the top of the results.

Not all criteria are created equal!

Each criteria you enter is given a different weighting or importance by the search algorithm. The criteria weighting determine how the search engine will score the names it finds. It is assumed that the criteria you enter first are the most important, and the Brainstormer will give preference to names matching these criteria first.

You can also manually adjust the criteria weightings to change your results. To do so, click on a criteria marker and drag the preference slider to indicate the relative importance of that criterion. Note that not all criteria can be weighted this way. For example, gender is treated as a boolean decision, not a weighted one.

 

 

Required attributes

If you want to guarantee that a particular attribute appears in every suggestion, you can mark that attribute as a requirement. To do so, click on a criteria token and then select require this attribute from the criteria options. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut: type the word ‘only’ before the attribute when adding it from the search field.

 

 

 

Excluded attributes

You can also exclude an attribute which blocks any names exhibiting that attribute from your results. To do so, click on a criteria token and then select exclude this attribute from the criteria options. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut: type the word ‘not’ before the attribute when adding it from the search field.

There are also shortcuts you can use to mark an attribute as required or excluded while you are adding it.

 

 

 

 

Other criteria shortcuts

The search field also understands some other patterns that can be used to match particular letters or sequences of letters in a name. 

Type a period (.) after your search term to jump straight to the begins with criterion.

 

 

 

Type a hyphen (-) before your search term to jump straight to the ends with criterion.

 

 

 

Type a quote mark (‘) before and/or after your search term to jump straight to the contains criterion.

 

 

 

You can also find these criteria by using the DOWN ARROW key to move past any other criteria which may be proceeding them.

 

 

Restricting your search to particular genders

You can restrict the search to names which are suitable only for particular genders. There are three gender categories that the brainstormer recognises:

• male
• female
• neutral (unisex)

You can also specify any combination of these categories. To specify gender:

1. Click on the large gender icon above the search field.
2. Select the genders to include in the search from the pop-up bubble.

Searching names by popularity

The Brainstormer has a handy popularity gauge that lets you customise your search results according to recent popularity of names. To set your popularity preference:

1. Click on the large popularity icon above the search field.
2. Drag the slider to the appropriate position. The further left you drag the slider, the more unique or original the suggested names will become. The further right you drag the slider, the more popular and traditional the suggested names become.

The Brainstormer’s notion of popularity is based on statistical data from national birth records.

Finding names of a particular historical period

The Brainstormer can also find names that are characteristic of a particular vintage (since 1880). Historical popularity data is used to find names which were statistically more popular in a given year then on average. This can be helpful if you are looking for a retro or historical feeling; or if you want to limit your results to more traditional names. You can also find more unique suggestions by combining the vintage criterion with the popularity criterion to find old-fashioned names which are no longer in vogue.

 

To search by vintage:

1. Click on the large vintage icon above the search field.
2. Position the slider to select a past year.

 

Finding names with a particular rhythmic stress pattern

If you are musically inclined, you may have a particular rhythmic pattern that you want to match. This is often the case if you are looking for a middle name to compliment a particular first name. The Brainstormer can search not only the number of syllables in a name, but also the relative stress on those syllables when spoken. 

To search for a rhythmic stress pattern:

1. Click the large rhythm icon above the search field to access the rhythm editor. 
2. Set the number of syllables by clicking the plus (+) and minus (-) buttons.
3. Click on a syllable to designate the primary stress.