Just how important are name meanings when it comes to naming your child? For the majority of parents it seems, entomology is not the primary criterion in the choosing of a moniker. Most rate it as a supplementary interest or perhaps a reason to veto a name that suffers a negative connotation. For some however, meanings are of vital importance; and there are cultural traditions that hold a person’s name will even endow them with particular traits. The meaning of a name can express spiritual values, hopes and aspirations.

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.

We’ve been hard at work to bring you a better brainstormer experience. Today, we’re excited to announce the arrival of the latest brainstormer incarnation, replete with all-new splendidness…

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

According to popular theory, each person on the planet is connected to every other person through a chain of no more than six personal acquaintances. Six degrees of separation between you and Kevin Bacon, Queen Elizabeth, Mother Teresa and Natalie Portman. A compelling idea.

Just like people, names are also connected in a variety of fascinating ways. The goal of the Brainstormer has always been to join the dots, providing a rich visual web of name associations. 

Now, we’re pleased to announce we’re taking the creative association to a new level. Starting today, registered users can design their own creative name themes and share them with the world through the Brainstormer.

What’s a name theme? you might ask…

A theme is simply a group of names that share a common thread of some sort. The thread could be anything really. It might be stylistic in nature (Suave, Sexy). It might be a list of historical or cultural references (Disney Characters, English Queens, Renaissance Giants). It could be abstract or genre related; or it might just be a list of personal significance. Themes are limited only by your imagination, so have fun and be creative.

You can create as many themes as you want for your own personal reference, or share them with the whole world. Publicly shared themes appear as associations in the name graph and help build a richer web of associations that anybody can use when brainstorming name ideas.

An example…

Thomas (Jefferson) was a President; like George (Washington), who had a namesake in The Beatles (Harrison) with Paul (McCartney) who was also a Saint (Paul), like Francis…

Getting started

It’s easy to create a theme, but you will need to be signed in first: another good reason to create an account on the Brainstormer (it’s totally free to do so). Once you’ve signed in, just click on My Themes and we will walk you through it.

And let us know about the themes you are creating. We will feature the best ones on the blog each week. We’re keen to see what people do with this new tool.