Welcome to Namerology! My name is Laura Wattenberg. I’m the author of the Baby Name Wizard books and the original founder of BabyNameWizard.com. I’ve spent 18 years studying names and name trends, and I’ve learned that it’s a subject that can never run dry. That’s because names are part of everything humans do, and a window onto our world.
I hope you’ll come by Namerology often to read and respond to an article, browse our atlas of popular names around the world, and play with a database of popularity of American and English names. Expect some exciting new tools ahead, too.
But above all, I hope you’ll join our wonderful community of name enthusiasts. Register as a member and visit our forum for advice and conversation.
With thanks,
Laura
5 Comments
Excited about your new site, Laura! Is it ok to ask what prompted the change?
I’ll confess, I was beginning to wonder what happened to you over at your old haunts… starting to fear for your life!
Thanks, tp b! I’m happy to say that I’m alive and well. 🙂 I’m also excited to be building a site that represents the way I see names—as a rich, beautiful realm of meaning that reflects everything in culture.
As for poor BNW…I actually sold that site five years ago, because it had grown to the point where it needed the resources of a larger company. But I stuck around writing content and giving the site some TLC for a long time. It was frankly hard to let go! Now that I’m no longer there, it appears that the site is going derelict, which is a crying shame.
This new site is lovely! It’s much easier to read on mobile compared to BNW. Can you tell us how you pronounce it? Is it “name-rology” or “namer-ology”? I was originally using the former, but the logo makes me think you intend the latter.
Thanks, MarchF! I pronounce it “namer-ology.” (In fact, the other pronunciation didn’t even occur to me! It goes to show you, names are full of surprises.)
If BNW is going derelict, and you’re no longer there, does that mean that NameVoyager and the other tools will stop getting updated? If so, is there any chance of “getting them back” (buying back your data/programming, somehow)?