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The Ultimate Baby Name Grapher is Here

March 8, 2022 laurawattenberg 17 Comments

The Ultimate Baby Name Grapher is Here

March 8, 2022 LauraWattenberg 17 Comments

There’s a new addition to the Namerology family, and it’s name-nerd nirvana

two contrasting NameGrapher graphs


Namerology.com
is delighted to announce the birth of
the NameGrapher
born on March 8, 2022
weighing in at 12,679 names,
two different visualization modes,
and tons of awesome new tricks

It’s here! The Namerology NameGrapher is a visual, interactive gateway to US baby name history. With a slew of innovations large and small, I think you’ll find it addictive to explore.

Start by typing in the text field to the left of the graph. (The Grapher works on mobile, but a real keyboard improves the experience.) Then select options by clicking buttons like “Starts With,” “Ends With” and “Contains” to see the historical popularity of names that match your search text in different ways. And then check out the two different graphing modes: “Total” and “Compare.”

Total mode stacks up the usage of all names that fit the search. Compare mode overlays line graphs of individual names. The two views can lead to surprisingly different impressions of baby name trends.

For instance, take a look at the “Total” graph of the top 2000 US girls’ names from each time period, 1880-2020. It’s reminiscent of a block of sedimentary rock, or perhaps the pages of a much-read book.

stacked area graph of popularity of many girls' names over time

Now check out the exact same search in “Compare” mode:

line graphs of popularity of many girls' names over time

With this view it’s instantly apparent how far Mary once towered above all others—and that no name today is common enough even to qualify for a label.You can also use multiple search terms. Just separate text strings with commas to expand your results. For example, this chart shows all names starting with Jack or Jax to capture the extent of the recent trend.

Graph showing recent rise in Jack- and Jax- names

I’ll leave you to uncover more aspects of the NameGrapher yourself. (And be sure to check out the companion interactive US Name Map too.) I’m excited to hear about your baby name discoveries!

Credits

The NameGrapher’s visualization guru was my brilliant collaborator-for-life Martin Wattenberg. Our daughter Eve Wattenberg added her own programming talents to the back-end data processing, making this app a true family affair.

>>On to the NameGrapher!

LauraWattenberg
LauraWattenberg

Namerology founder and "Baby Name Wizard" author Laura Wattenberg is a globally recognized name expert, known for her scientific approach to understanding name trends and culture.

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17 Comments

  • SisterJudy March 9, 2022 at 8:07 pm

    You should all be so proud!

  • CM March 10, 2022 at 9:04 am

    The most fascinating thing to me is how often the first letters are used during certain time period. For example names starting with letter A is more popular than ever before for girls while not many girls were given a name starting with letter E in the 60s.

  • LikeToPivotPivot
    LikeToPivotPivot March 10, 2022 at 1:54 pm

    This is an excellent update! I especially like how you incorporated all the best features from the Expert Voyager like multiple searches and middle and end letters. My only feature request would be a way to share links to created graphs.

    • Elizabeth March 10, 2022 at 10:22 pm

      Ooh, yes! Great idea.

    • Namerology
      Namerology March 11, 2022 at 10:23 pm

      “Deep linking” to search results is definitely on our radar! The app itself was designed with that in mind, but making it work withing the website framework has proved a challenge so far.

  • FuchsiaRhythm
    FuchsiaRhythm March 10, 2022 at 2:57 pm

    When the original names blog went down, I thought the internet had forever lost one of its most interesting and unique research tools. I can’t overstate how happy I am to have access to an even *better* NameVoyager!

    • Boggle March 11, 2022 at 7:48 pm

      Wholly agreed! I may have actually cried with happiness when I spotted this today…

    • Brigit March 15, 2022 at 4:54 pm

      Yes! I was bereft. This is wonderful!

    • Nate April 3, 2022 at 12:30 pm

      I agree! I just found this while searching for the original BNW and I’m so happy!

  • Dominique March 11, 2022 at 11:19 pm

    This might make me reconsider having another kid. So glad to see this tool is up and running! Cheers!

  • Leiana Day March 14, 2022 at 2:42 am

    If you’re able, I’d appreciate you putting back up/reworking the Baby Name Matchmaker from babynamewizard.com. I’m a writer and used it for every single story I wrote. It is much missed.

    • CR April 4, 2022 at 3:41 am

      Yes! It was such a gift to writers.

      Thank you for all your work, Laura and family!

  • Nic March 15, 2022 at 7:11 am

    Congratulations to you and yours! A virtual bundle of joy I would say.

  • Monica Jo March 20, 2022 at 9:24 pm

    Halle-freakin’-lujah! (Going to look up Halle now. 😆)

  • Stef March 22, 2022 at 5:19 am

    I’m so happy and excited to see this. I have been a fan of yours for so long, and I was so sad to think that we had lost such amazing resources. Thanks to you and your husband (and Eve!) for all your work!

  • Katjsh April 3, 2022 at 1:37 am

    THANK YOU!!!! And I second a new matchmaker as well.

  • Julia April 13, 2022 at 1:46 am

    Hooray! I just found your site by searching for what happened to Baby Name Wizard and saw the post that it was gone. Then I started looking through your blog and found this! I’m so happy to have a place to refer my international students to when they want to select an English name for use in the US.

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