Frequently Asked Questions

Several of the most common English first names have diminutives/short forms that seemingly bear little relation to the original. In many cases the reason for the sound change is uncertain.

Please see this site's glossary entry for "diminutive" for further information.

Here are some websites that offer genealogy research. These sites charge a fee in order to unlock full functionality.

• Ancestry.com
• Genealogy & Family History

Go to the translation page, enter the name you want to translate, select the language you want to translate into, and then press "Translate".

Here are some other sites that offer translations or transliterations.

• Chinese characters
• Japanese characters
• Thai

This site is limited to first names, except surnames that are also used as first names.

Please try the related website surnames.behindthename.com for the meaning of your surname.

This site is limited to given names, except toponyms that are also used as given names.

Please try the related website places.behindthename.com for the meaning of some toponyms.

If you are interested in the numerology behind your name, try visiting the Kabalarian's website.

Junior is used to distinguish a son with the same name as his father. The following conditions apply:

1. The Junior must be a son of the father, not a grandson.
2. The names must be exactly the same, including the middle name.
3. The father must still be living.

II is used whenever any close relative, including for example a grandfather or a great-uncle, shares the same name as the child.

Every email is read. However, due to time constraints, all email cannot be answered.

Have you made sure that the name is not yet on this site? If it is not, you can submit it from the submit-a-name page.

User-submitted names are names that have been added to this site by visitors. This collection is a supplement to the smaller main name collection, which is itself currated only by this site's main editor.

There is a small team of volunteers who make edits to submitted names and delete those that are not real. In general, these editors are long-time users of this site who are knowledgeable about names.

You can add a name from the submit-a-name page. For more information, see the guidelines.

User-submitted names have checkmarks indicating the level of editing and verification that has been applied to the name by the editors.

	(not yet set)
	basic formatting complete
	listed usages are verified
	description is verified
	usages AND description are verified

You can access most of the content on this site without a user account. However, there are some interactive features that require an account, including:

• leaving comments about names
• posting messages on the message boards
• creating polls
• maintaining personal name lists
• sending and receiving private messages

In addition, an account gives you the option to fill out your profile and upload a picture, and lets you track your contributions to the site.

You can register for an account at the registration page.

Please contact Mike using the email address you used to register and he will activate your account for you. There are many possible reasons the original email did not arrive, including a typo when you entered your email address, and emailing filtering software.

1. Make sure you type your password exactly as you originally typed it. It is case-sensitive.
2. Make sure you have cookies enabled in your web browser.

To leave a comment on a name you must be signed in. After you are signed in, view the name and go to the "Comments" tab.

Please contact Mike to request that one of your name comments, message board posts, or other content be removed.

You can remove your user account by using the "Deactivate" tab in the member settings.

NT stands for No Text. It means that the message is entirely within the subject line, and there is no point in reading the body of the message.

FN, LN and NN stand for first name, last name and nickname.

Other abbreviations you might see on the message boards are WDYT (what do you think?), NMS (not my style), CAF (create a family), DH/DW/DS/etc (dear husband, dear wife, dear son, etc) and BtN (Behind the Name, the title of this website).

Yes, that would be much appreciated. If you are going to send the names in an attached file please ensure that it is a plain text file. It is also very helpful if you include the genders of the names.

Keep in mind there is no guarantee that your names will be used on the site.

Enter the desired meaning into the search field in the menu bar at the top of any page. Do NOT push enter. A pop-up will appear. Select the "search name meanings" option.

Probably because there are few reliable reference materials about names from that language.

That page only lists languages which are referred to by the name lists. If a language is not there it probably means there are no names from that language included on this website.

Some names that have clear visual associations have banners containing colours and/or images that match the name thematically. However, most names have been assigned a banner randomly.

See the references page.

That is not a problem as long as it is only a few names. You do not need to ask permission for this.

If your teacher requires you to cite your sources you should use something like this:

(where 3 December, 2024 is the date you accessed the site)

No, sorry, that is not allowed. Please place a link to the site instead.

There are some files that can be downloaded from the data access page.

Low-usage applications may rely on this site's API.