December 1, 2024
Update 117
October 6, 2024
Update 116
April 23, 2024
Update 115 - including revisions to Slavic names
June 9, 2023
Update 114
December 7, 2022
Update 113 - including revisions to Germanic names
April 5, 2022
Update 112 - including revisions to Indigenous American and African names
January 21, 2022
Update 111 - including phonetic elements and revisions to Celtic names
April 25, 2021
Update 110 - including Hiragana spellings for Japanese names, and names recorded in proper case instead of ALL CAPS
November 20, 2020
Update 109
May 29, 2020
Update 108
February 4, 2020
Update 107
December 14, 2019
Update 106
November 16, 2019
Update 105
June 13, 2019
Update 104
April 16, 2019
Update 103
February 28, 2019
Update 102
January 22, 2019
Update 101 - including more IPA pronunciations
July 11, 2018
Update 100 - including Mesopotamian names, support for cuneiform, and native spellings of Amharic names
May 31, 2018
Update 99 - including Hebrew name elements, and general improvements to Hebrew name entries
February 12, 2018
Update 98
December 8, 2017
Update 97
August 16, 2017
Update 96
July 2, 2017
Update 95 - including support for IPA in pronunciations
January 10, 2017
Update 94 - including Indian, Nepali and Tibetan names
October 20, 2016
Update 93
August 26, 2016
Update 92 - including Indonesian names
March 14, 2016
Update 91 - including Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese name elements
July 28, 2015
Update 90 - including Greek name elements
December 3, 2014
Update 89 - including name elements
March 21, 2014
Update 88 - including names from the Caucasus
September 1, 2013
Update 87 - including Arthurian names
February 1, 2013
Update 86 (very minor)
January 25, 2013
Update 85
October 10, 2012
Update 84
November 18, 2011
Update 83 - including Azerbaijani names, as well as spelling/grammar corrections
October 30, 2011
Update 82 - links between given name, surname and place name databases
July 20, 2011
Update 81 - including native spellings of Georgian and Armenian names, and fixes for Vietnamese name spellings
June 1, 2011
Update 80 (minor)
February 21, 2011
Update 79 - including native spellings of Thai and Persian names
July 27, 2010
Update 78 - including more intermediate forms
July 13, 2010
Update 77
March 18, 2010
Update 76 - including Macedonian names
February 27, 2010
Update 75 - including Croatian names
December 27, 2009
Update 74 - including more intermediate forms
December 3, 2009
Update 73 - including more intermediate forms, and Limburgish names
July 28, 2009
Update 72 - including many intermediate forms (in preparation for name family trees)
July 4, 2008
Update 71
July 1, 2008
Update 70 - including a major update of the English names, pictures, hyperlinks to glossary terms
August 20, 2007
Update 69
June 23, 2007
Update 68 - including native spellings of Chinese and Korean names
May 19, 2007
Update 67 - including native spellings of Japanese names
February 12, 2007
Update 66 - including native spellings of Indian names
January 3, 2007
Update 65
October 18, 2006
Update 64 - including pronunciation fixes
March 31, 2006
Update 63 - including native spellings of Hebrew and Yiddish names
January 9, 2006
Update 62 - including native spellings of Arabic names, new diacritics
June 21, 2005
Update 61 - including native spellings of Greek and Cyrillic names
November 24, 2004
Update 60
May 3, 2004
Update 59
September 16, 2003
Update 58
May 16, 2003
Update 57
January 3, 2003
Update 56
November 1, 2002
Update 55
October 20, 2002
Update 54
July 23, 2002
Update 53
April 19, 2002
Update 52
April 2, 2002
Update 51
March 16, 2002
Update 50
March 11, 2002
Update 49
March 6, 2002
Update 48
February 9, 2002
Update 47
December 1, 2001
Update 46
October 15, 2001
Update 45
September 21, 2001
Update 44
September 8, 2001
Update 43
August 30, 2001
Update 42
August 25, 2001
Update 41
August 22, 2001
Update 40
August 20, 2001
Over 200 new names added.
August 17, 2001
Over 100 new names added.
August 14, 2001
Over 350 new names added.
July 28, 2001
Over 750 new names added.
June 27, 2001
Over 400 new names added.
June 4, 2001
Over 120 new names added.
May 15, 2001
Over 180 new names added.
April 12, 2001
Over 200 new names added.
April 5, 2001
Over 100 new names added.
February 13, 2001
Over 100 new names added.
February 7, 2001
Over 350 new names added and numerous corrections made.
January 22, 2001
Over 150 new names added.
January 15, 2001
Over 150 new names added.
November 27, 2000
Over 60 new names added.
August 31, 2000
Over 700 names added to the list and over 400 corrections.
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December 19, 2024
Added a dark mode for viewing the website in darker colours.
December 11, 2023
Improved listing options for the namesakes, as well as visualizations.
October 31, 2023
Added categories for Presidents and Prime Ministers of Argentina, Estonia and Israel to the namesakes section.
February 2, 2023
Added a name meanings reverse dictionary.
December 9, 2022
Added a new popularity series for Brazil and better data for Mexico, as well as name days for Romania.
June 13, 2022
Added a new popularity series for Argentina.
June 12, 2022
Added categories for Presidents and Prime Ministers of Brazil, Georgia, Ireland, Poland, Romania and Switzerland to the namesakes section.
May 30, 2022
Added notifications (for registered users).
May 6, 2022
Added popularity visualizations.
August 23, 2021
Added popularity lists for Medieval England and name days for Norway and Denmark.
August 18, 2021
Added a new popularity series for Latvia.
August 13, 2021
New layout for the message boards.
July 6, 2021
Added name days for Spain.
June 28, 2021
Added popularity lists for Armenia and name days for Italy.
June 11, 2021
Updated the popularity lists for Canada (Ontario+BC combined) and Quebec.
May 7, 2021
Updated the popularity lists for the United States 2020.
September 6, 2020
Updated the popularity lists for the United States, England/Wales, Canada, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Russia and more.
August 6, 2020
Added settings for date and time formats.
June 4, 2020
Updated the popularity lists for Lithuania, Poland and Hungary.
Also, added older lists for Scotland (back to 1974) and Australia (back to 1952).
May 22, 2020
Name elements can be found using the search at the top of the page (details here).
May 11, 2020
Updated the popularity lists for New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey, Scotland, Australia, Sweden and more.
March 10, 2020
User-submitted names can be found more easily using the search. For example, you can type a partial name or enter the foreign alphabet spelling in order to see suggestions. Also, you can now search by number of syllables and sound (details here)
December 20, 2019
Added a new popularity series for Germany
December 19, 2019
Name pages now show a "cloud" of the most common attributes associated with the name by users.
August 17, 2019
Visual changes to the polls. There are also options to show poll results only after you vote, and to sort the results by number of votes.
May 22, 2019
Generated some more analysis of the most popular names in the US.
May 18, 2019
Updated the name browser (details here).
May 11, 2019
Updated the popularity lists for the United States 2018.
April 23, 2019
Updated the popularity lists for Austria, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Sweden.
November 21, 2018
The random name generator can generate more than one name at a time.
November 13, 2018
Redesigned the name pages and other parts of the site to be more mobile-friendly. Desktop users will notice some changes too.
November 13, 2018
Pronunciations on name pages can be clicked to display details.
September 13, 2018
Updated the popularity lists for England/Wales, Australia, Canada, Spain, Italy and more.
Added new lists for Israel and Moscow, Russia.
May 16, 2018
The name popularity charts have been made a little prettier and easier to use.
March 28, 2018
The API now supports JSON as well as XML. Also, the "related" function is now available to all users.
January 20, 2018
The popularity comparison pie chart is a little nicer (and faster).
December 22, 2017
Corrections can be submitted for user-submitted names.
December 20, 2017
The name translator is now more accurate (and faster).
December 4, 2017
Add the top American surnames from the 2000 and 2010 censuses to the most common surnames page.
November 1, 2017
The random name generator can be configured to generate a random "life story" to go along with the name.
October 30, 2017
This Halloween, generate a random witch name for yourself!
September 26, 2017
Redesigned the polls. As well, your vote can be revised if you are are signed in. A checkmark in the list of polls indicates whether you have voted or not.
September 22, 2017
Redesigned the popularity landing page and the lists.
September 19, 2017
Redesigned the personal name lists.
August 26, 2017
Redesigned the name rating pages.
May 14, 2017
Updated the popularity lists for the United States 2016.
April 7, 2017
The site has a new, faster web server.
February 28, 2017
The site now supports https.
February 8, 2017
Added namesakes to the place name site.
October 23, 2016
Updated the popularity lists for England/Wales, Ireland, Bosnia&Herzegovina, Spain, Hungary, Slovenia and Belgium.
September 6, 2015
Updated the popularity lists for England/Wales, Australia, Ireland, Spain, Denmark and Belgium, and added lists for Switzerland and Mexico.
July 28, 2015
Added a banner and tabbed links to the name pages.
March 18, 2015
Updated the popularity lists, including a new list for Galicia.
March 2, 2015
Added options to search names by user impression and by personal name list.
December 3, 2014
Added a list of name elements. Some family trees now show name elements.
June 6, 2014
Added Chinese Emperors, Sultans of Delhi/Mughal Emperors, and Islamic Caliphs to the namesakes section.
March 21, 2014
Updated the popularity lists for England/Wales, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, and more.
January 3, 2014
Support for surnames and user-submitted names on personal name lists.
December 12, 2013
New options for the random name generator.
December 2, 2013
A new look and feel for the website.
May 10, 2013
Updated the popularity lists for many countries.
July 28, 2012
Redesigned the namesakes section. Plus, namesakes added to the surname site.
May 14, 2012
Added popularity lists for the United States 2011, and results for the prediction game 2011. Added updated lists for Sweden, Scotland, Hungary, Australia, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
May 8, 2012
Redid the list of saints.
April 12, 2012
Created an API for the site.
November 1, 2011
Updated popularity lists for Slovenia, Austria and Northern Ireland.
October 30, 2011
Added the name browser.
October 3, 2011
Initial design of the place name site.
September 11, 2011
The popularity charts can be sorted by different criteria.
August 31, 2011
Generated sate-by-state animations for the US.
August 17, 2011
Updated popularity lists for Australia, Canada, England/Wales, France, Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Norway and Spain.
June 3, 2011
The random name generator can do random surnames.
June 2, 2011
The surnames site has been given many of the same features as the first name site. For example comments can be now be left for surnames.
May 10, 2011
Added popularity lists for the United States 2010, and results for the prediction game 2010.
January 25, 2011
Updated popularity lists for Scotland, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Catalonia. New lists for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Poland and Italy.
September 15, 2010
Added Serbian and Polish rulers to the namesake page.
September 1, 2010
Added musicians, scientists and Portuguese monarchs to the namesake page.
August 28, 2010
Server upgrade. Unicode support.
July 28, 2010
Updated popularity lists for Ireland, Hungary, Spain, France, Canada, Australia, and Northern Ireland. New lists for Austria and Croatia.
July 27, 2010
Implemented name "family trees".
May 11, 2010
Added popularity lists for the United States 2009, and results for the prediction game 2009.
February 19, 2010
Added fun category "hippy names" to the random name generator.
February 18, 2010
Users can now make their personal name lists rateable, meaning other users can vote on the names.
February 1, 2010
Added popularity lists for Sweden, Norway, Scotland and the Netherlands 2009.
June 16, 2009
Added popularity lists for the Netherlands 2008, and updated lists for Canada, Scotland and Ireland.
May 14, 2009
Added popularity lists for the United States 2008, and results for the prediction game 2008.
January 31, 2009
Searches for name popularity now show the popularity on a graph. Graph shows either relative rank or percentage use, and can display multiple names for comparison.
January 24, 2009
Added yearly American popularity lists from 1880 to 1990.
October 15, 2008
Made changes to personal name lists so each user can have multiple lists.
October 5, 2008
Changed the interface for the private message system (multi-message move/delete).
August 1, 2008
Changed some of the look and feel of the site, and added some features to the main page.
May 12, 2008
Added popularity lists for the United States 2007, and results for the prediction game 2007.
March 11, 2008
Added updated popularity lists for England/Wales, Scotland, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Slovenia and Chile.
August 21, 2007
Added popularity information and sharing abilities to personal name lists.
May 11, 2007
Added popularity lists for the United States 2006, and results for the prediction game 2006.
April 17, 2007
Added over 700 new names to the anagram section, hyperlinked it, and made it searchable.
April 5, 2007
Added a rotating name of the day to the main page.
March 24, 2007
Made changes to personal name lists so that gender can be specified and notes kept.
February 13, 2007
Added updated popularity lists for England/Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Spain and Hungary. Added a new list for Chile.
December 20, 2006
Added general lists of artists, philosophers, writers and explorers to the namesakes page.
December 1, 2006
Added lists of Bulgarian tsars and Ottoman sultans to the namesakes page.
November 22, 2006
Added statistics for Belgium, England/Wales and Hungary to the most common surnames page.
November 21, 2006
Added statistics for Sweden, Norway, Argentina and France to the most common surnames page.
September 25, 2006
Added a list of American First Ladies to the namesakes page.
May 31, 2006
Nomino DATA is using data from this website in its products.
May 25, 2006
Added a way to search for rhyming names: see the search page.
May 12, 2006
Added popularity lists for the United States 2005, and results for the prediction game 2005.
May 2, 2006
Created a new message board, for writers.
April 18, 2006
Added a survey section, which allows users to rate names. To rate a name, view its entry then click the "contribute information" link.
March 10, 2006
Added updated popularity lists for France.
March 7, 2006
Added a game which challenges players to predict the most popular US baby names before they are published.
March 7, 2006
Changed the procedure for submitting names. User-submitted names can now be browsed.
January 18, 2006
Added new popularity lists for Spain, and an updated list for Scotland.
January 9, 2006
Today this website is 10 years old!
January 9, 2006
Added Estonian name days to the name days page.
January 9, 2006
Added lists of Hurricane names and Hungarian monarchs to the namesakes page.
January 9, 2006
Added new popularity lists for Slovenia, Hungary and England/Wales.
January 9, 2006
Most Arabic names now show their native spelling in Arabic script.
November 7, 2005
Added a glossary.
August 4, 2005
Added a few new popularity lists, updated the US lists to match the data on the SSA site, and redid the US popularity analysis.
June 21, 2005
Greek, Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Macedonian and Kazakh names now show their native spelling in Greek or Cyrillic characters.
May 6, 2005
Added popularity lists for the United States 2004.
April 13, 2005
Registered users can add names to their personal name lists. Also, because I love stats, I have added lists of the most searched and most added names.
February 14, 2005
Added statistics for Scotland to the most common surnames page.
January 10, 2005
Added some more popularity lists.
December 2, 2004
Added a comment section and revamped the website section. You can add to these collections by viewing a name and clicking the "contribute information" link.
November 24, 2004
Made some (mostly behind-the-scenes) changes to the database. Name entries now have additional information listed below them.
July 25, 2004
Lists of Russian rulers have been added to the namesakes page.
May 7, 2004
Added popularity lists for the United States 2003 and Belgium 2000-2002.
January 29, 2004
Added more names to the anagram names page. Some errors in the list have been fixed too.
January 11, 2004
Added new popularity lists for England/Wales and Scotland 2003.
July 4, 2003
Added an interactive polls section.
June 30, 2003
Created a list of themes, sort of like a first name reverse dictionary.
June 24, 2003
Created a random name generator.
June 23, 2003
Some older popularity lists for Scotland, England/Wales, France and Sweden have been added to most popular names page.
April 16, 2003
Popularity lists for the United States 2002 and England/Wales 2002 have been added to most popular names page.
September 6, 2002
The most popular names page has been expanded.
August 15, 2002
The namesakes page has been updated once again, this time with Hall-of-Fame athletes, Academy Award winners, and Nobel Laureates.
August 9, 2002
Lists of biblical characters and characters from Greek myth have been added to the namesakes page.
July 24, 2002
Lists of Scottish rulers have been added to the namesakes page.
July 23, 2002
Over 10% of the names have been assigned a pronunciation. A pronunciation guide page has been added. Also, for those who like to browse, masculine and feminine name pages have been generated.
May 31, 2002
Launch the surnames site!
May 25, 2002
Statistics for 2001 have been added to the top names page.
April 6, 2002
A name days page has been added.
March 6, 2002
Almost every name now has a usage associated with it, which appears to the right of the gender. A usage page has been added, where you can view names by their language/culture of use.
November 12, 2001
An intoductory page has been added.
November 11, 2001
A repository of external websites has been added.
September 10, 2001
Another list has been added to the most popular names page. I have also added file locking to the message board to prevent messages from being clobbered when people post simultaneously.
August 22, 2001
Update 40 Changes to the names in the database are now being documented.
August 20, 2001
A statistics page has been added for those interested.
August 2, 2001
Added a frequently asked questions page.
July 31, 2001
The nameskaes page now includes names occurring in Shakespeare's plays, thanks to contributors Selwyn and Phyllis.
June 14, 2001
A namesake page has been added
April 5, 2001
The ability to search for the popularity of names has been implemented.
March 27, 2001
I have added several lists taken from the US Social Security Administration website to the most popular names page.
January 22, 2001
An anagram names page has been added, thanks to contributors Pavlos and Nanaea.
January 15, 2001
The search function has been redesigned. I have also added an advanced search page which also allows for the translation of names into other languages.
December 1, 2000
Message board postings will now be archived instead of deleted.
November 27, 2000
Made a few minor improvements to the message board.
September 1, 2000
The message board has been improved. Names in messages are now automatically linked, and URLs are marked up. However, HTML is still not allowed. I also fixed a few bugs.
August 1, 2000
The site has a new look. Also, the search capabilities have been improved and the search for sound-alike names has been bug-fixed.
January 1, 2000
The site has a new name and a new address. The name change from "The Etymology of First Names" to "Behind the Name" was a result of securing the address www.behindthename.com. I figure it was time for a change after 4 years!
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