Research before interpretation

The sources we prefer

We look first for sources that can be traced and checked:

• Official records and statistics, such as the name statistics published by national statistics offices and birth registries.
• Established reference works, such as encyclopaedias and dictionaries with a clear editorial process.
• Scholarly work on names, including publications and guidance from libraries, archives and societies devoted to the study of names.

Popular name-meaning websites can be useful starting points, but we do not rely on a single one of them for a factual claim.

How we check

• We only cite pages and publications we have actually consulted.
• Wherever possible, a claim is checked against more than one independent source.
• We paraphrase sources in our own words and link to them, so you can read the original wording yourself.
• When an article is corrected or substantially updated, it shows the date of the update.

Meaning, origin and popularity are different things

A name’s meaning is what its source words meant. Its origin is the language and earlier forms it developed from. Neither tells you where a particular family came from. Popularity is a separate, measurable fact: any popularity figure we publish names its place, its year or period, its ranking or count, and its source.

How we label uncertainty

Many names have origins that are unknown, disputed or explained in more than one way. In those cases we say so plainly, for example “the precise origin is uncertain” or “several explanations have been proposed”, and we set out the main ones rather than choosing the most appealing. If we do not have enough verified information about a name, we say that too, instead of filling the gap.

What we leave out

We do not publish a meaning unless a reputable source supports it, and we do not publish personality descriptions, numerology or other claims that cannot be checked. See About for more.

Automatic name overviews

For a name that does not yet have a full profile, the site may show a short overview that is generated automatically from a quick search of two name reference sites, Behind the Name and Wiktionary. It is labelled as automatic, links to the pages it used and is not checked by an editor, so it can rest on a single source. The checks described above apply to our articles and full name profiles.

Image credits

The archival images on this site are in the public domain. We credit each one to the collection that holds it.

• Dictionarium Britannicum, an etymological English dictionary by Nathan Bailey, 1736. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark.
• A specimen of printing types, Joseph Fry and Sons, London, 1785. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark.
• Armenian alphabets in Pantographia, Edmund Fry’s collection of the alphabets then known to him, London, 1799. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark.
• The reading room of the British Museum, wood engraving after C. Gregory, 1874. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark.