Namerology

December 15, 2022 10:48 AM

Looking Back: BabyNameWizard.com, 2004-2021 I had cause to look up the Baby Name Wizard today and was saddened to learn it's gone. But creator Laura Wattenberg is still writing about names on her site Namerology!

Now there is Baby Name Grapher to look through historical data on baby names. And a baby name bracket game, Name Madness. For all your nerding out about baby names needs!
Plus, the 2022 name of the year.

Previously
Previouslier
And even previouslier

posted by faethverity (13 comments total)

I loved Baby Name Wizard! I'd found out about its passing away because I use it as a writer. For ages, I used it to name characters by running my mouse over the mountain of popular baby names from around the time the character had been born. I am glad she has a new widget; it's very handy.

(Scrivener has a name generator tool, but it puts out names that are absolutely Seussian in their weirdness. Just now it suggested Paneb Pattie, Pisty Quarrie, Sven Rosenhaupt, and, curiously, Arleen Martinez.)
posted by Countess Elena at 11:06 AM on December 15, 2022 [5 favorites]

Another grim bit of corporate neglect.

By 2014 BNW needed to be rebuilt with newer technology, and to join forces with a larger network for economies of scale. Jennie and I decided to sell our business to the parenting network CafeMom.

I joined CafeMom to continue managing BNW content, while the company pursued grand plans for a redesign. Sadly, the redesign never happened. CafeMom ran into struggles of its own, and ultimately sold its network of websites to a company called RockYou. Suffice it to say that I have had nothing to do with BabyNameWizard.com for a few years now. Meanwhile the site that I sold in 2014 because it was already overdue for an overhaul remained frozen in time, slowly decaying.

Until this week. Whoever now owns BNW has officially pulled the plug. It’s a bittersweet moment. After years without staffing or updates, the site had become a fossil. It was time for it to go; I’m only sorry that so much valuable content from so many voices was lost with it.

Good to see that she has a similar thing available elsewhere though.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 11:06 AM on December 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

The Baby Name Wizard is one of my favorite things on the whole internet and I still refer to it often.

Member of the peak Jennifer bloc reporting in 🙋
posted by phunniemee at 11:09 AM on December 15, 2022 [5 favorites]

Pisty Quarrie

The #1 baby name of 1985, as I recall.
posted by mittens at 11:17 AM on December 15, 2022

I'm glad she's continuing her work elsewhere.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:29 AM on December 15, 2022

babynamer[.]com existed in late 1998. Oxygen Media bought the site in mid-1999. As I recall, the site was quite sophisticated for its time. Can't find it today.
posted by bz at 11:42 AM on December 15, 2022

Thank you! I am so glad to read this retrospective and better understand the origins and impact of a site I enjoyed.
posted by brainwane at 11:57 AM on December 15, 2022

I enjoyed the article about Vicki Barr, even though I was more of a Cherry Ames girl.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:48 PM on December 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Namerology is one of those blogs whose posts I'm always happy to see turn up in my RSS feeds. If you're into historic name lists I also recommend a tour through the blog archives at British Baby Names.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 1:48 PM on December 15, 2022

I went looking for it a while back and was bummed to see it was gone. It was a really fun and effective tool.

.
posted by BlahLaLa at 2:34 PM on December 15, 2022

I loved BabyNameWizard. I remember clearly, enthusiastically recommending it to acquaintances, calling it "538 for name data," back before 538 had so much nonsense baggage.

So much I learned there has come in useful, even as a child-free person. I've reassured friends who were annoyed that their kids' names turned out to be popular, by citing how many fewer individual Emmas were born in 2012 vs. Jessicas in 1982, even though their ranks were the same. Her insights about the choices for American Girl characters' names being plausible for their eras/cultures but still matching today's sensibilities and style were super useful as a children's media creative. I think about the era where almost all boy names ended with N all the time.

So glad she's still writing about this stuff. Adding to my feed.
posted by lampoil at 3:09 PM on December 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Member of the peak Jennifer bloc reporting in 🙋

same, which is probably the source of my baby name fascination (oh, to have been an Astrid or a Delphine or even a Skyler)
posted by taquito sunrise at 3:44 PM on December 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Yeah, if I was ever naming a baby I would check the popularity rankings first.

Actually, I have named other people's kids and didn't do that, but I didn't pick Jennifer-esque trend names either. One lady I babysat for went for the names I picked, hahahahah. Spelled one kr8tively, but still counts!
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:59 PM on December 15, 2022 [1 favorite]