Comments on: How popular is your name? http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/29/how-popular-is-your-name/ Tips and add-ons to make Apple Mail / Mail.app even better Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:47:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: ansemond.com » Blog Archive » Figure out someone’s age http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/29/how-popular-is-your-name/#comment-29217 ansemond.com » Blog Archive » Figure out someone’s age Sat, 21 Oct 2006 00:53:08 +0000 http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/29/how-popular-is-your-name/#comment-29217 [...] You’ve never met them. You only know their name. Can you know their exact age? No, but you can get a pretty good ballpark guess if they are Americans. Just type their name into this online tool. (via NYT and hawkwings). [...] [...] You’ve never met them. You only know their name. Can you know their exact age? No, but you can get a pretty good ballpark guess if they are Americans. Just type their name into this online tool. (via NYT and hawkwings). [...]

]]> By: Tim http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/29/how-popular-is-your-name/#comment-15134 Tim Tue, 29 Aug 2006 23:45:35 +0000 http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/29/how-popular-is-your-name/#comment-15134 Interesting link, Ted. Thanks. I was amazed at the trend for "Paris" which made me wonder about the role of celebrity, past and present. The Vera (Lynn?) spike is pretty amazing too. Are celebrities the new aristocrats in this? Interesting link, Ted. Thanks.

I was amazed at the trend for “Paris” which made me wonder about the role of celebrity, past and present. The Vera (Lynn?) spike is pretty amazing too.

Are celebrities the new aristocrats in this?

]]> By: Ted Pavlic http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/29/how-popular-is-your-name/#comment-15105 Ted Pavlic Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:05:20 +0000 http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/29/how-popular-is-your-name/#comment-15105 It's funny that so many groups of names that don't seem to be that related (except maybe that they start with the same letter) seem to follow the same trends. I wonder if there are some sampling problems with this. (they connect data points with straight lines, but I have a feeling there are actually very few points... I wonder if that's just them averaging over large groups of years and putting the averages at a few points) Or could that many names be that closely linked? <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Freakonomics-A-Rogue/dp/006089637X/sr=8-2/qid=1156870468/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-5024135-1168814?ie=UTF8" rel="nofollow"><i>Freakonomics</i><i></i></a> had a whole section on naming trends. Apparently names start with the rich. The lower classes pick up the name and as it becomes more popular, rich people stop using it. This happens over and over again, so much that you can predict trends based on what the rich are naming their children. Additionally, some names come in cycles as they go from being popular to unpopular. Names that start with the lowest money die off quickly. And it's amazing how many different spellings there are of popular names. It’s funny that so many groups of names that don’t seem to be that related (except maybe that they start with the same letter) seem to follow the same trends.

I wonder if there are some sampling problems with this. (they connect data points with straight lines, but I have a feeling there are actually very few points… I wonder if that’s just them averaging over large groups of years and putting the averages at a few points) Or could that many names be that closely linked?

Freakonomics had a whole section on naming trends. Apparently names start with the rich. The lower classes pick up the name and as it becomes more popular, rich people stop using it. This happens over and over again, so much that you can predict trends based on what the rich are naming their children. Additionally, some names come in cycles as they go from being popular to unpopular. Names that start with the lowest money die off quickly. And it’s amazing how many different spellings there are of popular names.

]]> By: Travis Bell http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/29/how-popular-is-your-name/#comment-15098 Travis Bell Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:03:29 +0000 http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/29/how-popular-is-your-name/#comment-15098 Very cool. Yolanda is surprisingly popular... Very cool.

Yolanda is surprisingly popular…

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