Author

Ivy Hung
Data Journalist
Based in Arizona, USA
Ivy is a data journalist based in Arizona, United States. A business school graduate now working her way into tech, she spent her early career in product marketing, project management, and marketing strategy — roles where reading a name the same way you read a brand became second nature.
She joined NamesPop because the name datasets sit at exactly the intersection she cares about: consumer behaviour, cultural identity, and what numbers tell us about decisions families make quietly, one at a time. Her writing leans on SSA and municipal pet registries the way a marketer reads a segmentation report — looking for the audiences hiding inside the aggregate.
Cross-cultural naming is her main beat, with a particular interest in how Hispanic, Asian-American, and bicultural families navigate the tension between heritage and assimilation in the American Southwest.
2,409
Total pieces
140
Articles
1,119
Baby commentary
1,150
Pet commentary
Ivy Hung's contributions
- Articleanalysis
Felix Means 'Lucky.' Saltburn Said Otherwise. Parents Picked Felix Anyway.
A year after Saltburn, Felix is at its highest American ranking in 80 years. Parents are betting that 'lucky' will outlast a fictional bathtub.
·8 min read
- Articleanalysis
Hurricane Helene Will Live in the Names of Hundreds of Dogs
Two weeks after Helene struck, displaced shelter animals are arriving in Virginia and Maryland. Adopters are giving them names that record the disaster.
·8 min read
- Articleopinion
The Hispanic Names Crossing Over Have One Thing in Common
Mateo, Luna, Mia, Sofia: the Spanish-coded names dominating American charts share a survival trait. They pronounce the same way under English mishandling.
·8 min read
- Articleanalysis
Olivia Munn Named Her Daughter Méi June. Reddit Missed What Was Happening.
Olivia Munn announced her daughter Méi June via surrogate. Reddit called it clumsy. The name actually does the inheritance work Munn's body could not.
·8 min read
- Articleanalysis
Moo Deng Means 'Bouncy Pork.' American Shelters Are Paying Attention.
A Thai pygmy hippo named for a meatball became the world's most-photographed animal in September. American shelters are watching whether non-English names finally cross over.
·8 min read
- Articleanalysis
Shōgun Won 18 Emmys. The Press Could Not Decide What to Call Its Lead.
Shōgun took 18 Emmys and held the line on Japanese surname-first order in subtitles. English-language coverage flipped it within hours of the wins. The history is older than this.
·8 min read
- Articleanalysis
Brat Summer Made Charli a Real Name
Charli XCX's lime green album turned a spelling variant into a cultural unit of measure. The naming consequences will show up in next May's SSA release.
·8 min read
- Articleopinion
Very Demure, Very Mindful: What the Meme Says About Baby Names
Jools Lebron's 'demure' meme isn't about voice level. It's a referendum on how we perform tastefulness, including in the names we give our children.
·7 min read
- Articleanalysis
The Olympics Just Rewrote What Strength Sounds Like
Paris 2024 turned the redemption arc into the dominant athletic story. Now naming data is following Simone Biles, Sha'Carri Richardson, and the second-act curve.
·7 min read
How we work
Editorial policy →
Topic selection, verification, corrections.
How we gather data
Methodology →
Sources, processing pipeline, limitations.