Author
Jack Lin
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Based in Taipei, Taiwan
Jack is a software engineer based in Taipei, Taiwan. He built NamesPop because the naming tools he found online all felt the same: slow, ad-heavy, and better at gathering SEO keywords than answering a parent's actual question.
He spends most of his writing time on trend analysis, data provenance, and the question of how software changes the small family decisions that used to happen in living rooms. Lately he has been thinking about how algorithms shape naming itself — what it means when a top-100 list starts to feel like a recommendation engine.
He lives with a rabbit named Money, which is where most of his pet-naming opinions come from.
2,387
Total pieces
131
Articles
1,085
Baby commentary
1,171
Pet commentary
Jack Lin's contributions
- Baby commentary
Tzvi
Tzvi is the Hebrew word for gazelle — swift, graceful, associated in Jewish tradition with beauty and the beloved. Ranked #1168 with its peak in 2021, it appears almost exclusivel…
- Baby commentary
Umar
Umar is the Arabic form of Omar, and its peak in 2024 reflects a broader pattern: parents with Muslim heritage are choosing the Arabic-original spelling with increasing confidence…
- Baby commentary
Veer
Veer is a Sanskrit name meaning "brave," "courageous," or "hero" — from the Sanskrit root vira , which also gave Hindi the word for a warrior-hero and is cognate with the Latin vi…
- Baby commentary
Vida
Vida is a Spanish name meaning life, from the Latin vita , giving it the same root as vitality, vitamin, and vivid. It peaked in 2022 with 12,247 total SSA records and is compact,…
- Baby commentary
Vivianna
Vivianna is the double-N spelling of Viviana — the Latinate form of Vivian — meaning "alive" or "full of life" from the Latin vivus . With about 4,590 SSA records and a 2023 peak,…
- Baby commentary
Wiley
Wiley peaked in 1921 and then spent the better part of a century in the background. Ranked #1159 now, it's surfacing again as parents return to frontier-era names with a warm, roo…
- Baby commentary
Wrenly
Wrenly is a newly coined name combining the bird name Wren — itself from Old English wrenna — with the -ly suffix that creates a warm, informal feel. With just 802 SSA records and…
- Baby commentary
Wyatt
Wyatt on a girl is a genuine frontier: it's a name so deeply embedded in boys' naming culture — Wyatt Earp, a string of male bearers, consistent top-50 boys' rankings — that choos…
- Baby commentary
Yaseen
Yaseen is a name drawn directly from the Quran — specifically from the opening letters of the 36th surah, Yasin, one of the most recited chapters in Islamic tradition. Ranked #113…
- Baby commentary
Zayan
Zayan carries a meaning worth pausing over: beautiful, graceful, adorned with beauty. This Arabic name, ranked #1127 with a peak in 2022 and 2,053 total SSA uses, is part of a gro…
- Baby commentary
Zayla
Zayla is a contemporary name in the Arabic-influenced naming family, likely a variant of Zaila or Zayla — names that may connect to the Arabic root for graceful or to an Ethiopian…
- Baby commentary
Zephyr
Zephyr is the west wind personified — a Greek god rendered as a six-letter name that sounds like the thing it means. Ranked #1133 with a peak in 2022 and 2,355 total SSA uses, it'…
- Baby commentary
Agustin
Agustin is the Spanish form of Augustine, and it carries the full weight of that name's philosophical and theological legacy without the slightly solemn English-language framing.…
- Baby commentary
Aldo
Aldo is an Italian name with a Germanic soul — short, punchy, and carrying a medieval European weight that somehow reads as both retro and effortlessly cool. Ranked #992 with a 20…
- Baby commentary
Alexa
Alexa spent years near the top of American baby name charts, peaking in 2006 with a ranking firmly in the Top 60. Its 131,304 SSA records make it one of the best-documented names…
- Baby commentary
Aliya
Aliya is an Arabic name meaning high, exalted, or sublime, and also a Hebrew name meaning ascent or immigration to Israel. Both meanings reach upward, which gives the name a consi…
- Baby commentary
Allan
Allan peaked in 1947 and carries 96,230 SSA records — a substantial generational legacy. It's a spelling variant of Alan and Allen, all three derived from the same Celtic root, an…
- Baby commentary
Allyson
Allyson is one of those names that peaked before most current parents were born and has been gently declining ever since. With 53,553 total SSA records and a 1998 peak, it has acc…
- Baby commentary
Anais
Anaïs is a French Provençal name, the Occitan form of Anne or Anna from Hebrew Hana (grace, favor), with a literary association so strong that it functions almost as a standalone…
- Baby commentary
Analeia
Analeia is perhaps the rarest name in this entire batch, with just 641 total SSA records with a 2024 peak, meaning it has only just entered the data with meaningful numbers. Hawai…
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Topic selection, verification, corrections.
How we gather data
Methodology →
Sources, processing pipeline, limitations.