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
Ignacio
Ignacio peaked in 2006 and holds rank #824 with 19,647 SSA records. It's a full-bodied Spanish name — four syllables, unmistakable Mediterranean warmth — and its sustained presenc…
- Baby commentary
Isael
Isael is a Hebrew-origin name — likely a variant or blend of Israel and Ishmael — that has found a specific home in Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S. Ranked #942 with a 202…
- Baby commentary
Ishaan
Ishaan is a Sanskrit name referring to the northeast direction and the deity who rules it: a name with cosmological meaning that has been present in American naming data since the…
- Baby commentary
Issac
Issac peaked in 2008 and holds rank #854 with 24,287 SSA records. It's the transposed-vowel spelling of Isaac — one of the most ancient names in the Hebrew tradition — and the fac…
- Baby commentary
Jaycee
Jaycee sounds like initials turned name, the phonetic rendering of J.C., and that's essentially what it is. An American invention built on sound rather than etymology, it peaked i…
- Baby commentary
Jazmine
Jazmine is one of several phonetic spellings of Jasmine, a flower name with Persian origins that became a naming phenomenon partly through Disney's Princess Jasmine and has remain…
- Baby commentary
Jimmy
Jimmy peaked in 1947 and carries 288,433 SSA records, a deep archive of mid-century American life. At rank #859 today, it's not exactly thriving, but it's also not gone. Something…
- Baby commentary
Jiraiya
Jiraiya is a name that entered American birth records almost entirely through anime — and that's not a criticism. Ranked #918 with a 2023 peak and only 2,044 SSA records, it repre…
- Baby commentary
Joe
Joe peaked in 1936 and has 453,008 SSA records — nearly half a million Americans have been given this name, making it one of the most thoroughly democratic names in American histo…
- Baby commentary
Johanna
Johanna is the Latin feminine form of John, from Hebrew Yohanan meaning God is gracious, that carries more elegance than Joan and more international breadth than Joanna. With 53,9…
- Baby commentary
Joziah
Joziah is an alternate spelling of Josiah, the reforming king of Judah, updated with a Z that gives it a slightly more modern visual identity. Ranked #989 with a 2019 peak and 5,1…
- Baby commentary
Jrue
Jrue peaked in 2024 with just 1,594 SSA records — making it one of the rarest names in the current chart at rank #892. It's a name that almost certainly would not exist in America…
- Baby commentary
Judson
Judson is the kind of surname-turned-given-name that feels both discovered and inevitable. Ranked #956 with a 2023 peak and 13,627 SSA records, it sits in that productive middle z…
- Baby commentary
Kallie
Kallie is a Greek-rooted name meaning beautiful, from kalos/kale , the Greek root for beauty and good, given a warm American presentation through its -ie ending. With 12,401 SSA r…
- Baby commentary
Kamiyah
Kamiyah is a name that sits at the intersection of African American naming creativity and Arabic etymological roots, a name that sounds and feels contemporary while drawing from a…
- Baby commentary
Kannon
Kannon is a name sitting at an unusual crossroads: it sounds like Cannon, functions phonetically like Cannon, but carries a Japanese Buddhist backstory that is entirely different…
- Baby commentary
Kaya
Kaya is one of those names that exists independently in at least four different cultural traditions, and that convergence isn't coincidence but evidence of something in the sound…
- Baby commentary
Khalid
Khalid is an Arabic name meaning "eternal" or "immortal" — and it carries that meaning with a weight that goes back to early Islamic history and forward through a Grammy-winning A…
- Baby commentary
Khaza
Khaza is a name of uncertain origin with an extremely specific pop-culture biography. Ranked #965 with a 2023 peak and just 1,632 SSA records, it exists almost entirely because of…
- Baby commentary
Kylee
Kylee is an Americanized spelling of Kylie, itself from Irish/Gaelic caol (meaning narrow) or possibly an Aboriginal Australian boomerang word, that peaked in 2008 and holds 50,02…
How we work
Editorial policy →
Topic selection, verification, corrections.
How we gather data
Methodology →
Sources, processing pipeline, limitations.