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
Shmuel
Shmuel is the Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation of Samuel — the prophet who anointed both Saul and David as kings of Israel. Ranked #980 with a 2022 peak and 5,709 SSA records, it is…
- Baby commentary
Siya
Siya is a name that arrives with quiet confidence — two syllables, a clean sound, and roots in Sanskrit that give it genuine depth. It peaked in 2024 with only 2,879 total SSA rec…
- Baby commentary
Soleil
Soleil is the French word for sun, and as a name it carries the specific warmth and elegance that French vocabulary names tend to have in English-speaking contexts — familiar enou…
- Baby commentary
Tallulah
Tallulah has the most distinctive sound on most lists it appears on: four syllables that tumble forward with an energy the name itself seems to know about. With 3,819 SSA records…
- Baby commentary
Teddy
Teddy peaked in 1949 and carries 33,321 SSA records. At rank #898, it's in a genuinely interesting position: a name that feels simultaneously vintage and current, because Teddy ha…
- Baby commentary
Theodora
Theodora is a name with genuine imperial weight, borne by one of the most powerful women in Byzantine history, and it's been steadily climbing American charts since the early 2010…
- Baby commentary
Tiffany
Tiffany peaked in 1988 and carries 338,560 SSA records, making it one of the defining names of the 1980s alongside Jennifer, Jessica, and Ashley. The name's Greek origin (from The…
- Baby commentary
Vada
Vada is a name with a film-specific pop culture moment, a German diminutive origin, and a sound that feels unexpectedly modern despite its vintage roots. At rank 960 with 12,623 t…
- Baby commentary
Yusra
Yusra is an Arabic name with an extraordinarily hopeful meaning — ease, prosperity, the one who brings ease, and a sound that is both distinctive and surprisingly accessible to En…
- Baby commentary
Zen
Zen is the shortest possible version of a philosophy — three letters, one syllable, and one of the most loaded words in the English language. Ranked #959 with a 2022 peak and 2,52…
- Baby commentary
Zendaya
Zendaya is one of the clearest examples in recent naming data of a celebrity name being adopted directly, the SSA peak in 2022 aligns precisely with the actress's highest cultural…
- Baby commentary
Zora
Zora is a name that carries the weight of one of American literature's most important voices — and separately, the Slavic word for dawn. SSA data shows 9,935 total records with a…
- Baby commentary
Zymir
Zymir is one of the most genuinely new names in American birth records — origin unclassified, only 1,746 SSA records, peaked in 2024. It represents the creative end of American na…
- Baby commentary
Zyon
Zyon is a creative respelling of Zion — the Hebrew name for the hill on which ancient Jerusalem was built, with layers of theological, historical, and cultural meaning accumulated…
- Baby commentary
Aila
Aila is a Finnish and Scottish Gaelic name of quiet beauty — four letters, two syllables, and a depth of origin that rewards investigation. Ranked 793 with 3,938 SSA records and a…
- Baby commentary
Alena
Alena peaked in 2015 and holds 15,613 SSA records — a Slavic name that reads as an elegant alternative to Elena and Alina without being derived from either, sitting at rank 749. I…
- Baby commentary
Alfredo
Alfredo peaked in 1993, ranks #780, and has 56,765 SSA records. It's the Italian and Spanish form of Alfred — a name with Anglo-Saxon warrior heritage that traveled through Latin…
- Baby commentary
Ambrose
Ambrose peaked in 2021, ranks #741, and has 10,503 SSA bearers. It's one of the more sophisticated vintage revivals currently happening — a name that sounds both ancient and unexp…
- Baby commentary
Arlet
Arlet peaked in 2023 and holds just 2,892 SSA records. One of the rarest names in this batch, at rank 719. It's a Spanish-influenced name that reads as a fresh variation on Arlett…
- Baby commentary
Azrael
Azrael peaked in 2023, ranks #735, and has just 2,762 SSA bearers. It's the name of the Angel of Death in Islamic and Jewish traditions, a name that most parents would consider im…
How we work
Editorial policy →
Topic selection, verification, corrections.
How we gather data
Methodology →
Sources, processing pipeline, limitations.