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
Goldie
Goldie peaked in 1915, has 38,082 total SSA bearers, and sits at rank 645 today. A century between peak and present is long enough for a name to complete its full vintage cycle —…
- Baby commentary
Indie
Indie peaked in 2022 with 3,953 total SSA bearers — a name that arrived recently, signals a cultural aesthetic with unusual precision, and is small enough that a young Indie will…
- Baby commentary
Jaxton
Jaxton peaked in 2018 and now holds rank #609 , with 10,617 total SSA bearers. It occupies the busy intersection of the Jax- prefix and the -ton suffix — two of the most productiv…
- Baby commentary
Jayceon
Jayceon peaked in 2014 and now holds rank #621 with 13,087 total SSA bearers. It's an American elaboration of the Jason/Jayson sound with an added syllable and a distinctly contem…
- Baby commentary
Journi
Journi peaked in 2021 with 4,712 total SSA bearers — it's the intentional respelling of Journey, and the Y does specific work: it signals that this name was chosen deliberately, n…
- Baby commentary
Kareem
Kareem peaked in 1980 and currently ranks #677 with 17,776 total SSA bearers. The timing of that peak aligns almost exactly with the height of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's basketball dom…
- Baby commentary
Keira
Keira peaked in 2006 and sits at rank 609 today — a soft slide from its mid-2000s high, but 33,362 total SSA bearers is a substantial base. The name rides almost entirely on Keira…
- Baby commentary
Kendra
Kendra peaked in 1987 and holds 98,110 SSA records, a name whose origin remains genuinely uncertain, which makes it an interesting case study in how names without clear etymologie…
- Baby commentary
Layton
Layton peaked in 2015 and ranks #692 with 11,775 total SSA bearers. It's an Old English place-name-derived surname that found its way into American first-name use alongside simila…
- Baby commentary
Lillie
Lillie peaked in 1919 and carries 158,489 SSA records — an alternate spelling of Lily with Victorian-era roots that has survived a century-long dormancy to re-emerge as the softer…
- Baby commentary
Marie
Marie peaked in 1920, has 539,595 total SSA bearers — the largest total count in this batch by a significant margin — and sits at rank 639. It is one of the foundational names of…
- Baby commentary
Marigold
Marigold peaked in 2024 and holds 2,474 SSA records, one of the most distinctive floral names in current American use, a name that sounds like it belongs simultaneously in an Edwa…
- Baby commentary
Marilyn
Marilyn peaked in 1947 and holds 373,424 SSA records, a name that belongs, in the American imagination, almost entirely to one person. At rank 666, it's making a slow but real ret…
- Baby commentary
Marlowe
Marlowe peaked in 2024, which means it's at its modern apex right now. At 4,228 total SSA bearers and rank 624, Marlowe is a name that's riding the literary-surname-for-girls tren…
- Baby commentary
Marvin
Marvin peaked in 1928 and carries 253,786 total SSA bearers, a number that reflects nearly a century of consistent use. Currently at rank #671 , it's in the early stages of a vint…
- Baby commentary
Mauricio
Mauricio peaked in 2008 and holds rank #633 with 23,812 total SSA bearers. It's the Italian and Spanish form of Maurice — a name with Roman origins that gained its richest cultura…
- Baby commentary
Melina
Melina peaked in 2009 and holds rank 633 with 19,488 total SSA bearers — a name that's been quietly consistent for two decades without ever becoming common. It has the kind of und…
- Baby commentary
Mylo
Mylo peaked in 2024 and ranks #642 with 3,205 total SSA bearers. It's the Y-spelling variant of Milo — a name with ancient Germanic roots that has been climbing steadily for years…
- Baby commentary
Nathanael
Nathanael peaked in 2000 and currently ranks #674 with 21,774 total SSA bearers. It's the Biblical spelling, the one that appears in the Gospel of John, rather than the more commo…
- Baby commentary
Nia
Nia peaked around 2000 and carries 25,013 SSA records, a three-letter Welsh name meaning "bright" or "radiance" that also functions as a Swahili word meaning "purpose." At rank 67…
How we work
Editorial policy →
Topic selection, verification, corrections.
How we gather data
Methodology →
Sources, processing pipeline, limitations.