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
Elia
Elia is one of the most elegant four-letter names in current American use: a name that functions simultaneously as the Italian/Spanish form of Elijah, a standalone Hebrew name mea…
- Baby commentary
Elisabeth
Elisabeth is the Continental European spelling of Elizabeth — the S where most Americans expect a Z — and that single letter difference changes the name's entire cultural register…
- Baby commentary
Elouise
Elouise is Eloise with an extra O, a small spelling variation that signals a specific aesthetic sensibility and puts a little more visual weight on the name's first syllable. At r…
- Baby commentary
Emmeline
Emmeline is Emma with a Victorian flourish — the same root, a longer form, and a name that carries significant historical weight alongside its current aesthetic appeal. At rank 93…
- Baby commentary
Everest
Everest peaked in 2022 and holds rank #845 with 2,739 SSA records. It's the world's highest mountain worn as a first name — ambitious, elemental, and increasingly popular as paren…
- Baby commentary
Evren
Evren is a Turkish name meaning "universe" or "cosmos" — and that meaning alone puts it in an elite category of names whose definition is as expansive as a name can be. Ranked #97…
- Baby commentary
Felipe
Felipe is the Spanish and Portuguese form of Philip — and it has been a steady presence in American naming for generations, peaking in 2001 with 31,577 total SSA records. Currentl…
- Baby commentary
Heath
Heath peaked in 1974 and holds rank #848 with 29,268 SSA records. It's a name with clean Old English roots, a strong one-syllable presence, and an association with one of cinema's…
- 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…
How we work
Editorial policy →
Topic selection, verification, corrections.
How we gather data
Methodology →
Sources, processing pipeline, limitations.