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NameAlmanac

Editorial policy

NameAlmanac reports what public records say about first names. This page sets out the rules the site follows: which sources it uses, how its sentences are written, what AI tools do and do not do, and how errors are corrected.

Updated

Sources

We use primary public sources and name them on every page: the Social Security Administration’s national and state baby-name files, SSA’s cohort life tables, and Wiktionary for meanings. We add a source only when its method is published and its data can be checked by a reader. When a source is weak we say so next to the figure it qualifies.

Sentences about a name

Every sentence on a name’s record is built from that name’s own figures by a fixed template, chosen by what the data shows (a name that peaked, a name that switched sides, a name held by one sex). No sentence about a name is written by a language model. Meanings are quoted from Wiktionary with the section and a link (text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out); if Wiktionary has nothing, the page says so.

AI tools

NameAlmanac uses AI tools to write code, design pages and draft the explanatory text of guides and research pages. That text is checked against the database before it is published, and its figures come from queries. AI tools do not decide any figure, rank or estimate, and they do not write meanings.

Independence and advertising

Ads are served by Journey by Mediavine and placed between sections of a page, never inside a table, chart or answer. Advertisers cannot buy, change or remove content, and no page is written to promote a product. NameAlmanac is not affiliated with SSA, the Census Bureau or Wiktionary.

Corrections

Report an error to hello@namealmanac.com, with the page address and what you think is wrong. The person who runs NameAlmanac checks it against the source file. If we got it wrong we fix the page and add a dated entry to the corrections page saying what changed. If the source itself is wrong, we tell you where to report it to SSA or Wiktionary and note it next to the figure.