Few people have creatures named after them. Even fewer people have multiple creatures named after them. Atlas Obsura reports on all the creatures named naturalist for David Attenborough.
About Names
The Hobbit Name Generator
Need a hobbit name? Try this hobbit name generator.
About Names: In the currency of boys’ baby names, bank on Jackson
Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. This week’s column discusses that most popular baby names of 2015.
The Names of Musical Groups
How do bands create names? TaxoDiary shows some interesting graphical band name classifications.
Baby names generated by a neural network
Andrej Karpath, a Stanford computer science PhD candidate, designed a plausible baby name generator, while working on recurrent neural networks (a type of artificial neural network).
According to Wikipedia, “in machine learning and cognitive science, artificial neural networks (ANNs) are a family of models inspired by biological neural networks (the central nervous systems of animals, in particular the brain) which are used to estimate or approximate functions that can depend on a large number of inputs and are generally unknown.”
In this case, Karpath fed the neural network 8000 real baby names as input and generated plausible baby names not in the original data set.
Examples: Antley, Nerille, Chelon, Walmor, Evena, Jeryly, Stachon, Charisa
Book Review: The Name Therapist
In Duana Taha’s book, The Name Therapist, this “half-Gaelic, half-Egyptian TV screenwriter-slash-baby-name blogger turned advice columnist (on LaineyGossip.com) and self-declared ‘name therapist’ ” explores why names matter. This book review gives additional insight into the name concepts covered in the book and the style in which the author approaches them.
10 Popular Baby Names Invented by Authors
Katniss, Khaleesi, and Renesmee might be new creations, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t legitimate names. For generations, authors have invented names for these characters. Learn which authors invented these 10 popular baby names.
Why Baby Names Become Trendy
Learn more about name fads and what influences onomastics trends with these graphs originally published on Wait But Why.
The Politics of Referring to Places in Yiddish
Publications frequently navigate complicated politics when choosing how to refer to a place. Geography, history, language, and transliteration all factor in the onomastic reference. In geveb hosts a scholarly discussion particularly about Yiddish toponyms and their usage in the publication.
Marriage and Onomastics
This author grapples with changing her name upon marriage. It’s a decision that many Americans can relate to.