In fact, WolframAlpha has done a wonderful job. Enter any question you like and it will present nice formatted answers, illustrated with diagrams and links to sources for further research. It is interesting to see how several sources are combined and presented very clearly.

For all of us who are in the business of Data Quality, Names and Addresses, it is surprising to see you can enter about any given (first) name and you will get realistic numbers about occurrences of the name. As far as I have seen it is now solely based on data from the US, but it is obvious to see where this is headed. If WolframAlpha really takes off, it is just a matter of time before they have all sources for names of the world put into their system.

At least I know now that about 800 boys are born each year in the US with the same name as me. And whenever I have to raise my hand when my name is called, about 60.000 other US citizens will raise their hand too. I am still figuring out what my life expectation will be, because the age distribution graph is a little hard for me to digest. And why did Microsoft discontinue Encarta several weeks ago and launched their fourth or fifth attempt of their search engine this week? Is it just a coincendence ? By the way, have you already “BINGed” somebody?

In a recent post in data quality PRO the validation of foreign given names was discussed. After reading the excellent comment of my colleague Michael Grigat, I stumbled across an article in the “Bay of Plenty Times”, a local New Zealand newspaper.

The article described the rather patriotic name choice of a couple with regard to the newest addition to their family. They named their daughter “Zealand-New”.

Zealand-New’s mother Tomicina Davoren, and father Mana Te Moni, said they preferred a name that was different to any that featured in the country’s top baby names for 2008. “I’ve never heard anybody being called that name. You hear New Zealand every day but not as someone’s name.” She said the top names for 2008 may be popular but were “not the greatest”. “They are too plain,” she said.
Zealand-New is Ms Davoren’s and Mr Te Moni’s fourth child. Their other children are named Rlexuz Toara Chantz Te Moni, Mikaere Morgan Te Moni, and Korizma-Lake Vonnita Manaaki Te Moni.

This is what you might call a very substantial illustration of what Michael Grigat said in his post: “We have more than 20 years of experience with international given names and we know that validation of given names is quite a tricky thing.” Indeed we do ……