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Editorial policy

Last updated October 22, 2026

This page explains how Nomezo researches, writes and checks the names you see on the site.

Name meanings and origins

  • Every first name and surname in our database has a meaning and an origin taken from published name dictionaries and etymology references.
  • If a meaning is disputed or unknown, we leave the name out rather than guess.
  • For names from languages with characters (Japanese, Chinese, Korean), meaning depends on the characters chosen. We say so on the name.

Sources we use

  • Meanings and origins: published name dictionaries and etymology references, led by Behind the Name, cross-checked with language dictionaries for native-language names such as Japanese kanji, Korean hanja and Hawaiian words.
  • Popularity: official statistics only. That means the US Social Security Administration for American names, plus national offices such as the UK Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Ireland's Central Statistics Office, France's INSEE, Italy's ISTAT and Spain's INE. Japanese rankings come from the Meiji Yasuda annual survey. Each claim names its source and year on the page.
  • History and people: encyclopedias, museum and government archives, and primary texts where they are public domain. When sources disagree on a date or a story, we say "around" or leave the detail out.

Japanese kanji data

This site uses the JMnedict and KANJIDIC2 dictionary files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, and are used in conformance with the Group's licence.

  • The kanji spellings, hiragana readings and kanji meanings on Japanese name pages and in the Japanese name generator come from these files. We keep a spelling only when our editors chose it or real people listed in JMnedict use it, check the list by hand, and reword some kanji meanings to the sense they carry in names.
  • Our kanji data file, japanese-kanji.json, is shared under the same Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. It was built from the JMnedict file of 2026-10-22 and the KANJIDIC2 file of 2026-10-22.
  • We rebuild it from the latest dictionary files about once a month.

Factual pages and fun pages

  • Pages about real names (origins, meanings, baby names, surnames) list only real, documented names. Each note gives the meaning and the language it comes from, and a simple pronunciation where English speakers may stumble.
  • Fun pages (pet names, fantasy names, team names, usernames) mix real names with invented ones. Invented names always sit in sections labeled as invented, and real facts on those pages follow the same sourcing rules.

Name pages

Each name page combines the database entry (meaning, origin, gender and the cultures that use the name) with every note our editors wrote about that name on our lists. Similar names, names with the same meaning and middle-name ideas are computed from the same database. We only publish a name page when there is enough real material to make it useful.

Names lists

  • Lists are written by our editors for a specific need, grouped by style, and every name carries a short note.
  • We write our own lists. We do not copy lists from other websites.
  • Humor rules: clever and clean. No profanity, no sexual jokes, no slurs, no jokes about appearance, disability, ethnicity or religion. We removed old pages that did not meet this standard.

Generators

  • Real-name generators pick from our names database, so every result is a real name with a real meaning.
  • Fantasy, username, team and business generators build new names from syllable banks and word lists we wrote. Each generator page explains its method in a "How it works" section.
  • Generated names are free to use. Check trademarks and domain availability before using a name for a business.

Use of AI

We may use AI tools to suggest candidate names and to check spelling and consistency. An editor reviews, rewrites and approves everything before it is published. AI is not used as a source for meanings.

Updates

We review every page at least once a year and refresh popularity figures when new official data comes out. Seasonal pages, such as fantasy football team names, are refreshed before each season.

Corrections

If you find a mistake, tell us and include the page and the name. We fix confirmed errors quickly and update the page's "Updated" date.