Baby name generator: filter real ONS name data

Q: Where do these names come from?

The Office for National Statistics dataset "Baby names in England and Wales: from 1996", which records every name given, with its rank and count, for each year from 1996 to 2025. It is published under the Open Government Licence, and the shards this tool loads are built straight from it.

Q: Why does it not show what names mean?

Because no meaning is stored for any name here. There is no authoritative dataset behind this build for meanings or origins, and inventing an etymology that sounds plausible is exactly the kind of thing this site does not do. Everything you can filter on is something the ONS publishes.

Q: Are US names included?

Not in this build. The Social Security Administration archive is public domain and was the intended second source, but ssa.gov refused every request when the data was assembled, and substituting an unofficial mirror would mean shipping names nobody had checked. The tool says so rather than pretending the coverage is wider.

Q: What do the style labels mean?

They are arithmetic on published ranks, not opinions. Enduring means top 200 in both 1996 and the latest year; revival means outside the top 500 then and inside the top 200 now; rising and falling mean a move of 100 places or more over five years. Every rule is printed in the data.

Q: How does the sibling match work?

It scores a shared first letter, a shared ending, a similar length and a similar number of vowel groups. That is a similarity heuristic with no authority behind it - there is no research on which names go together - so it is offered as a sorting tool rather than as a finding.

Names in the datasetworked example

4,122

Girls list: 2,072
Boys list: 2,050
Matching your filters: loading
Shortlisted: 0

Every name here comes from the Office for National Statistics record of names given in England and Wales. There is no meaning and no origin stored for any of them, because no authoritative dataset for either sits behind this build - and a plausible invented etymology is exactly what this site does not publish.

List

The ONS publishes two lists. This is which list a name appears on, nothing more.

Starts withPicking a letter fetches one small file instead of twenty-six.Ends withStyleEach label is arithmetic on published ranks, not an opinion.No longer thanGoes with a sibling calledScores a shared initial, a shared ending and a similar length. A sorting heuristic, not a finding.

Loading names...

Everything you type here is computed in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored on a server, sent anywhere, or shared — there is no account and no health data to leak.

What is missing, and why. No meaning or origin is stored for any name, because there is no authoritative dataset behind this build for either. US names are not included: the SSA archive is public domain but could not be downloaded when this data was assembled, and no unofficial mirror was substituted.

Where the names come from

Office for National Statistics, Baby names in England and Wales: from 1996 — Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Planning the rest of it? The baby cost calculator does the same thing for money, and the registry checklist is the NHS newborn list with the quantities it actually gives.

This baby name generator filters 4,122 names from the Office for National Statistics record of every name given in England and Wales since 1996. Narrow by first letter, ending, length, popularity band or how a name has moved, match it against a sibling, and share a shortlist. No meanings are invented.

Name popularity rank and count (ONS) — rank and count per name, per sex, per year, exactly as the ONS publishes them. Verified 2026-07-30 against Office for National Statistics, Baby names in England and Wales: from 1996 (England and Wales only. The ONS publishes names with a count of three or more, so rarer names are absent from the source itself. A rank is a position in one jurisdiction in one year and says nothing about a name anywhere else.)
Name style tags, derived from published ranksconvention — top-100: rank <= 100 now; popular: 101-500; uncommon: 501+; rising/falling: rank moved 100+ places over 5 years with both ranks inside the top 1000; enduring: top 200 in both 1996 and now; revival: outside the top 500 in 1996 and inside the top 200 now; vintage: top 100 in 1996 and outside the top 500 now. Verified 2026-07-30 against Office for National Statistics, Baby names in England and Wales: from 1996 (These are labels for movements in a popularity table, not descriptions of what a name is like. A name can be tagged rising because a hundred more families chose it, which is a fact about a year rather than a quality of the name.)

Everything you type here is computed in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored on a server, sent anywhere, or shared — there is no account and no health data to leak.

Frequently asked questions

Where do these names come from?

The Office for National Statistics dataset "Baby names in England and Wales: from 1996", which records every name given, with its rank and count, for each year from 1996 to 2025. It is published under the Open Government Licence, and the shards this tool loads are built straight from it.

Why does it not show what names mean?

Because no meaning is stored for any name here. There is no authoritative dataset behind this build for meanings or origins, and inventing an etymology that sounds plausible is exactly the kind of thing this site does not do. Everything you can filter on is something the ONS publishes.

Are US names included?

Not in this build. The Social Security Administration archive is public domain and was the intended second source, but ssa.gov refused every request when the data was assembled, and substituting an unofficial mirror would mean shipping names nobody had checked. The tool says so rather than pretending the coverage is wider.

What do the style labels mean?

They are arithmetic on published ranks, not opinions. Enduring means top 200 in both 1996 and the latest year; revival means outside the top 500 then and inside the top 200 now; rising and falling mean a move of 100 places or more over five years. Every rule is printed in the data.

How does the sibling match work?

It scores a shared first letter, a shared ending, a similar length and a similar number of vowel groups. That is a similarity heuristic with no authority behind it - there is no research on which names go together - so it is offered as a sorting tool rather than as a finding.

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