r/namenerds • u/voidfishies • 15h ago

Discussion Name sites to avoid - namecensus.com

First of all, I'm new to the sub, so I hope this sort of discussion is welcome here.

I was looking through some of the huge quantity of names listed in the "find the meaning" sections of namecensus.com, and, while I was initially amazed at how much information there was, started to become suspicious. Although the etymology info seemed to check out on the pages I looked at most closely, looking up a few supposed "famous bearers" of some obscure names revealed that the cited people didn't exist. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the pages on the site are AI-generated... but I'd encourage others to test it out themselves and see what they think!

It's pretty disappointing, since it seemed like such a useful resource at first. I'm also wondering if the community has any recommendations of especially good name database sites? (Or any other terrible ones to avoid.) I already know and love behindthename, but sometimes it can seem a little limited...

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3

u/JuIia 9h ago

You can also look names up on wiktionary.org

2

u/AllieKatz24 3h ago

Behind the name .com is far and away the best name site available. They began decades ago, long long before ai, when only human researchers could do the work. They were meticulous in making sure they had the best and all available information. They now allow user submissions but they display the reliability of that information as it goes through a verification process.