Name update #111
New names have been added! For details of the changes you can see these links:https://www.behindthename.com/update/111 (given names)
https://surnames.behindthename.com/update/111 (surnames)
https://places.behindthename.com/update/111 (place names)This update includes...
- corrections to the Irish, Scottish and Welsh sections
- updates to modern English and African American names
- some names are now related by way of "phonetic elements" (see https://www.behindthename.com/elements/type/phonetic%20element)I am immediately starting on update #112. I pushed #111 out now because it had been so long since there was an update, but in reality there were many things left unfinished. In particular I didn't get through the name comments, submitted pronunciations, email submissions, etc. These things are next!
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Hi Mike C.!That's a big update!
Well done!!!
Thank you for what you do!I'd like to know something about the deleted names:
Afanen (f) Carran (m) Christie 2 (m) Christy 2 (m) Cormag (m) Edna 2 (f) Effie 2 (f) Ellis 2 (m) Fingall (m) Finnagán (m) Flurry (m) Glaw (m,f) Gobinet (f) Grwn (m) Hyledd (f) Paderau (f,m) Rhianu (f) Rórdán (m) Shaw 2 (m) Sìoltach (m) Tiwlip (f) Tory 2 (f) Wynfor (m) Maybe there are some of them that can be added to the submitted database. Anyway...
The update is great!!!

This message was edited 1/22/2022, 7:32 AM

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Yay, name update. (: Lots of interesting finds. For the next update, could you please consider adding, 'Naya' and 'Ilena' to the main database? These are two names that I'm surprised aren't already added. Other suggestions that I'm just merely throwing out there: (do what you want with of course.)Abilene
Adiana
Adira
Alira
Almyra
Araya -another one that surprises me
Cinda
Daya
Elara
Elora
Gavriella
Loraina (Another surprise. Unless of course I'm confusing the spelling)
Maelene
Maelona Adler
Alexsan
Alexandrew
Alexavier
Eliah (I know others have mentioned this as well in the past)
Irek
Loy (Another surprise)
Ramani
Ronal
Toshirō
Xavian
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Oh NVM, looks like Abilene was added. I didn't even realize!
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Hi Felie,Thanks!-- These names where merged into the (1) entries
Christie (2), Christy (2), Edna (2), Effie (2), Ellis (2), Shaw (2), Tory (2) -- These Welsh names were found to be either very rare or fanciful
Afanen "raspberry", Glaw "rain", Grwn "ridge", Hyledd (var of Heledd?), Paderau "rosary", Rhianu (var of Rhian?), Tiwlip "tulip", Wynfor (var of Gwynfor? - or could be a mutated form)--- These Irish/Scottish names were found to be very rare. In some cases other names were entered instead.
Cormag (> Cormacc), Fingall, Finnagán, Flurry, Gobinet (> Gobnat), Rórdán (> Rígbarddán), Sìoltach-- This given name from a surname was re-entered under a more widely-used spelling
Carran > CurranSome of these could be added to the submitted database, where the requirement is proof of having been used just once.
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I think it's a bit sad that rare names are being removed.As long as they exist and have been used I think it's nice to have them in the database. And I really like the name Rórdán, it is among my favorites.
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Yes, it is sad and a difficult decision. However, I feel that if a visitor comes to this website and sees Afanen, Glaw, Grwn, etc. on the list of Welsh names then I have left them misinformed. To me it is an improvement to have these names removed.
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Great explanation -- Do you have an exact numerical criterion for what makes a name "very rare" and so only eligible for being "submitted" rather than in the main database?
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It's uncommon when a name is deleted from the database. However, as I was looking through the Irish and Welsh categories it became pretty clear there were some problem names. Most of them dated back to the very early days of the site and had never been revised. Some referred to historical or mythological figures and could be moved into a more appropriate category (Old Irish/Welsh, Irish/Welsh Mythology). Otherwise if I could just find a few bearers I was content marking the name as "rare". I was left with a handful of irredeemable names with an insignificant number of bearers (most often 0) in the target categories.To answer your question, yes I do maintain a set of rough numbers that I can refer to when assigning names to categories. These are the minimum number of bearers expected when doing searches on various social media platforms, forebears, etc. It is obviously much easier when there are comprehensive statistics available, like for the US and France!For the submitted names database we have a rule that there needs be just one verifiable bearer of a name in order for it to be included. Some of the deleted names could maybe be re-added there on that basis, but perhaps under a different category.
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Hi Mike C!Thank you!
Again...great update!!!
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Thanks Mike. Don't stress or anything for the next update, take your time.
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