About the data

Heyotag turns open data about names into a short story. Everything is calculated in advance: no AI runs when you use the site.

Careers

From Wikidata (CC0): notable people with US, UK, Canadian or Australian citizenship, born 1940–2005, across 49 careers. The multiplier compares how common a name is in one career with how common it is among notable people of the same gender across all 49 careers. Small numbers are pulled toward 1.0× so a single person can't create a giant score. Confidence: High = 25+ people, Medium = 10–24, Low = under 10.

The surprise career is the career with the highest multiplier outside a name's four most common careers, with at least 8 people and at least 1.3×.

Spelling families

Names that sound the same are grouped (for example Madelynn, Madeline and Madeleine). When a spelling has too few notable people, its careers come from the family, and we say so on the page.

Birth records

US Social Security Administration: every first name given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1940–2025 (public domain).

Meanings

From Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0, shortened by Heyotag. We only show a meaning when the source gives one, and label it “Well documented”, “Debated” or “Spelling of …”.

Limits

Famous-people data over-represents some countries and eras. Some patterns reflect where a name is common (for example ice hockey and Canada) or how old people in a career tend to be (for example judges). These are patterns about people who already have a name. They don't predict what anyone will do.