The Surprising Complexity of Baby Name Data

I thought building a baby name database would be straightforward. Names, meanings, origins — how hard could it be? Turns out, quite hard. Problem 1: Names Aren't Unique "Kai" means "sea" in Hawaiian , "forgiveness" in Japanese, and "food" in some other languages. The same spelling, completely different names. Our solution: origin is part of the composite key. (name, origin) is unique, not just name . Problem 2: Gender Is Cultural Some names are strictly gendered in one culture but unisex in another. "Andrea" is a boy's name in Italy but a girl's name in English-speaking countries. "Kai" is used for all genders in Hawaii. We use three gender values: boy , girl , unisex . But "unisex" means different things in different contexts. Problem 3: Meanings Are Contested Name etymology is surprisingly controversial. Different sources give different meanings for the same name. "Kennedy" might mean "helmeted chief" or "misshapen head" depending on which etymologist you ask. We cite the most widely