Every name has a story
Type a first name and see what it carries: the recorded meaning when a reference has one, the whole popularity run since 1880, and the names that sit near it. Then take the free kit home.
Type it. See what it carries.
Meaning and origin when the reference books record one, cited. Popularity from public data, redrawn. Nothing invented.
The reference books we cite don’t record a meaning for this one, so we won’t invent one. The book doesn’t mind: it works from the letters, not the etymology.
Take the free kit
Four printables drawn for this name, just below. And the book where the name is the story is in the works.
Keep it on the shortlist
Collecting candidates? Save this one next to the others.
That doesn’t look like a printable first name, 2 to 15 letters, apostrophes and hyphens welcome. Try again?
The free Name Kit
Five printables for the name, drawn in your browser at print size the moment you ask: a name print for the wall, a nursery sign, a tracing sheet, a shortlist sheet, and twelve sibling names with the reason for each. Letter size, 300 dpi, in the site’s own hand.
- Name print Meaning, origin and the popularity curve on one sheet, ready for a frame.
- Nursery sign The name big and bright, for a door, a shelf or the top of a dresser.
- Tracing sheet The name in dotted letters, with room to go over it again and again.
- Shortlist sheet A page for weighing names side by side: initials, nicknames, how it sounds with yours.
- Sibling names sheet Twelve names that go with this one, each with the reason, from the sibling matcher.
Name print
Meaning, origin and the popularity curve on one sheet, ready for a frame.
Nursery sign
The name big and bright, for a door, a shelf or the top of a dresser.
Tracing sheet
The name in dotted letters, with room to go over it again and again.
Shortlist sheet
A page for weighing names side by side: initials, nicknames, how it sounds with yours.
Sibling names sheet
Twelve names that go with this one, each with the reason, from the sibling matcher.
Print on plain letter paper or heavier card; the sign and the print look best on matte stock.
The book where their name is the story
Preview pages rendered for the example child. Leave your email and hear when it is ready.
Their name is the plot
Not a sticker on a template. The child earns every letter of their own name across the story, and the name they were given is the reason the pages turn.
Drawn to look like them, honestly
You pick one of 36 characters, each drawn in one hand and shown at the size it prints before you order, then one of 8 hair colors. Braids, locs, coils and twists are in the set, not an afterthought. A storybook likeness, offered as a drawing and never as a portrait.
Every name checked before it is set
Each name passes the same automatic screen the press uses, and a person reads every order before it goes to print.
Three honest steps
We look it up, we never guess
Meanings are quoted from a public-domain reference and cited on the page. A name the reference does not record shows no meaning at all.
The chart is the record
Every rank and count comes from the Social Security Administration's public file, drawn as it is, back to 1880.
Shortlist, then decide
Save candidates side by side, run the sibling matcher against the names already in the house, and print the kit for the one you pick.
Two hundred names, each with its own page
Names A to Z
The current top names, each with its own page.
The sibling matcher
Names that go with the one you have, scored by a fixed recipe.
Top names by year
The fifty names that led any year since 1880, girls and boys.
Top names by state
Every state's leading names for the latest year, with counts.
The book, in the works
Preview pages from the book where the name is the story.
Where it all comes from
Get the free Name Kit
Five printables made in your browser: a name print for the wall, a nursery sign, a tracing sheet, a shortlist sheet and twelve sibling names with the reason for each. Yours in a moment, for one email.
Make the kitThe book is in the works
A printed picture book where your child earns every letter of their own name, page by page. See the preview pages and hear when it is ready.
Preview the book