It's "defined" as a computational knowledge engine, but for me WolframAlpha.com is just the latest web site that can give you far more information than anyone will ever need.
I learned about it the other night when I asked my kids (ages 19 and 22) if they'd heard they, unintentionally, have the most popular names of the decade: Emily Kathryn and Timothy Jacob. That prompted Em's husband, Tom (who has the 56th most popular name), to tell me about the web site.
We plugged in "Anne" and learned it's the 499th most popular name in the U.S. Each year, 618 babies are given that name (compared to 8,234 Toms).
Of all the numbers the site provides, the one I found most interesting was that the "most common age" of people with the name Anne is 51 -- my age. A similar match was seen when we plugged in my husband's name, Fred(erick) -- 58. But, Tom found 58 was also the most common age for his name.
For my blog followers who are wondering about their own names, here you go, followed by rank and most common age:
Emily: 3rd, 11.
TJ (Jacob): 1st, 12
Karen: 183rd, 53.
Jeff(rey): 198th, 48. What was interesting about this name is that the first time I plugged it in, the site assumed "female name," and ranked it "beyond 1,000th" and the most common age of women named Jeffrey is 40. In fact, the graph showed it only being used that way from 1966 to 1972.
Kathleen: 452nd, 59.
Lynn: Beyond 1,000th, age 54. (For male Lynns, the rank fell into the same abyss, but the age was up, 63.)
Elaine: 742nd, 63.
Jay: 395th, 50.
Catherine: 149th, 54.
Sharyn: Beyond 1,000th, age 63. (Only used between 1940 and about 1968.) The more common Sharon was 641, age 54.
Paul: Another "follower" -- but he's not on the list -- 155th, 46.
Suzanne: Beyond 1,000th, age 48. Suzanne's middle name, Arielle (I'm guessing on the spelling) fooled me. I suspected it to be lower, but it ranks 619th, age 19. She's my niece and I know it wasn't "Little Mermaid" that inspired her parents, but judging from it's peak year, I'd say it influenced many.
Larry (Ann): Beyond 1,000th, 55.
Sarah: 20th, 22.
Interesting!
ReplyDeleteActually my name is more common than I thought it would be. At work I'm surrounded by Jens, Kathys, Pats and Susans. But also in our group of nurses are a Justine, Yvonne and Cherith (lovely names all, in my opinion).
ReplyDeleteOne other thought- Tessa, who once disliked her name because it was different, now likes it for the same reason. I guess we all just grow into our names, one way or another.