The Forebears baby name generator picks random names from a total of over 30 million first names. When you initially load the page and press the FIND A NAME button, names will be chosen completely randomly. To pick names that match your preferences there are eight options to filter your search. Options may not be available for the country you are interested in. These options are found as drop down boxes above, below the Select from the options below to narrow your search heading. The options are:

• Gender – only show names for boys, girls or names that are used for both genders
• Region/Nation – only show names that occur in countries/jurisdictions
• Occurence – show names that are common, rare or in between
• Begins With – show names that begin with the entered letters
• Popularity – show names that have increased or decreased as baby names in recent years
• Wealth – show names that are borne by more, or less, wealthy people
• Political Persuasion – show names whose bearers are more liberal, conservative, or moderate
• Length – show names that are longer or shorter

Chosing a large number of options may return no matching names. For example there are probably no very long names, that are very common and begin with X.

At the top of the page are two boxes for and . The latter is simply to see the child's surname next to the baby's potential name. The first name box will fill with a name once you have conducted a search. A man icon will often appear in this box. It will be blue if the name is a boys' name, pink if it is a girls' name and grey if it is a unisex name. Names are considered male or female if 90% of the name's bearers are of the relevant gender; otherwise they are considered unisex. Below this box appear summary statistics for the name: the approximate number of people in the world who bear the name (global incidence), the country it occurs most in (most common in) and may also include the meaning (currently not available). Below is a link Find Out More About This Name to a page about the name, which may contain the meaning, history and statistics pertaining to the name.

Below the name boxes you will find the FIND A NAME button. Press this to load random baby name ideas. Below this is a star icon and a drop down that reads Main List. Pressing the star icon will add your name to a selected list of favorite names. This requires an account, which is free and will always remain free. If you don't have an account you will be prompted to create one. Clicking the dropdown that reads Main List will show your favorite lists. By default this will be only – Main List. You can create new lists by typing in a name where it reads Create List and pressing ADD.

Depending on your device (computer, tablet, mobile) you will either see names you have added to favorite lists to the left of your screen; or, on smaller devices, you will find a [Show Favorite Lists] button. Clicking it will show your favorite lists: full screen (smaller devices) and to the left (medium sized devices).

Tips

• Most users will find best results by selecting a country and searching through: very common, common and average names (occurrence option)
• If you want to choose more unusual, or even practically unique baby names search for very rare (occurrence option) or dwindling (popularity option)
• If you are looking for names that are becoming popular search for surging (popularity option)
• If you are looking for a very broad selection of names with the most options, search for names in The United States
• For names you like, you may find a similar-sounding name you prefer by viewing the page for that name and scrolling down to the Similar section; similar-sounding names may not have the same meaning
• Use lists to create a list for both parents; we will add a comparison tool and quiz in the near future