Let Name Madness 2012 Begin!

While those in the United States are making their vote for President count this week, I invite everyone to make their vote count here on NameFreak! It's time for Name Madness!

I would like to thank you all so much for your character name contributions. You gave me a huge field to work with and after I chose the 68 names to be included, they were randomly placed in 34 matches. The resulting match-ups are going to be tough, but a lot of fun. A wide variety of names from books, movies and television are now subject to your votes!

Here is how it works. The brackets are set up just like in the basketball tournament. Instead of the teams playing a game to determine the winner, you pick the name you prefer from each "match" or pairing for each round. I will tally up the results and then post the next round with the winners of the previous round, at which point you will choose the name that you prefer in the new matches, and so on until we have a winner for girls and a winner for boys. I will leave each round open for a week, so make sure you make your mark and vote as soon as you can!

To complicate things further, I have decided to do a play-in round, or Round 0.5.  We will start things slow this week; you will vote on only four matches, the winners of which will go on to compete in Round 1 next week. Here are the matches:

ROUND 0.5

#1
McLean
Virginia

#2
Claire
Diana

#3
Macon
Deacon

#4
Gilbert
Pierce

I searched for a way of doing a survey online, but realized the easiest way for me to collect your votes is through the comments. So, in your comment, put the number of each pairing and the name you choose. For example: #1 McLean, #2 Claire, #3 Macon, etc. (Probably the easiest way to do this would be to copy the list, paste it into your comment, and then delete the name that is NOT your choice.)

I have created a document you can print out to help you see the process more clearly. You can see it below or access it here. Each match is color coded, and you can write the winner of each round over the number of the match. You can also use it to keep track of your votes by circling your choice. You may have also noticed that Round 1 is also already printed on it, so you have a sneak peak of next week's matches.



You have through Sunday, November 11 to vote for Round 0.5! The winners will be announced next Monday, November 12, along with the matches for Round 1. And then we do it all over again. :)

Spread the word so we can have as many votes as possible! Have fun!