My Favorite Posts of 2013

Happy New Year! 2013 has been a very exciting year for NameFreak! and I expect that 2014 will be even better. Posts have not been as plentiful over the past several months due to the holidays, travels, visitors, and a project I am working on, the last of which I hope to share that with you next year. But for now, a little recap in the form of a list: my seven favorite posts from 2013...

7. Inspiration from Place Names - I love finding names from inspiration. And since I also love to travel, this was a fun post to write. What inspiration can you find from places you've been?

6. Names Over Three Generations - It's still lacking the cool graphic, but the information from this analysis is quite compelling.

5. Where Are They Now? - A Final Look at 1911's Top 100 - The last look at a series I worked on at the end of last year, this post sums it all up and makes some interesting observations about the names from 100 years ago to today.

4. G Names: Then and Now - My favorite of all the "Then and Now" posts due to the pretty visual the research creates. Do you prefer the hard G or the soft G?

3. From Feminine to Unisex - One of the things I discovered in the research I've been doing on the history of popular names is the change of preference from feminizing masculine names to actually using masculine names. It was a fascinating discovery and makes me wonder if the trend will ever reverse?

2. Little Women - A Sibling Study - It was really enjoyable to see the similarities between the fiction and the non-fiction in Louisa May Alcott's masterpiece and to contemplate her motivations in naming the characters.

1. Play Ball!: Baseball-Inspired Names - It's probably no surprise that this is my favorite post of the year, and probably of the entire blog so far. It is also one of the posts that has received the most hits. I love baseball and I love names... this post puts the two together.

Thank you for continuing this adventure with me! Wishing you a wonderful 2014!