Who creates and edits the site?
RareBoyNames.com is created and edited by Don St Germain. The site is not presented as the work of a linguist, historian or professional baby-name consultant. Its value comes from careful curation, transparent popularity data, clear sourcing and a willingness to distinguish what can be measured from what is simply a matter of taste.
Don also creates and edits RareGirlNames.com. The two sites share research standards and data principles, while the boy and girl name guides are written for their own search intent rather than copied from one another.
How we research popularity and rarity
For U.S. popularity claims, our primary source is the national Social Security Administration baby-name archive. The local data layer currently covers 1880 through 2025 and keeps different spellings separate, just as the public SSA files do.
When a page says a name is outside the Top 1,000, has fewer than 100 births, is rising or is falling, the claim is tied to that dataset rather than to how unusual the name happens to sound. Our rarity methodology explains the five-birth privacy threshold, exact-spelling limits, historical peaks and the difference between rank and birth count.
How we handle origins and meanings
Name origins are often more complicated than a one-word label suggests. A name can pass through several languages, have multiple historical forms or acquire modern associations that differ from its oldest root. We avoid presenting a tidy meaning when the etymology is uncertain or disputed.
When we include an origin or meaning, we prefer established etymology references, language references, historical naming sources and primary cultural material where practical. We do not treat another baby-name list as proof simply because the same meaning has been repeated across many websites.
How we handle pronunciation
Pronunciation changes across languages, countries, dialects and families. When a guide discusses pronunciation, it should be treated as a practical English-language aid rather than a claim that only one pronunciation is correct. Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, French and Greek names especially benefit from checking reliable language-specific sources.
How names make an editorial list
Style pages such as cool, handsome, spooky, sophisticated and creative are editorial. We look for names that genuinely fit the theme, are established enough to research and give the visitor useful variety. We do not claim there is a mathematical way to prove that a name is “cool” or “handsome.”
Rarity claims
Checked against the current SSA-derived data rather than inferred from sound.
Style claims
Treated as editorial judgment and explained in the context of the page.
Origins and meanings
Included when the association is well established and phrased cautiously when sources disagree.
Pronunciations
Shown as practical approximations, with variation acknowledged when relevant.
Why some rare-sounding names are separated
A name can sound unusual while being surprisingly popular. Orion, Apollo, Hector, Rhys and Lennox all feel distinctive in different ways, but their current U.S. use is too high for us to quietly present them as rare simply because of style or heritage. When a page promises measurable rarity, we increasingly separate familiar style matches from the genuinely uncommon list.
How we use historical data
A low current rank does not always mean a name has always been rare. The SSA archive lets us compare the current birth count with a name's strongest published year. That helps distinguish old names that have faded, names that have always been uncommon and names currently gaining momentum.
Corrections matter
If we get a factual detail wrong, we want to correct it. Data issues, origin questions, pronunciation concerns and broken links can be sent through the contact page. A useful correction includes the page URL, the name or claim in question and, when possible, the source that should be reviewed.
Editorial independence
Names are not added to a list because someone paid for placement. Advertising may support the site, but advertisers do not decide which names are recommended, how rarity is described or what the data says.