A Treasure Trove of Baby Names

Baby name apps aren't just for prospective parents—though I'm sure plenty of fathers- and mothers-to-be search such sites. They also have plenty of other users, from authors searching for character names to people looking for the meanings to their own names. And yet while there are plenty of websites that do the trick, dedicated apps aren't nearly as prevalent.

Baby Names Premium is a new app that aims to exploit this wide audience, and it does a great job of it. The app offers "most popular" listings for several countries over the last few years, a complete name list, and a robust search feature that lets you look for names based on gender, origin, name, or meaning. A lot of emphasis is placed on the discovery of new names, rather than a simple lookup function for names you're already thinking of. Once you find a name you like, you can favorite it within the app for future reference, as well as looking for more information on Wikipedia or Google. (I learned that Bonnie is of Latin origin - according to Wikipedia, there have been three Hurricane Bonnies already. Hmm.)

The database is fairly extensive, too, with a catalog of 35,000 names with origins ranging from Arabic to Latin to German. More popular names also get popularity graphs for their respective countries.

Oh, and one more thing—Baby Names Premium is a universal app, so $1.99 nets you both the iPhone and iPad versions. Check it out on the App Store!