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    [OC] 94 spellings of Caden (Kayden?) from US baby name data
    Data

    [OC] 94 spellings of Caden (Kayden?) from US baby name data

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    23 Comments

    1. Chronicallybored on

      usually not a fan of word clouds but chaos is the theme. vote on pronunciations to refine grouping here: [https://nameplay.org/tools/refinement/Kayden](https://nameplay.org/tools/refinement/Kayden)

      source: [SSA baby names dataset ](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html)

      tools: python wordcloud package, CMU pronouncing dictionary, hacked together grouping algorithm. Gallery and group refinement tool frontend built in Svelte (JavaScript).

      gallery with more name variant word clouds (all needing some refinement):

      [https://nameplay.org/name-spelling-wordclouds](https://nameplay.org/name-spelling-wordclouds)

    4. murrrdith on

      This made me think of my former coworker whose son was named Kcayden. Bothered me every time she talked about him.

    6. ILearnedSoMuchToday on

      So stupid. All you’ve accomplished is creating a unnecessary clarification every time someone spells their name the traditional way. People still say it the same way so it’s not even unique! I’m frustrated for whomever needs the validation.

      Also this isn’t beautiful data. It’s a sin.

    8. HeresTheWitch on

      I would say that “NamePlay Org” has to be the most egregious of all of these. I don’t even know how the parents got that from such a simple name

    15. Coumatha on

      In conversation, no one cares how a name is spelled. Most text channels you add your own name. 
      These are people trying to impress their child’s barista, apparently? 

    17. hyouko on

      I’m a grump, I know, but word clouds are pretty much the worst way to represent this type of information.

      If you want to make it beautiful, maybe find some way to arrange them in terms of editing steps from most to least common variants.

    20. aggasalk on

      just looking it over I counted 13 versions of the first syllable and 9 of the second:

      {Ka, Kai, Kay, Ca, Cay, Cae, Kae, Kei, Kha, Khae, Khay, Cai, Kea} * {dyn, denn, don, dan, din, denn, dien, dynn, deyn}

      so there’s at least 23 “missing” versions:

      surprised there’s no “dn”? so we can’t have Kdn or Khaedn?

      anyways, there are still dozens more ways to spell it. we need more

    21. manachar on

      This makes me think of two quotes that make me think two different ways about this:

      > A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

      Language is a living changing thing. So I get playing with the written form. Heck spelling was all over place until dictionaries and consistent spelling became an elite game of nation building.

      On the other hand:

      > There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. (Isaac Asimov)

      Letters just can’t mean whatever sound you feel like! The whole point of written language is to have consistent mapping so we can communicate words and names to each other!