The names are generated by a Markov process trained on a list of the 1000 most popular baby names in the US in 2023.

The algorithm isn't told any actual names, but only the frequency of four-character sequences in the text. For example: aine appears 2 times, yah appears 18 times, Hol appears 4 times, etc.

Only from this distribution, the algorithm constructs many familiar names, like Maddison and Sawyer, and some original ones, like Skylerine and Deanora.

The algorithm runs in your browser via WebAssembly, it is written in Go.

This project was inspired by Chapter 4 of Shape (2021) by Prof. Jordan Ellenberg.