The latest articles on DEV Community by Martinez (@martinezdev1). https://dev.to/martinezdev1 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4053608%2Fa450a352-35bc-4039-84c8-3ea41d531a74.png https://dev.to/martinezdev1 en Martinez Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:41:17 +0000 https://dev.to/martinezdev1/i-spent-months-turning-how-many-of-me-into-an-actual-data-project-2oh3 https://dev.to/martinezdev1/i-spent-months-turning-how-many-of-me-into-an-actual-data-project-2oh3 <p>I Built a Tool That Tells You How Rare Your Name Actually Is, Would Love Some Feedback</p> <p>So a while back I got curious how many people actually share my name, and every tool I found just gave me one flat number and nothing else. No history, no context, nothing. That bugged me enough that I ended up building my own version, and it kinda spiraled into a much bigger project than I expected. Sharing it here since I'd genuinely love some feedback from people who know data and UX better than me.</p> <p>You can try it here: <a href="https://howmanyofme.site" rel="noopener noreferrer">howmanyofme.site</a></p> <h2> What the Tool Currently Does </h2> <ul> <li>Pulls from over 140 years of Social Security Administration birth records for US first name data</li> <li>Estimates how many people are currently alive with a given name, not just how many were ever born with it</li> <li>Shows a full popularity trend chart from 1880 to today</li> <li>Gives meaning, linguistic origin, and a numerology breakdown for each name</li> <li>Breaks down age distribution and gender split</li> <li>Pulls worldwide bearer estimates so you can see how a name performs outside the US too</li> <li>Surfaces famous people who share the name, pulled live from Wikipedia</li> </ul> <h2> Why I'm Sharing It </h2> <p>I want to make the accuracy and depth better, and I know there's a ton of stuff I haven't thought of. Specifically curious about:</p> <ul> <li>Better ways to handle rare or non-English names, where the underlying data gets thin fast</li> <li>Other public datasets that could sharpen the estimates</li> <li>Whether expanding past the US makes sense, and if so what data source would even work for that</li> <li>Whether people want more trend/prediction stuff, or if the current historical chart is already enough</li> </ul> <h2> What I'd Like to Know </h2> <p>If you try it out, genuinely curious about:</p> <ul> <li>Does the estimate feel roughly right for your own name</li> <li>What feels missing or like it'd add real insight, more history, comparisons to similar names, something else</li> <li>Any thoughts on the data itself, or just general UX feedback on how the results are laid out</li> </ul> <p>Even small "hey this part confused me" comments would help a lot.</p> <h2> Try It Yourself </h2> <p>Head to <a href="https://howmanyofme.site" rel="noopener noreferrer">howmanyofme.site</a>, type in your name, review the results, and let me know what improvements I could make.`</p> database discuss science