About Behind the Name

is a website for learning about all aspects of given names. Its scope is broad: all given names from all cultures and periods are eligible to be included in the main name database. Names from mythology and fiction are also eligible. There are currently 18459 names in the database, a fraction of what the scope entails. There's still much work to be done!

This site was created in 1996 by Mike Campbell. I wanted to put something on the web that was unique and, as far as I know, this was the first site that was quite like this when it was first created. Also, etymology is a hobby and linguistics has always interested me. I hope you enjoy your visit here!