WhitePages ranking of names

I have a very common name. After all, there's a famous golfer by the name of John Cook (an Ohioan just like me) and even another technology journalist who holds the name. But just how popular is the combination "John Cook," or any other name for that matter?

Thanks to a new offering from WhitePages, I now know that John Cook is the 537th most popular name in the U.S. In fact, John is the most popular first name, while Cook is the 54th most popular surname. Tapping into the new WhitePages name database, I also learned that 3,244 people have the name John Cook and the state where the most John Cooks live is Texas.

You can also track more unusual name combos. For example, there are only five people in the U.S. with the name Al Gore, ranking it as the 4,909,343rd most popular name. Meanwhile, there are only four Demi Moores.

The database isn't perfect. I typed in my wife's somewhat unusual first and last name, and got no results, which prompted her to quip: "I guess I am not even alive."

Now, you may be asking, what good is a name database, other than a fun time waster?

Geographic breakdown of John Cooks

WhitePages is touting the new service as a way for parents-to-be to find unique names for their babies -- in the spirit of David and Victoria Beckham's choice of "Brooklyn" for their son or Jennifer Garner and Ben Afleck choosing Seraphina for their daughter.

“There’s so much to consider when looking for the right name for your child including popularity, origin, history and meaning,” said Keela Robison, VP of Product at WhitePages in announcing the new service.

Of course, there are dozens -- if not hundreds -- of baby naming sites and books. And WhitePages isn't the only Seattle company heading down this path, since Jackson Fish Market offers its baby name database What a Lovely Name. That offering generates names based on personality inputs -- say cute, curious or creative. And like WhitePages, it too offers the historical origins of names.

WhitePages is pulling the names from its database of more than 200 million people in the U.S.