Hello, friends! 
I am coming at you with a very longwinded topic today on a topic that has interested me for a while! How much do we actually think about our different lists? Well, Iām curious - and have a constant fear that Iām doing things wrong or differently from other berries - so I figured Iād poll it myself. Alternate title for today, how many mistakes can [name_f]Mollie[/name_f] make in one topic? 
What constitutes a short list versus a long list? Is there even such a thing as a medium list? On average, most berries have a short list of all their top favorite names; this list is most likely to be 5ā10 names long. Most berries do not keep a medium-length list; however, those that do usually have 15ā25 or 40+ names on said medium-length list. There is an equal number of Nameberry users that have 100+ names on their long list, as there are users who donāt keep a count of how many names are on their long list. A third of that amount have 55ā75 names on their long list, the same statistically speaking as the number of users that have 75ā100 names on their long list. Out of all of the berries that voted, every one of them keeps a long list.
Now that we know the number of names on the average berries list(s), what type of names are on said lists?
Iām always confused about what constitutes a short list, and now that I know (statistically speaking) that a short list doesnāt technically have to be small (thank you to the 60% of berries who donāt actually agree that a short list has to be tiny), I might just be more lost. How do I narrow this down, you guys? Is it only my ultimate favorites? What about the names Iāve just started liking in the last few weeks? Oh goodness, here comes the spiral! Well, a whopping 73% of berries include both of their all-time favorites and current favorites on their shortest list. [name_m]Just[/name_m] over 10% of berries update their short list with their current favorites, and between the remaining 16% of users, there is an even split of berries who only include all-time favorites, as there are those who include only names both their partner and them like. I guess I was following this too. Phew!
Finally, Iāve figured out what a short list actually is! But here comes the āmediumā list, which I always feel I have to write in quotes because what does medium really mean? Itās such a fine line for me. [name_f]Do[/name_f] I include all-time favorites? Is this where I put all of my current favorites? What about names I only like in the middle spot (Chrysanthemum, thatās you)? [name_f]Fear[/name_f] not, [name_f]Mollie[/name_f], we have an answer! Although more than half of the berries I polled do not have a āmediumā list, it seems those that do are mostly in agreement! Of the berries who do keep a āmediumā list, nearly 80% of them agree that this list includes their all-time favorites and their current favorites. 15% of them say their medium list is the names theyāve liked for a long time (that arenāt all-time favorites), and 5% of them say their medium list consists of their favorite names at the moment. Over a half of the berries include both guilty pleasure and middle-only names on this list.
And finally, we are on to the standard long list that I think every namenerd has compiled at least once in their life! I think this one might be a little more self-explanatory, so I did not ask too many questions about the long list. I do apologize! Surprisingly, I found that over 40% of berries include every name that they have ever liked in their long list (yes, every name in their whole life!) Nearly a fourth of them include every name they loveāwith guilty pleasuresāon their long list; less than a fifth include every name they currently like; and just 14% include every name they even sort of like! Nearly half of Nameberry users include family names on their lists, but only in the circumstance that the name is one they already love and would use if it wasnāt a family name.
Now that we finally know what these short, medium, and long lists actually consist of, how do we know when it is actually time to update them? It happens like clockwork: I spend a lot of time on Nameberry, I feel really āname-y,ā I reformat and update my lists (which can take hours to do), and then I donāt look at them for months. I was curious if this was a common experience, and it seems it might not be! A whopping 87% of Nameberry users update their lists whenever they have a change in their names (whether it be adopting a new style, having new favorites, or maybe changing the middle name in a combo). [name_m]Just[/name_m] 5% of users update their lists daily, the same amount of users who update their lists every week. Only 3% of berries update their lists every six months, the longest increment that got any votes.
And in the only statistic that got an even 100%, every single user includes the names on their short list on their long list!
Let this be a guide, not a rulebook! Everyone thinks of their lists differently, and that is totally okay and a huge part of the fun of naming. I just know I can often feel lost, so I thought this might be a fun test to run! And of course, I only really had 37 users vote at the time I compiled this data, so it is likely to be inaccurate and skewed, but that is okay. This is not a science fair!
For those who are interested, here is the āraw dataā very poorly compiled, because as I said before, I am not a scientist or a data analyst 
35 BERRIES VOTEDā¦
54% of Berries keep only a short and long list.
34% of Berries keep a short, medium, and long list.
9% of Berries keep more than a short, medium, and long list.
3% of Berries keep only a short list.
And one [name_f]Berry[/name_f] responded saying they only keep a long list.
37 BERRIES VOTEDā¦
60% of Berries say their short list doesnāt have anything to do with being short, itās just their favorites.
19% say that they have 5-10 names on their short list.
8% say they have 10-15 names on their short list.
8% say they have 25+ names on their short list.
5% say they have 5 names on their short list.
35 BERRIES VOTEDā¦
54% of Berries do not keep a āmediumā list.
20% of Berries have 15-25 names on their medium list.
17% of Berries have 40+ names on their medium list.
9% of Berries have 25-40 names on their medium list.
36 BERRIES VOTEDā¦
33% of Berries have 100+ names on their long list.
33% of Berries donāt keep any sort of count of the amount of names on their long list.
11% of Berries have 55-75 names on their long list.
11% of Berries have 75-100 names on their long list.
6% have 40-55 names on their long list.
3% have 15-25 names on their long list.
3% have 25-40 names on their long list.
0% of Berries do not have a long list.
37 BERRIES VOTEDā¦
73% said their short list is a mix of all-time and current favorites.
11% said their short list is only their current favorites.
8% said their short list is only their all-time favorites.
8% said their short list is names their partner and them like.
36 BERRIES VOTEDā¦
67% said their short list is exclusive names theyād use as first names.
17% said their short list is first and āmiddle onlyā names.
16% said they have GP and āmiddle onlyā names on their short list.
35 BERRIES VOTEDā¦
60% do not keep a medium list.
31% have a mix of all-time favorites and current favorites on their medium list.
6% have names theyāve liked for a long time, but arenāt their top favorites on their medium list.
3% have their favorite names at the moment that arenāt all-time favorites.
21 BERRIES VOTEDā¦
62% of them have GP and middle only names on their medium list.
24% donāt have either on their medium list.
14% have GP names on their medium list.
37 BERRIES VOTEDā¦
43% include every name they have ever liked in their whole life on their long list.
24% include every name they love (even GPs) on their long list.
19% include every name they currently like.
14% include every name they even sort-of like.
37 BERRIES VOTEDā¦
87% of Berries update their lists whenever they have a change in names,
5% of Berries update their list every day.
5% of Berries update their list every week.
3% of Berries update their list every six months.
37 BERRIES VOTEDā¦
49% of Berries include family names on their lists, but only if they would use them even if they werenāt family names
33% do a mix of these things
8% of Berries keep family names separate
5% include family names in their medium/long list.
5% include family names on their short list.
35 BERRIES VOTEDā¦
And 100% of them include the names on their short list in their long list.
Further repliesā¦
- One berry keeps track of their changing favorites multiple times a week, but doesnāt edit their list more than a few times a year. Their changing preferences instead become new lists or spreadsheets.
- One berry says their medium list includes every name they like, but donāt love, however could love if they had a partner who loved the name.
- One berry says they only have a long list.
- One berry says their short list is for names they would realistically use, their medium list is for names theyād use under specific circumstances, and their long list is for names they sort of like or have liked in the past.
- One berry says they have an ultra short list that is their top five of names, names that if they were in a coma and you needed to name their baby, you could pick off of the list and theyād be fine. Their short list is The List (trademark), which contains their top five, but also names theyād consider for a real child (with the mentality of ābaby doesnāt feel like my top 1, so letās turn to the short listā or ānames Iād propose to a partner at firstā). Their medium list is The list (lowercase common noun), which is all the names they really enjoy, are more likely to be used as middles, and some they love but wouldnāt use IRL, names of āmy partner hates all my names/none of the names I like work as a middle, letās broaden the search.ā And finally, their long list is every name they like, and they go to this list if someone on NB asks for suggestions or if theyāre looking for a name with certain initials.
- One berry says their medium list is all the names that are their current favorites, where their short list has a few current favorites, but more forever favorites. Their medium list changes a lot more.
I tried compiling a list of every name Iāve liked, and it was too long, and quite frankly embarrassing 
anyway this was a great analysis! 
I myself usually update mine once a month!