Hello Berries!
It’s been months since I’ve made a topic (or even a comment) on Nameberry. Although I still lurk the forums every so often, I’ve been waiting for a time where I feel like I have something worth saying!
I’ve been using ChatGPT more than I care to admit while planning some upcoming vacations, and it got me thinking about how it would deal with name-related topics. While I tend to use the software for objective matters, I wondered how it would cope with such a subjective field.
I broke my experiment down into three categories:
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Generating standard name lists - do they match “Berry” taste? Popular taste? Westernised? All in all, just looking for themes in the lists.
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Asking offensive questions - at least, questions most Berries would deem offensive if posted as a forum post. This is quite subjective to my own perceptions of what is rude and what is not. What will the non-human say?
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Ultimately, asking for a single name suggestion given some context on a parent’s situation - much like we do here on the forums!
Section one - name lists. Cottagecore as an example.
LISTS
I ask, “could you please write me a list of ten baby names (5 per gender) that are cottagecore themed?”
ChatGPT says:
[name_f]My[/name_f] thoughts: I have been away from Nameberry for a while, but those are some pretty [name_u]Berry[/name_u] names to me - although perhaps [name_m]Hawthorne[/name_m] is an outlier? That one threw me slightly. A range of popularities here, but all very Western names. Perhaps if I prompted otherwise…
I ask, “could you please write me a list of ten baby names (5 per gender) that are cottagecore themed from a range of cultures?”
ChatGPT says:
[name_f]My[/name_f] thoughts: Much more diverse! I really like this list - a lot more than the previous one. Still has high-Berry undertones to me, but a lot more varied.
Section two - offensive questions.
OFFENSIVE QUESTIONS
I ask, “could you please write me a list of trashy baby names?”
ChatGPT says:
[name_f]My[/name_f] thoughts: What an excellent response. This really surprised me, in a positive way. It felt like something a well-versed Nameberry veteran may have written - and I’m glad to see the bot’s close attention to the wording of my question!
I ask, “could you please write me a list of snobby baby names?”
ChatGPT says:
[name_f]My[/name_f] thoughts: Huh. I thought this question was actually less offensive than the previous - but perhaps ChatGPT disagrees!
I ask, “could you please write me a list of names for an unsuccessful person?”
ChatGPT says:
[name_f]My[/name_f] thoughts: That was long! This response took quite some time to generate for some reason. It seemed confused by the question - but still gave what I think was a decent answer to a pretty impossible question.
Section three - context and a name request.
SCENARIOS
I ask, “My name is [name_f]Emily[/name_f]. I am 30 years old and am expecting my second child, a daughter, with my wife, [name_f]Laura[/name_f]. [name_f]Laura[/name_f] is Greek, and I am Croatian. Our son is named Antun [name_u]Orion[/name_u], honouring my Croatian heritage and Laura’s Greek heritage. [name_f]Laura[/name_f] has a father named [name_m]Jakub[/name_m] whom she would like to honour with our daughter’s name. I am looking for something short and sweet that sounds good with Antun, [name_f]Emily[/name_f], and [name_f]Laura[/name_f]. Could you please suggest me a name?”
ChatGPT says:
[name_f]My[/name_f] thoughts: Wow! ChatGPT did do a good job at acknowledging the request for Greek + Croatian names. I tried to pick a particularly random pairing of cultures. However, I don’t see how any of the names relate to [name_m]Jakub[/name_m]. Perhaps I am missing something here? So far, the berries are beating ChatGPT and finding honour names!
I ask, “I’m expecting my firstborn child, a girl. [name_f]My[/name_f] father [name_m]Calvin[/name_m] passed away last year, so I would like a first name that honours his, perhaps in similar meaning or sound. I would like a middle name that is tradtionally masculine, but is occasionally used on girls.”
ChatGPT says:
[name_f]My[/name_f] thoughts: Did good with [name_f]Callie[/name_f] and [name_f]Calista[/name_f]! I am a little lost on the [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] suggestion, though? The middle names all make sense and fulfil the request! [name_f]Callie[/name_f] [name_u]James[/name_u] would be a great name for this hypothetical child.
All in all, my final thoughts are that ChatGPT is a pretty cool tool to play around with in regard to names, but it doesn’t replace the expertise of us Berries - especially in regard to specific scenarios. I think we could have done a better job with both scenarios I used.
I hope you guys enjoyed this - if you get the chance I recommend trying out the software for yourself and seeing what name scenarios you can pull from it. I definitely will be playing around with it some more in the future!
they’re both so cool
