Most of the webtoys I see out there in blogland are games, variants on quzzes, or other time wasters of that type. I’ve never seen one anything like the Name Voyager applet.
Name Voyager is a graphical representation of name popularity through time. Here’s sample output for "Kim"
Type in a name, see how its popularity rose and fell from 1900 to the present. It’s a trivial but brilliant example of dynamic data representation. Play with the thing, typing in a few letters. Mouse over graph segments to see popularity ranking by decade. Ultimo cool.
On my own name, I now see why almost everyone believes me to be a "Kimberly."? I’m not, but I’m wildly outnumbered by those that are. Plus I do note that I’m in the Kim vanguard. Most of those I meet are at least a decade younger than I am. Again, now I see why.
Have fun wasting time with this one. I certainly did.
