Our rules
- Every claim has a source. Studies are linked to the original paper, laws to the official registry or statute. When we use our own estimate, we say so.
- Estimates are labelled as estimates. Heights are ranges, costs are ballparks in today's money, scores are checklists.
- No medical, legal or financial advice. We point you to the doctor, the civil registry or your own budget for the final word.
- Ads don't touch the content. The site is paid for by advertising, but no advertiser sees or shapes a page, a name list or a calculator.
- Your answers stay in your browser. Heights, surnames and shortlists are never sent to us (see the privacy policy).
- We fix mistakes. Write to [email protected]. Corrections go live within days, and we update the review date below.
Baby names
The name list. About 523 names, written and checked one by one rather than scraped. For each we give the most widely accepted etymology. Old names often have several proposed origins, so treat a meaning as the best-supported story, not a certainty.
Popularity is a band (US top 10, top 100, top 1000 or rare), based on recent US Social Security birth records. It is approximate and US-only; a name that is rare in the US can be common in Turkey or Brazil, which the "used in" line covers.
The name finder ranks names on three things: whether the meaning matches the hope you picked, how the name sounds (soft sounds such as l, m and n read as warm, sharp sounds such as k, t and z as lively, following Sidhu et al. 2019), and the style and popularity you asked for. It never claims a name will change your child's personality. The research says names change how others treat a person; see the evidence.
The scorecard is a set of rule-based checks, each out of 10, averaged into a score out of 100: letters and sounds that change in other languages, syllables and spelling, how common the name is, rhymes with rude words, brands, titles, numbers and symbols, the meaning, the flow with your surname (initials, run-together vowels, rhymes, rhythm), and the rules of the country you pick. One deal-breaker caps the total. It is a checklist to start a conversation, not a judgement of a name you love.
Naming laws are summarised from each country's registry or statute, linked on the naming laws page. Registrars have discretion and rules change, so always confirm with the registry where the birth will be registered.
Height and weight planner
1. Genetic target. The mid-parental height: the parents' average plus 6.5 cm for a boy or minus 6.5 cm for a girl (Tanner et al. 1970). We pull it 20% toward the population average, because children of very tall or very short parents tend to land closer to average.
2. The child's own growth. If you enter age and height, we find the child's position (z-score) on the CDC 2000 growth charts and blend it with the genetic target. The older the child, the more their own curve counts: from 30% under age 1 to 95% at 17.
3. Everyday factors. Food, dairy, vitamin D, sleep, stress, screens, sport and sugary drinks each move the path by a modest amount set from the studies listed under the planner: usually under a centimetre, and up to 3 cm only for severe, ongoing stress or neglect (psychosocial short stature). Only growth still to come can change, so the effect shrinks with age.
4. The range. About ±7 cm before birth, narrowing to about ±5.5 cm in mid-childhood and ±1.5 cm at 17, in line with the published accuracy of parent-based and growth-chart methods.
Limits. The CDC charts describe US children; many countries use WHO charts, especially under age 2. The planner is not designed for babies born early, or for children with a medical condition, a growth disorder or on medication that affects growth. It is a population estimate, not a diagnosis. If you're worried, see your paediatrician.
Cost of raising a child
The kid design studio starts from each country's published cost-of-a-child studies (everyday food, clothes, a share of housing, health and transport), with childcare and school fees taken out so we can add them back from your choices. Childcare, school, activities, travel and university use typical local prices. Child benefits and tax breaks a middle-income family can count on are subtracted, and you can switch that off. Everything is in today's money with no inflation. The full table of assumptions and the sources for each country are on the studio page. Türkiye uses our own rough estimate, because no recent cost-of-a-child study exists, and prices there change fast.
Who we are
Plan Your Kid is a small independent site. We are not doctors, lawyers or financial advisers, which is exactly why we lean on published research and official sources and link to them, so you can check our work.
Sources and figures last checked on 27 October 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us and we'll fix it.