NameTheKid: Swiping to Agree on a Baby Name

Naming a kid is mostly two people trying to agree. One of you loves a name, the other vetoes it, and you both end up scrolling endless lists on separate phones, screenshotting favourites and arguing about them later. The hard part was never finding names. It was finding one you both like.

So I built NameTheKid. You swipe through names one at a time, like or pass, the way you would on a dating app. The twist is partner mode: you and your partner swipe the same deck, and the moment you both like the same name, it lights up as a match. No more comparing lists. The app finds the overlap for you.

What it does#

• Swipe to decide. One name at a time, like or pass. Quick enough to do on the couch.
• Partner mode, in real time. Share a code, swipe together, and get a match banner the instant you both like the same name.
• Real filters and search. Narrow by gender, origin, style, first letter or length, or search by name or meaning.
• A proper detail page for every name. Meaning, origin, pronunciation you can hear, popularity over time, and similar names to branch off to.
• Your surname, on every card. Each name is previewed as the full name, because "Hugo" and "Hugo Salway" are not the same decision.
• Favourites, lists and compare, plus AI name suggestions when you want ideas outside the obvious.

There are 16,615 names in there. It is free while it is in early release, available on the web and now on iPhone, with Android on the way.

How it is built#

NameTheKid is one TypeScript monorepo with three pieces: a Next.js web app, an Expo mobile app, and a small real-time server. Accounts and cross-device sync use Better Auth backed by Postgres, and the name database ships bundled with the app so it works offline, with over-the-air updates when the data changes. It is self-hosted on Coolify on a Hetzner box, behind a Cloudflare Tunnel.

The piece I enjoyed most was partner mode. The live session runs through a tiny WebSocket server that keeps each couple's room in memory, keyed by their join code, and watches for a name that both people have liked. There is no database in the hot path of a swipe, which keeps the match feeling instant. Prove the multiplayer works first, then build everything else around it.

Have a go at namethekid.com or get it on the App Store and let the app settle the argument.