nameQQ

Surname query engine for demographic data and statistics

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Inspiration

"Where are you from?" "No, where are you really from?"

These are pretty common questions that can be encountered in everyday life that can make conversations more awkward than they should for both the asker and the askee. But that doesn't mean we can't be a little curious, especially about ancestry and our origins. Is there a way to satisfy our curiosity without engaging in uncomfortable conversations?

What it does

Using large surname data sets from the U.S. Census, Social Security Administration, and lists developed by surname researchers, this web app allows the search query of surnames collected by the 2010 US census and displays the demographic data associated with that surname. Furthermore, using the Asian surname list (Lauderdale DS, Kestenbaum B), major Asian surnames can traced to their country of origin.

Surname analysis is a way to draw trends between demographic data and surnames. Demographic data is not always available (sometimes the data cannot be collected out of fear that it can be used for discriminatory practices). However, it can be incredibly valuable in various areas of research such as medicine (especially cancer studies), economics, and analyzing racial education/wage gaps

How we built it

For back end development, we used mainly python for it's numerous libraries and tools. Pandas was a great tool for importing the large surname data sets. For front end development, we chose an elegant user-friendly mobile-compatible design developed with bootstrap and jquery.

Challenges we ran into

Limited experience with python, no experience with Pandas. Connecting back end to front end had extensive troubleshooting.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Creating a pretty website, Taking obscure information and making it easily accessible to the public.

What we learned

Learned more about python, pandas, sending data between front end and back end.

What's next for nameQQ

Further development on this app could include more statistics being displayed and perhaps an upload feature where entire list of names can be analyzed for demographic data

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