Cookies
Every cookie this site sets, what it does and how long it lasts. Nine are ours and make the site work; the last belongs to Google Analytics, which counts visits.
The first nine cookies below make the site work: signing in, protecting forms, and remembering your shortlist, your shared lists and the country you browse. The last is set by Google Analytics, which tells us how many people visit and which pages they read, so we know what to improve. There is no advertising on the site, and no advertising cookies.
There is no cookie banner, because analytics only counts visits and sets no advertising cookie. You can switch it off for this browser below, in one click, and every part of the site keeps working. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, we do not load Google Analytics at all.
Analytics On This Browser
Your browser is asking not to be tracked, so Google Analytics is off here whatever this switch says.
Analytics is for this browser.
babynamesio-session
Keeps you signed in and ties a form you submit to the browser that opened it.
XSRF-TOKEN
Proves a request came from a page we served, so nobody can act in your name from another site.
remember_web_…
Keeps you signed in after you close the browser. A sign-in link always sets it; with a password, only when you tick "keep me signed in". Signing out removes it.
bn_active
Says only that this browser has signed in or saved a name here, so the page knows to look up your account and your list. Without it we do not look, and a visitor who only reads never has a session. It holds the number 1 and nothing else.
bn_market
Which country's rankings you chose to browse, so the lists stay on it. Only set when you pick one; it holds a country code and nothing else.
bn_market_group
Which group of countries the swipe deck draws names from, when you choose one. It holds a group code and nothing else.
bn_shortlist
The code of the list you are working on, so your saved names are there when you return without an account.
bn_lists
Which shared lists you are on, so you can be on several at once and be recognised as the right person on each.
bn_no_analytics
Set only if you switch analytics off on the Cookies page. It holds the number 1 and nothing else, and tells our pages not to load Google Analytics for you.
Google Analytics
Set by Google Analytics so a returning visit is not counted as a new person. It tells us how many people visit and which pages they read.
What Happens If You Block Them
Reading the site works perfectly well without cookies — every name page, every list, the search and the meanings. What stops working is anything that has to remember you between clicks: saving a name, swiping a deck, and being recognized as the right person on a shared list. Those are not degraded, they simply cannot function, because there is nowhere to keep the answer.
You can clear our cookies at any time in your browser. Clearing bn_shortlist and
bn_lists detaches this browser from any anonymous list it was holding, which is
also the quickest way to walk away from one entirely.
Local Storage and Similar
The swipe tool keeps two kinds of small note in your browser's local storage: that you have seen its explainer, and that you have been told you reached the end of a list. Each holds a 1 and nothing else, and neither is ever sent to us. We do not use session storage or fingerprinting.
Scripts From Other Companies
Two. Google Analytics, described above. And Cloudflare Turnstile, which loads only on a form that needs to know a person is filling it in (signing in, creating an account, the contact form and the newsletter box) and does nothing anywhere else.
Questions
Use the contact form and a person will answer. For what we store on our side rather than in your browser, see Privacy.
Last updated 30 October 2026.