Names are everywhere
Articles, case studies and technical insights from the Optimaize team.
Long-form reads
From the Mainframe to the Metaverse
A brief history of IT and information security — from 19th-century theoretical concepts through today's interconnected landscape, and how rapid advancement created parallel security challenges.
Read articleVerification of Payee, powered by NameMatcher
How VoP prevents payment fraud by checking that a recipient's name matches their account details before transfers are authorised — under the new Instant Payments Regulation.
Read articleLatest from the team
Software Version 11.4.0 released – NameAPI's New Business Detection Module
Telling a company from a person sounds trivial, until you have to do it reliably across millions of real-world names that arrive in every format imaginable. This release is the result of that work: NameAPI now…
Read postIdentifying Titles in Global Name Data
We have updated our NameAPI database with titles from more than 80 cultures. Our services identify and classify academic degrees, official positions, military ranks, and religious honorifics when they appear in a…
Read postDatabase Update: Georgian Names Added
We are pleased to announce the latest expansion of our name database with a comprehensive collection of Georgian names. As part of our ongoing effort to support global name diversity, this update introduces 4,700…
Read postSoftware Version 11.2.0 Deployed
NameMatcher: More resilient matching for real-world names Previously, if an input could not be parsed into a valid name structure, NameMatcher would fail the request.With Version 11.2.0, NameMatcher now applies an…
Read post2025 Around the World
2025 marked another remarkable year for Optimaize, characterized by significant progress in our linguistic resources, software capabilities, and infrastructure. Building on previous achievements, we continued to…
Read postDictionary Update: Danish Names
NameAPI has expanded its Nordic coverage with 2,600 given names and 8,600 family names, capturing how people in Denmark and Danish communities abroad really name themselves today. Danish names weave together Old…
Read postSoftware Version 11.0.0 Deployed
Release of Optimaize PII Platform with Java 21. We are pleased to announce the deployment of NameAPI Software Version 11.0.0, now running with Java 21.Staying up to date allows us to continue delivering reliable,…
Read postDictionary Update: Quechua and Aymara Names
The NameAPI database continues to grow, now enriched with 3,700 new given names and 600 family names from the Quechua and Aymara languages of the Andean region. These Indigenous languages, spoken across Bolivia,…
Read postSecondary Domain Added: api.name-api.com for Enhanced Redundancy
To further strengthen NameAPI’s reliability and provide uninterrupted service access, we are happy to announce that we have introduced a secondary domain, api.name-api.com, alongside our primary api.nameapi.org. Both…
Read postVersion 10.8.0 Released
Release of Optimaize PII Platform, version 10.8.0. This update brings several improvements related to name matching consistency, stronger security, and broader data coverage. 1. NameMatcher Service Improvements We…
Read postDictionary Update: Korean Names Added
We’ve expanded our database with an extensive set of Korean names. This update brings in 10,800 given names and 1,400 family names, all available in both the Korean script and their Latin forms. Korean Language and…
Read postVersion 10.7.0 Released
Release of Optimaize PII Platform, version 10.7.0. The latest update includes several improvements: Endpoint Information:The endpoint remains unchanged: https://api.nameapi.org/rest/v5.3/ These updates contribute to…
Read postDeep dives on names, languages & data quality
Our sister blog covers naming traditions across cultures, linguistic edge cases, and the engineering behind person-data products.