uk.ac.kent.dover.fastGraph

Class NamePicker

java.lang.Object

uk.ac.kent.dover.fastGraph.NamePicker

public class NamePicker
extends java.lang.Object

This class will load the list of potential names and can give a weighted random forename, surname pair
Data has been obtained from http://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/1990_census/1990_census_namefiles.html
Data is from the 1990 US Census. The UK does not produce such stats and the US data has no copyright. https://ask.census.gov/faq.php?id=5000&faqId=431
Data is stored in the /names/ directory, and has been modified in the following ways:

• The surnames list has been cut short to 5000 names
• The female forenames list has been cut short so that each name represents at least 0.002% of all names - this ensures that the cumulative frequency increases each time (due to rounding it does not for lower values).
• The male forenames list is unchanged

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
NamePicker() Constructor builds the three lists of names

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
java.lang.String	getForename() Returns a forename, based on weighted probabilities.
java.lang.String	getName() Returns a full name, using the getForename() and getSurname() methods;
java.lang.String[]	getNames(int number) Returns a list of full names
java.lang.String	getSurname() Returns a surname, based on weighted probabilities.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

NamePicker

public NamePicker()
           throws java.io.IOException

Constructor builds the three lists of names

Throws:

java.io.IOException - If any of the files cannot be loaded

Method Detail

getSurname

public java.lang.String getSurname()

Returns a surname, based on weighted probabilities.

Returns:

The surname

getForename

public java.lang.String getForename()

Returns a forename, based on weighted probabilities. 50/50 choice as to whether a male or female name is returned

Returns:

The forename

getName

public java.lang.String getName()

Returns a full name, using the getForename() and getSurname() methods;

Returns:

The full name

getNames

public java.lang.String[] getNames(int number)

Returns a list of full names

Parameters:

number - The number of name to return

Returns:

The list of full names