The Notable Names Database is an online database of biographical details of over 40,000 people. NNDB describes itself as an "intelligence aggregator" of noteworthy persons highlighting their interpersonal connections. It is run by Soylent Communications, a sole proprietorship that hosted the now defunct rotten.com.
Entries
Each entry has an executive summary with an assessment of the person's notability. Vital statistics are listed, such as full name, pseudonyms, birth and death, location of any remains, religious beliefs, gender, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, family members, relationships, and nationality. Contentious facts are footnoted. Some entries have a brief prose biography, or contain facts or citations. Entries may contain organization memberships, illnesses, phobias, addictions, drug use, criminal records, and other data. In the case of authors, actors, film directors, and architects, the entry lists the person's artistic works in chronological order. Businesspeople and government officials are listed with chronologies of their posts, positions, and board memberships. NNDB has articles on films with user-submitted reviews, discographies of selected music groups, and extensive bibliographies. Readers may suggest corrections on a form. A former feature was the "Level of Fame" assigned from "Niche" to "Icon". As of April 2019, when Google+ was shut down, several of the website's pages became inaccessible. NNDB's "Dr. Sputnik" gossip page appeared to have its last entry in 2016. The owner of NNDB is listed as Soylent Communications, a Mountain View, California web-hosting provider, which also appeared defunct in 2020. In 1996, the domain had been registered by former Apple and Netscapesoftware engineer Thomas E. Dell, who was also known by his internet alias, "Soylent".
NNDB Mapper
The NNDB Mapper, a visual tool for exploring connections between people, was made available in May 2008. It required Adobe Flash 7. The interface allowed the user to map how various individuals and institutions were connected, and save and share these maps. the NNDB Mapper was not responding.
