Frustrated by the overrepresentation of the same white men's names, organizations, works of art etc. in your crosswords? Me too! This database was started to give constructors a list of new proper nouns to include in their puzzles.

Crossword constructors use word lists to help them fill their puzzle grids. Most word lists, for many reasons, overrepresent names of white men. This means, as you may have noticed, that crossword puzzles are often rife with names of white men, to the exclusion of equally notable women and/or people of color. To help fix this representation problem, I crowd-sourced and edited this free, public, and semi-regularly updated databases filled names of women, non-binary, trans, and/or people of color, as well as "places and things" (organizations, works of art, monuments etc) that represent groups/identities/people that are often excluded from crossword grids. These proper nouns will hopefully start showing up in puzzles!

This is an ongoing crowd-sourced effort:

• Click here to submit NAMES of famous contemporary or historical women, non-binary, trans &/or POC that you'd like to see in a grid.

• NEW: Click here to submit famous contemporary or historical PLACES OR THINGS that represent groups/identities/people that are often excluded from crossword grids. (This list is for teams, organizations, works of art etc.)

Don't submit proper nouns that are TOO niche, but be liberal in your estimation of what 'famous' means. Constructors can decide if a person, place, or thing works or not for a given puzzle. Periodically, I'll update the files below to reflect new entries.

Thank you to all those who've helped!

Erica Hsiung Wojcik

wojcik [dot] erica [at] gmail [dot] com

Twitter handle: ewojcik