Systems and methods described herein provide for determining alternative names for a target name. A plurality of candidate alternative names is retrieved. For example, if the target name is “bush”, the candidate alternative names may include “George W. Bush”, “George H. W. Bush”, “Jeb Bush”, “Bush, Illinois (location)”, and “Bush (plant)”. A plurality of information sources associated with the target name are identified (e.g., documents, media assets or other information associated with “bush”). A first value and a second value are computed for a first candidate name (e.g., “George W. Bush”) and second candidate name (“George H. W. Bush”), respectively, based on how many of the identified information sources refer to the first and second candidate names, respectively. In response to determining that the first value exceeds the second value, the first candidate name, instead of the second candidate name, is assigned as an alternative name for the target name.