defaultdict(int,
              {" u'CAMILLE'": 10,
               " u'SAHARA'": 1,
               " u'JEREMIAH'": 114,
               " u'EDISON'": 9,
               ...}

[[u'CAMILLE', 10],
 [u'SAHARA', 1],
 [u'JEREMIAH',114],
 [u'EDISON', 9],
 ...]

firstnames = [lambda x,y:list(x,y) for k,v in firstnames.items()]

firstnames = [lambda x,y:[x,y] for k,v in firstnames.items()]

[<function __main__.<lambda>>,
 <function __main__.<lambda>>,
 <function __main__.<lambda>>,
 <function __main__.<lambda>>,
 ...]