Type Name And Get Histogram - Getting NullPointerException

I recently switched some of code around to restructure how some things were working but now when I run the program I am getting a NullPointerException in multiple areas. I suspect it may have something to do with a constructor. I am very new to "object" - ish based programming.

I figured I should give a little background on the program, this program is reading from a text file of names and decade numbers(for each name) and storing each line into an object array. From there, there are menus and based on the users decision they can type a name and get a histogram, compare names with histograms, ect. Below this main method, I have provided the area where I have gotten the null pointer exception.

Here is the main method for the Client "nameApp"

Also excuse the formatting and curly braces for now!

public class NameApp{

private static boolean validInput;
private static boolean done = false;
private static boolean validDecade;
private static boolean validName;

[Code] ....

And here is the method in the same Client that is getting the null pointer exception:

The pointer exception is on line 6 which is:

if (nameInput.equalsIgnoreCase(list[i].getName())){
private static int checkListArray(String nameInput, Name[] list){
int nameLocation = -1;
int listLength = list.length;

[Code] ....