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DOI: 10.1177/17499755103907482011 5: 403 originally published online 25 March 2011Cultural SociologyMark Elchardus and Jessy Siongers

Meanings of First NamesFirst Names as Collective Identifiers: An Empirical Analysis of the Social

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First Names as CollectiveIdentifiers: An EmpiricalAnalysis of the SocialMeanings of First Names

Mark Elchardus and Jessy SiongersVrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

AbstractThis article investigates the consequences of the detraditionalization of naming practices and

the social meanings imputed to first names. It does so on the basis of an exploratory, qualitative

study designed to investigate contemporary naming practices and the social meanings assigned

to first names, as well as data taken from a representative quantitative study designed to test the

relationships between social background and cultural practice and the choice of first names along

with the consequences of the names social meanings. Strong relationships persist between socialbackground (class) and choice of first name. Because the latter is strongly related to taste patterns

and cultural dispositions, first names are strongly suggestive of the social characteristics and levels

of cultural capital pertaining to the childs parents. The results highlight a strong relationship

between parents level of education and cultural tastes and practices, on the one hand, and the

first names they select for their children, on the other. As a consequence, the first names and

educational achievement of children are also strongly related. Further examination casts doubt

over these findings, however, and the relationship is shown to be a spurious one due to the

association between the selected first name, on the one hand and the cultural practices of the

parents and their offspring, on the other.

Keywordsdetraditionalization, educational achievement, first names, labelling, social meanings, tastes

Introduction

The study of first names is a woefully neglected area within cultural sociology. Yet there

are three ways in which it can contribute to the discipline. The first concerns the extent to

which first names, as a readily available indicator, reveal cultural tastes and practices

Article

Corresponding author:

Mark Elchardus, Department of Sociology/Research Group TOR, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2,

1050 Brussels, Belgium.

Email: [email protected]

Cultural Sociology

5(3) 403422

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404 Cultural Sociology 5(3)

(Lieberson, 2000). The second concerns the extent to which cultural processes, such as

individualization or detraditionalization, can be studied on the basis of naming (Gerhards

and Hackenbroch, 2000; Wolffsohn and Brenchenmacher, 2001). And the third relates to

the shift in cultural sociology towards the study of culture, not as a dependent variable,

but as an explanatory variable (Alexander 2003; Griswold 1987). Research on namingnow focuses almost exclusively on naming as a dependent variable, indicative of under-

lying processes (Besnard and Grange, 1993; Felouzis, 2005; Gerhards and Hackenbroch,

2000; Lieberson, 2000; Rossi, 1965; Wolffsohn and Brenchenmacher, 2001). From the

vantage point of a cultural sociology interested in the autonomous and constitutive role

of culture, however, the question can be raised as to what extent the choice of first names

is performative and a form of cultural practice expressive not only of wider processes and

factors, but that is effective in shaping how individuals think, feel and act. This article

addresses the following three questions: what does the study of first names contribute to

our understanding of the process of detraditionalization? What do first names tell usabout tastes and cultural practices, and about their embeddedness in class and other

collective identifiers? And, are first names constitutive? That is to say, do they actually

shape the way people feel, think and act?

The analysis is based on a qualitative, exploratory study, designed to gain insight into

contemporary naming practices and the social meanings attached to first names. It also

uses data from a quantitative analysis of a representative sample of 6,974 pupilparent

pairs. This allows for a systematic analysis of the relationship between social back-

ground, cultural practices, the social meanings of first names and their consequences.

More specifically, we examine the consequences of naming for educational achieve-ment. In order to investigate the relationship between first names and educational

achievement, we will make use of multidimensional scaling (MDS) and logistic regres-

sion analysis. The findings presented show that name giving has indeed been detradition-

alized, but that this has not resulted in an individualization of naming practices. On the

contrary, the practice of name giving is still strongly class-based and influenced by dif-

ferent collective identifiers. It therefore strongly reveals the class background, social

position and, particularly, the cultural tastes and practices of both the parents (name

givers) and their children (name bearers). Despite the strong relationship between first

names and social background, and hence the clear social meanings of names, no solidconfirmation for nomen est omen, for a constitutive effect of first names was

identified.

Detraditionalization and the Rise of Taste in Name Selection

Different researchers describe and document a detraditionalization of name giving

(Gerhards and Hackenbroch, 2000; Lieberson, 2000; Wolffsohn and Brenchenmacher,

2001). Lieberson (2000) lists a number of examples of traditional name giving including:

marking continuity of the family lineage by giving the name of a deceased to a newborn;

giving the name of grandparents (see also Rossi, 1965) or of parents (see also Gerhards

and Hackenbroch, 2000); giving the name of saints (see also Gerhards and Hackenbroch,

2000; Leys, 1976); and using the names of godparents. The analyses of Lieberson (2000),

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Elchardus and Siongers 405

Gerhard and Hackenbroch (2000) and Wolffsohn and Brenchenmacher (2001) indicate

that such practices have waned.

The extent and phenomenology of detraditionalization were explored by means of a

semi-directed questionnaire administered to 589 first year university students.1 Of these,

only about 11 per cent reported the survival of traditional name giving patterns withintheir family, whereas 7 per cent declared they were not sure such patterns existed, and 82

per cent maintained that their parents had chosen the first names of their children inde-

pendently of family and other traditions. The surviving traditional practices consisted of

giving first names that acted as a religious or ethnic identifier, or emphasized family line-

age (e.g. by giving the names of grandparents or the names of deceased family mem-

bers). When asked why they thought their parents had chosen their particular name,

approximately 13 per cent claimed they had no idea and 47 per cent gave reasons

indicating that they believed their parents had based their choice on taste or fashion

(mentioning aesthetic reasons: the way the name sounds; its morphophonological har-mony with the family name; its fashionableness at the time, etc.). Fourteen per cent

indicated that they were named after a specific person and the remaining 26 per cent gave

a wide range of reasons, none of which was given by more than 3 per cent of the

respondents.

Detraditionalization and Individualization

In the literature, it is a common assumption that detraditionalization is considered as

leading to individualization with individuals tastes and choices becoming increasinglyindependent from social variables (Wuthnow, 1991). With regard to cultural develop-

ments in general, Beck (1986) adheres to this interpretation, equating detraditionaliza-

tion and individualization, and claiming that personal preferences have become

independent of gender and social class. If this is true, one would expect to find that the

relationship between, for instance, social class or, more broadly, collective identifiers on

the one hand and preference for specific first names on the other, has become weak or

even disappeared. Using a threefold categorization of social class (occupational posi-

tion), Gerhards and Hackenbroch (2000) tested this hypothesis and found no significant

weakening of the relationship between social position and the choice of first namesbetween 1894 and 1994 in the city of Gerolstein (Germany). Their operationalization of

class background, based on birth registers, is of necessity crude. Yet, there are also theo-

retical reasons to doubt the applicability of the individualization theory.

Contrary to Becks thesis, the greater role of taste and sensitivity to fashion can

increase the role of the economic, social and cultural characteristics influencing taste

and sensitivity to fashion. One would indeed expect such an increase on the basis of the

relationship Bourdieu (1979) establishes between, for example, the various forms of capi-

tal he distinguishes and cultural practices such as naming children. Many researchers have

observed strong relationships between a background variable or collective identifier, such

as the level of education and tastes and cultural practices (Elchardus and Siongers, 2003;

Ganzeboom, 1989; Glorieux and Moens, 2002; Lievens, et al., 2005; Stevens, 2002;

Stevens and Elchardus, 2001; van Eijck, 2001; van Eijck and Bargeman, 2004). A rela-

tionship between social background or collective identifiers and the choice of first names



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can occur due to the evocative meaning of first names (Darden and Robinson, 1976).

Lieberson (2000) enumerates different reasons parents can have for selecting a first name,

all of which refer to the meanings the name can evoke in the parents or in other persons.

These include: the connotations of the name; a conception of identity the parents associ-

ate with the name and wish to bequeath to their offspring; the presumed status value of thename; and any possible religious or philosophical meanings the name evokes. The evoca-

tive meaning of the name can also be tied to its use in distinction or emulation (Gerhards

and Hackenbroch, 2000; Lieberson and Bell, 1992).

Many of the respondents in the exploratory study were acutely aware of such evocative

meanings. Asked whether they had the feeling that their first names told something about

them or revealed something about them, 43 per cent answered affirmatively, 33 per cent

were in doubt and only 24 per cent answered negatively. Talking in general, not necessar-

ily about their own first name, only 3.4 per cent claimed that a first name as such has no

evocative meaning, but is given its meaning by the behaviour of the person bearing the

name (Table 1). All the other respondents recognized the existence of an evocative mean-

ing and 82 per cent of these normatively supported the use of such meanings. The 18 per

cent who did not stated that a first name should merely identify a person, in as neutral a

way as possible. According to these individuals, it was the responsibility of the

Table 1. Social and evocative meanings of names: percentages (N = 497, multiple response)

According to you, what should a first name represent/render (the same respondentcould give different meanings)

(%)

Social meanings Nothing, a person has to give meaning to his/her name by his/her behaviour and

character3.4

Nothing, a name has to be neutral, and serves only to identify a person 18.3

Evocative meanings 82.3 The personality or character of a person 49.9 The name should be forceful, radiate, create a positive impression, a good first

impression10.8

The (good) taste of the parents (creative, modern, original, ) should be clearfrom the name

3.9

The personality or character of the parents 3.6 The social class of the bearer 3.6 The nationality or ethnicity 3.3 The wishes of the parents (with regard to the character of the child) 3.1 The gender of the person (femininity, masculinity) 2.3 A name has to be beautiful 2.3 A name has to be unique, original 2.3 Express the parental commitment (chosen with love, hope that parents put in

their child, )2.1

A symbolic meaning (e.g. iris = rainbow in Greek and refers also to the irisflower)

1.8

The social class background parents/family 1.5 It should reflect the cultivation of the parents (a name says something about

the taste of parents), it is a cultural inheritance1.0

Other 8.5



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parents to find neutral names. The remaining majority of respondents thought that first

names did have an evocative meaning and supported the practice of giving names with

such meanings. Here, 50 per cent felt that it was necessary that names should express the

personality or character of a person, 6 per cent thought that it should say something

about the parents character or tastes, 5 per cent thought it should say something about thesocial class background, 4 per cent that it should express the ethnic or national origin of

the bearer, and 11 per cent that when interacting with other persons, it should create a

first, immediate, positive impression of the name bearer.

The tastes and preferences of the name bearer can of course differ from those of the

name giver. Approximately 20 per cent of the name bearers declared that they would

prefer to have a different first name from their present one. A variety of reasons were

given for this: the most common was the feeling their present name was ordinary or

all too common (38 per cent); that their name sounded awful (14 per cent); was old-

fashioned (7 per cent); was an obvious indicator of their ethnic or national origin (5 percent) was inconsistent with their own tastes and/or life style (5 per cent).

Individualization theory, assuming a weak or no relationship between personal taste

and class position or collective identifiers, would lead one to expect a weak relationship

between social background and detraditionalized naming practices (hypothesis 1). By

contrast, the relevance of the evocative meaning of names and the expectation that social

background and taste are strongly linked, suggests a strong relationship between taste

patterns (hypothesis 2) and social background (hypothesis 3) and choice of first name.

Some authors assume the existence of a very strong relationship between the choice of

first names and the cultural characteristics of the parents (Wolffsohn and Brenchenmacher,2001; Zelinksky, 1970), however, the existence of such a relationship has thus far not

been tested in a direct way by relating the choice of first name to variables measuring

variations in tastes and practices at an individual level. Before testing this relationship,

we examine the additional social meanings attributed to first names that emerged from

the exploratory study.

The Hermeneutics of First Names

One of the most surprising results to emerge from the study was the finding that not onlydo respondents ascribe to first names the power to identify, and evoke meaning, but

thought that first names also direct and constitute a person. Participants attitudes towards

the meanings of first names can be mapped using DAndrades (1984) classification of

the meanings of meaning. Four possible meanings of first names can be distinguished

in the answers of the respondents: a first name can represent, evoke, direct, and con-

struct. The first name represents a person or at least helps in representing or distinguish-

ing that person from other persons. It evokes and associates the person with (desirable and

undesirable) connotative meanings. It also constitutes and directs. A constitutive mean-

ing implies that the bearer is partly constituted by his or her first name, and that factors

influencing the thinking, feeling and acting of the person are systematically related to the

first name. The directive meaning of the name refers to the need, compulsion or obli-

gation to do something, elicited by the name in its bearer or in persons interacting with

the bearer.



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About half of the respondents (49.5 per cent) expressed the view that a person can be

influenced, in the sense of constituted, by his or her first name. The other half rejected

this view. The believers described various mechanisms by which a first name can have

the power to constitute. These can be classified into two broad categories. About 15 per

cent of the respondents emphasized a kind ofself-constitution and thought that their firstname directs them to act in a certain way. That is to say, persons react to their own name

(they want to live up to its evocative meaning, to the person or heritage it refers to, etc.)

and in that way the name influences its bearer inasmuch as it constitutes who that person

becomes. The other believers, the overwhelming majority, emphasized constitution

through the reaction of others. The name directs others to react in a certain way and these

reactions constitute the self of the name bearer: When youre called Cindy, a student

called Cindy lamented, most people assume right off that you are lower class and, more

disturbing, probably a bit dumb. Cindy was convinced that this had influenced her, had

partly determined the person she had become, among other reasons, because she had feltthe need to fight this sort of prejudice. On this view, first names can give rise to negative

or affirmative reactions, emphasize or de-emphasize class and ethnic identity, and create

a positive or a negative impression for the name bearer. Such variations direct the reac-

tions of others, in turn influencing the name bearers sense of self-worth and his or her

subsequent self-development. As surprising as this may seem, this view, in one form

or another, is expressed by roughly 85 per cent of the respondents who believe in the

constitutive and directive meaning of first names, and by more than 40 per cent of

all respondents.

Moreover, there are several indications that such a belief in the constitutive meaningof first names is historically not exceptional and has in fact played an important role in

traditional naming practices. Naming can indeed be considered as an instance of sym-

bolic investiture. There are numerous examples of the symbolic occupation of the person,

indicating belief in the constitutive and directive meaning of such practices. Very impor-

tant in the Western world has been the introduction of a Christian calendar in which each

day was devoted to a saint, creating the possibility to link an individual to a patron saint

through naming. By the eighteenth century such a practice was, according to Groethuysen

(1927), explicitly recognized and theorized as a way to direct and constitute individual

selves. The use of the name of saints for newborns remained prevalent into the nineteenthcentury. The decline of that practice throughout the twentieth century is considered an

indication of secularization (Gerhards and Hackenbroch, 2000; Wolffsohn and

Brenchenmacher, 2001). During the French Revolution a new revolutionary calendar was

introduced as part of an attempt to create a new, non-Christian occupation of space and

time (Bianchi, 1982; Ozouf, 1976). During that period name giving was also influenced

by the revolutionary zeal (Bianchi, 2000; Godechot, 1968). Children were given the

names of the days of the newly introduced calendar such as Primodi, Duodi, or names that

celebrated revolutionary heroes and virtues: Jean-Baptiste Patriote, Brutus-Sansculotte,

Libert-Cherie or Miel-Erasme. There are many other examples of regimes that have

tried to promote or even impose certain first names in an attempt at symbolic occupation

(e.g. Africanization and Zarization in the Congo, Africanization among Afro-Americans,

Albanization in Albania, etc.). Patterns of name giving have therefore also been used as

markers of ethnic distinction, cultural continuity within minority groups and also a means



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of integrating into some wider or dominant culture (Streiff-Fenart, 1990; Watkins and

London, 1994). Those practices, often zealously undertaken, indicate belief in the effec-

tiveness of naming and the constitutive meaning of naming. Yet they certainly do not

constitute proof of such effectiveness.

In the case of the respondents involved in the exploratory study, the belief in theconstitutive meaning of first names demonstrates a strongly individualist bent. The large

majority of the respondents separate evocative, constitutive and directive meanings

from traditions and collective identifiers, and strongly attach them to individual charac-

teristics (such as personality, character, taste, and lifestyle). Only 13 per cent explicitly

related the evocative meaning to social background, class, ethnic origin, nationality or

gender. When explaining how it is a first name can constitute, most respondents

described personal experiences. Of those who did so, 23 per cent linked these experi-

ences, as Cindy did in the aforemetioned quotation, in an explicit or systematic manner

to class, religion, ethnic origin, nationality or gender. For the large majority of therespondents the belief in the constitutive power of first names is expressed using a

(quasi) therapeutic vocabulary that situates the reasons for personal development in rela-

tion to some individual property such as character or personality.

In order to test the existence of a constitutive meaning (hypothesis 4), we shall verify

whether the first name influences educational achievement. It is appropriate to use edu-

cational achievement because the belief in the constitutive meaning of first names can

be regarded as a specific case of the more general sociological labelling theory. The

evocative meaning of first names (or at least of a subset of first names) is likely to be

shared in a society. This means that the (alleged) association between certain names orthe morphophonetic characteristics of those names and the relevant social characteristics

such as educational level, ethnic origin, cultural practices and tastes is already known.

Where this is the case, one would, on the basis of labelling theory, expect the first name

to act as a significant social label, both for the person concerned and for significant oth-

ers such as teachers (Adams and Evans, 1996; Davis and Dupper, 2004; Riehl, 1999).

The possibility arises then that some first names will elicit specific reactions from teach-

ers (constitution by others) or that some names will predispose the bearer towards apply-

ing themselves more or identifying themselves positively in an educational setting more

than others (self-constitution). If first names really have a constitutive meaning, it islikely to be observed in their effect on educational achievement. In the following section

we describe the data used, the operational definitions of the variables and describe the

tests of the hypotheses.

Data and Operational Definitions

The hypotheses were tested using data gathered during the school year 2000-2001 in a

random sample of 89 Flemish schools. A questionnaire was completed in class by all

the pupils in the 4th and 6th grade of secondary school. Pupils in the 4th grade were

approximately 16 years old and pupils in the 6th grade were approximately eighteen

years old. A total of 13,598 pupils completed the questionnaire. Each took a copy of the

questionnaire home, and of the questionnaires distributed to their parents 7,114 copies

were correctly completed and returned (a response rate of 51.8 per cent). The



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questionnaire required to be completed out by one parent only. In 69 per cent of cases

it was the mother who did this. A total of 6,974 youngsters returned a completely filled-

in questionnaire from themselves and from their parents (for technical details see De

Groof, Elchardus and Stevens, 2001; Stevens and Elchardus, 2001). The analysis is

based on those cases. This means that the information about the cultural practices andtastes of the parents is based directly on their own responses.2

Measuring Educational Achievement

As an indicator of the educational achievement of pupils still in secondary school, the

educational track or form was adopted. In Flanders, secondary education at high school

level is divided into four forms or tracks: general secondary education which pre-

pares for post-secondary education and university; technical education which prepares

for post-secondary technical training or for entry into the labour market; vocationaleducation which directly prepares for the labour market; and secondary art education

which comprises only about 2 per cent of the pupils and can be situated somewhere

between general and technical education. Almost all of the pupils in general education

do go on to higher education as do the majority of those in technical education. Few of

those in vocational training do so, however (Sonar, 2002). The forms or tracks serve as

useful indexes for trying to predict future educational attainment. Being in the voca-

tional track or form can therefore be considered a good indicator of a school career that

predicts a low level of final educational attainment.

Measuring the Independent Variables

Economic status of the parents is measured as an interval scale (using non-linear princi-

pal component analysis) and based on employment status (seven categories), occu-

pational status (six levels) and the extent of unemployment during the entire career

(four categories). Since only one parent is interviewed, we use the level of education

of both the parents as provided by the children. Five categories were presented to the

adolescents to indicate the educational level of both parents: no diploma, primary edu-

cation, secondary education but not completed, secondary education completed, andhigher education or university. These two variables have been recoded to a dichoto-

mous variable that indicates whether or not one of the parents has completed higher

education.

In operationalizing cultural tastes and practices many researchers have primarily or

even exclusively focused on more traditional markers: visiting museums, going to the

opera or a ballet performance, reading poetry and serious novels (Crook, 1997; de Graaf

et al., 2000; Katsillis and Rubinson, 1990; for a useful reviews of the literature, see

Sullivan, 2000; Sullivan, 2002). We have opted to measure it in terms of widespread

mass cultural practices. Variations in taste were mapped on the basis of musical genres

(30 styles or genres), television programmes (17 genres) and movie genres (15 genres).

Each of the 62 items could be rated from 0 to 10 (allowing for the expression of both

likes and dislikes). The possibility was offered to the respondents to indicate they were

insufficiently familiar with a genre to be able to rate it. A principal component analysis



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Table 2. Cultural taste of the parents: structure matrix of the principal component analysis

Macho Fun Youthful High brow

Action movies .671 -.271 -.130 -.023

Science fiction movies .647 -.068 -.191 .066Crime and police movies .645 -.088 -.079 .169Adventure movies .606 -.254 -.048 .114Thrillers .592 .067 -.108 .110Horror movies .559 -.172 -.158 -.079SF and fantasy movies .554 -.145 -.201 .072War movies .544 -.087 -.097 .258Crime and lawyers series .452 -.229 -.107 .180Erotic movies .372 -.220 -.221 .013Rock music .361 -.041 -.258 .317Cult movies .325 -.022 -.259 .299English comedy (series) .320 -.223 -.167 .151Comedies (movies) .272 -.265 -.088 .254Sport magazines (on TV) .257 -.243 -.119 .205Sports broadcast .231 -.160 -.096 .215Shows .184 -.714 -.064 .065Flemish hit parade music .113 -.692 -.121 .017Dating programs .119 -.639 -.118 -.079Quizzes .118 -.638 -.015 .021Chart music and hit parade (general) .273 -.602 -.122 .092Human interest programs .203 -.567 -.064 .001

Flemish soaps .070-

.555-

.055 .101Reality TV .257 -.552 -.065 -.056Foreign language soaps .126 -.547 -.095 -.035Schlager music .067 -.527 -.078 .102Disco .363 -.458 -.163 .099Romantic movies .047 -.416 -.037 .340Erotic TV programs .322 -.324 -.237 -.025Punk/punk rock music .220 -.010 -.647 .023Hardcore guitar music .022 -.061 -.608 .124Funk .155 -.009 -.608 .151Heavy metal .179 -.193 -.591 -.057

Hardcore-gabber music .011 -.100 -.588 .104Hard rock music .295 -.014 -.580 .016New wave music .135 -.054 -.529 .167Techno music .282 -.409 -.527 -.066House music .291 -.393 -.511 -.091Ska music .099 -.001 -.495 .235Alternative guitar/grunge .214 .018 -.495 .242Rap and hip hop .288 -.257 -.455 .133Trance/ambient .053 -.067 -.430 .179Reggae .325 .034 -.401 .346Ra music .029 .033 -.374 .256Soul/R&B .351 .004 -.353 .335Folk music/world music .040 .176 -.259 .572Dutch and Flemish chanson -.028 .179 -.236 .541French chanson .056 .028 -.153 .528Soundtracks .170 -.130 -.108 .525Classical music .001 .191 -.140 .510



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(oblique rotation) showed four dimensions for the parents (Table 2). These are briefly

described below:

Fun culture is a dimension that measures a strong preference (or dislike) for real-ity television, soaps, amusement programs and quizzes, mainstream pop music,

music that makes the charts and hit parades.

Macho culture captures the preference and dislike for, among other things,

action movies, crime movies, horrors, thrillers, erotic movies and series, and

sports programs and sports specials.

Youthful culture expresses likes and dislikes with particular regard to musical

tastes as potentially differentiating parents from their children: punk music and

punk rock, hardcore guitar, funk, heavy metal, new wave, techno.

High brow mass cultureexpresses attitudes towards the more gentrified genresof popular culture and elements of high culture: world and folk music, French

chanson, classical music, movies about social problems and psychological

movies, music from the 1960s, informative television programs.

Adolescents tastes are measured in the same way, and the analysis revealed quite simi-

lar dimensions, with the exception of the dimension referred to as youthful culture. This

dimension is somewhat different for the pupils, and is referred to as alternative culture

which expresses likes and dislikes regarding alternative guitar music such as punk and

punk rock, hardcore guitar, heavy metal, or new wave. Media preferences and tastes are

often used interchangeably. They are indeed closely related (Berry, 1990; Jensen, 1990).

We measure them separately, however, because the exploratory study pointed towards the

importance of media and popular culture for selecting first names. To begin, respondents

were asked which first name they would give to a child and where they had first encoun-

tered the name. Of these, 29 per cent said they first heard their preferred first name in the

Table 2. (Continued)

Macho Fun Youthful High brow

Movies about social problems .051 -.012 -.183 .473

Psychological movies .206 .087 -.184 .438Sixties music .204 -.209 .003 .411News broadcasts and newsmagazines on TV

.050 -.006 -.022 .408

Seventies music .237 -.225 .013 .403Jazz/blues .261 .143 -.294 .403Flemish rock music .220 -.165 -.366 .386Political movies .374 .222 -.281 .381Little news programs .125 -.128 -.083 .364Cartoons .271 -.232 -.139 .359

Talk shows .043 -.277 -.069 .340TV cartoon series .277 -.279 -.154 .290Eigenvalues% of variance

8.81214.212

5.5428.735

3.6795.934

3.4775.609



13/22


media. When asked whether they could recall a movie personage with that same name,

36 per cent answered affirmatively. The media preferences of the parents and the adoles-

cents are measured on the basis of their preference for radio and television channels, as

well as magazines. The respondents were asked to rate eight radio and nine television

channels from 0 (bad) to 10 (outstanding). The possibility was also offered here to indi-cate that one was insufficiently familiar with a particular channel to rate it. The respond-

ents were also presented with a list of 10 magazines; individual magazines in the case of

those that are mass circulated and groups of magazines (e.g. sport magazines or lifestyle

magazines) whose circulation is more restricted. Respondents were asked to select their

preferred magazine or category from the list. A categorical principal component analysis

revealed that these different forms of mass media can, both for parents and their children,

be ordered on a single dimension3 presented as an axis ranging from more popular chan-

nels and magazines to the more high brow, critical or elitist media. A low score on this

variable indicates a preference for magazines with a serious reputation, offering qualityjournalism, rather high brow, as well as public television and radio channels. A high

score indicates a preference for commercial television channels, magazines and radio

channels devoted to fun and more sensational, popular keen reporting.

First Names and Taste Patterns

We used multidimensional scaling (MDS) in order to map the relationship between taste

patterns and first names.4 We did so by distinguishing two groups of parents on the basis

of their tastes: parents with a preference (above average) for high brow mass cultureand a dislike (below average) for fun culture. Parents who score either above or below

average on both of those dimensions are not used in the MDS analysis. Within each of

the groups defined in this way, the first names of children were ordered according to

popularity.5 Only those names to occur at least 10 times in the sample of 13,598 pupils

were used. This classification makes it possible to calculate the Euclidian distance

between the names on the basis of their rank order in the groups distinguished. Should

the two groups of parents have comparable tastes in first names, then those distances

would be very small. Attempts to reduce them to a limited number of dimensions (which

is the purpose of MDS) would in this case reveal no meaningful dimensions.The MDS analysis indicates that the distances generated by our classification are

fairly sizable and can be reduced to two dimensions (see Figure 1).6 Moreover, these

dimensions can be interpreted straight forwardly. The first reflects the popularity of first

names or the frequency with which they are given (see Figure 1). This can be concluded

from the extremely strong correlation (r =0.91) between the score on this dimension and

the number of times the name occurs in the total data file. Names such as Tom, Sofie and

Christof were very popular (frequent) names in Flanders when the pupils received their

first name, while names as Maaike, Rob and Denis were much less popular at that time.

The second dimension reflects the taste patterns. The correlations between this

dimension with variables measuring tastes are very high: with the appreciation for high

brow mass culture it is r = 0.41, with fun culture r =0.43 (N =1695). Names popular

with those with a preference for high brow mass culture are likely to be considered

traditional and sound clearly Flemish, Dutch or French: Thomas, Pieter, Marjan, Nele,

Jo, Jelle, Charlot, Maarten, etc. Names popular with people with a preference for fun



14/22


culture tend to sound Anglo-American: Kelly, Linsey, Kenny, Cindy, Melissa, Vicky

etc. and to end in a y or a sound.

The very high correlations between the taste dimensions and the classification of

names derived from the MDS confirms hypothesis 2. There is a close correspondence

between general taste patterns and preference in first names. This relationship becomesfar more visible after taking the overall popularity of names into consideration. There are

indeed a number of names that are so frequently used that their relation to taste patterns

becomes weak. This can be discerned from Figure 1. The very popular names tend to

coalesce near the mean of the taste dimension. Parents who try to be original with their

choice of first names form part of the group who most clearly reveal their overall taste

patterns and levels of cultural capital.

First Names and Parents Level of Education

In order to map the relationship between first names and the parents level of education

a similar MDS analysis was performed. Here, the groups were distinguished on the basis

of the parents educational level (families in which neither parent has successfully com-

pleted post-secondary education vs. families in which at least one of the parents has a

1,0000,5000,0000,5001,000

Dimension 1: Popularity of names

1,000

0,500

0,000

0,500

1,000

Dimen

sion2:Highbrow

tasteparents

yves

yanick

wouter

wim

wendy

vicki

veroniek

veerle

vanessa

valerie

toon

tom

tinetim

thomas

tanja

tamarasven

stijn

steven

steve

stefanie

stefan

sofie

simonsara

sam

ruben

robin

rob

pieterjan

pieter

peter

nicolas

nick

nele

natalie

natacha

mieke

michael

melissa

matthias

marjan

marijke

marc

maarten

maaike

linsey

liesbet

lieslien

leen

koen

kim

kevin

kenny

kelly

katrien

katleen

karenjurgen

julie

joris

jonas

joke

johan

joeri

jo

jessica

jeroen

jelle

jef

jan

isabel

inge

ine

ilse

heidi

hanshanne

filip

evi

evelien

eva

els

ellen

elke

dries

dorien

dimitri

dieter

denis

davy

david

cindy

christof

christien

chris

charlot

carolienbrecht

bram

bert

ben

bart

annelies

anke

an

0

50

100

150

Scale

Figure 1. Scatterplot of the appearance of first names according to the tastes of the parents:parents with an exclusive high brow taste versus parents with an exclusive fun taste (N = 1,695)Note: PROXSCAL technique, final coordinates in a two-dimensional space, limited to names that appear atleast 10 times in the dataset, S-Stress = 0.00020; Tuckers coefficient of congruence = 0.99997.



15/22


diploma of post-secondary education) (Figure 2). In this case, a two-dimensional solu-

tion is adequate (S-Stress = 0.00045). Again, the first dimension reflects the overall fre-

quency with which names are given. The second dimension is strongly related to the

level of education of the parents (r = 0.325).7 Names distinctive of children with highly

educated parents are Matthias, Pieterjan, Eva, Ine, Marieke, Nicolas, Anneleen, etc.

Names distinctive of children of parents with a low level of education once again indi-cate a (non-exclusive) preference for Anglo-American phonemes: Kelly, Cindy, Kenny,

Andy, Vanessa, Wendy and Bjorn. The strong relationship between the uncovered clas-

sification of names and the educational level of the parents, falsifies hypothesis 1 derived

from individualization theory and confirms hypothesis 3 predicting a strong relationship

between social background or collective identifiers (indicated by the level of education)

and the choice of first name.

The Meaning of First Names and Educational Achievement

The MDS analyses yield two different metrics to measure the socially evocative

meaning of first names. One represents the name as a possible indicator of the par-

ents level of education (educational metric), the other as a possible indicator of the

parents cultural tastes and practices or cultural capital. As the two measures are very

1,5001,0000,5000,0000,5001,000

Dimension 1: Popularity of names

0,900

0,600

0,300

0,000

0,300

0,600

0,900

Dimens

ion2:Educationallevelofparents

yves

yanick

wouter

wim

wendyvicki

veroniek

veerle

vanessa

valerietoon

tom

tine

tim

thomas

tanja

tamara

sven

stijn

steve

stefanie

stefan

sofiesimon

sara

sandra

sam

ruben

roel

robin

rob

pieterjan

pieternils

nicolas

nick

nele

natalie

natacha

mieke

michael

matthias

marc

maarten

linsey

liesbet

lies

leen

kim

kevin

kenny kelly

katrien

katleen

karen

jurgen

julie

joris

jonasjoke

joeri

jo

jessica

jeroen

jelle

jef

jan

inge

ine

ilse

hendrik

hans

glenevi

eva

dries

dimitri

dieter

debbie

davy

david

cindy

christof

carolien

bjorn

andy

an

Figure 2. Scatterplot of the appearance of first names according to the educational level of the

parents (N = 5,625)Note: PROXSCAL technique, final coordinates in a 2 dimensional space, limited to names that appear at least10 times in the dataset (S-Stress= 0.00045; Tuckers coefficient of congruence=0.99991)



16/22


strongly related (r = 0.79), we decided to use only one of them (the dimension reflect-

ing the parents level of education) in testing for the effects of naming on educational

achievement. It is quite likely that significant others such as teachers are aware of the

correspondence between certain names and the naming parents level of education.

This knowledge in turn forms the basis for labelling effects. It is also possible, how-

ever, that the evocative or social meaning of first names does not so much rest upon

such quasi-statistical knowledge, but on an awareness of the correspondence betweensocial class and educational level, on the one hand, and specific morphophonological

characteristics of certain names, on the other. Lieberson (2000), for example, has

shown that changes in the fashion of names can be understood on the basis of their

morphophonological characteristics. Parents with a low level of education and with

an exclusive preference for fun culture seem to have a pronounced preference for

first names ending on a of y sounds (the latter also written as ie in Dutch). As a

second metric, we therefore use the distinction between names ending on a, ie or

y, on the one hand, all other names, on the other (morphophonological metric).8

In order to verify whether the first name has an independent effect on educational

achievement (being in the vocational track), we controlled for parents educational level

and socio-economic status, as well as for the gender of the pupil and the grade (4th or 6th

year of secondary school).

Table 3. Logistic regression: the impact of having a popular name on the chance to end up invocational education

Popular name=morphonological

metrica(N = 4,944)

Popular name=educational metricb

(N = 3,303)

Exp(B) Exp(B)

Constant 0.277***(0.079)

0.270***(0.096)

Popular name 1.558***(0.099)

2.086***(0.145)

Grade (6th against 4th) 1.095(0.083)

1.087(0.102)

Gender (girls against boys) 0.828*

(0.090)

1.049

(0.103)At least one higher educatedparent

0.233***(0.101)

0.228***(0.129)

SES parents 0.814***(0.037)

0.886*(0.048)

Nagelkerke R 0.141 0.149

Notes: Results shown are exponents of the logistic regression coefficients (odds ratio) with standard errorsin parentheses.* p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001 (two-tailed test).a Name ends on a a, y or ie.b Based on MDS loadings; inversed common space coordinates of the two-dimensional MDS solution(PROXSCAL technique).



17/22


From Table 3 it is clear that the meaning of the first name, whatever the metric used

(table 3) has a strong, statistically significant effect on educational achievement. The

probability of ending up in the vocational track is 1.5 times higher for adolescents with

names ending with an a, ie or y than for adolescents with another name ending. Also,

adolescents are more likely to end up in vocational education when their name is moretypical for less educated parents, even when the educational background and the socio-

economic status of the parents are taken into account.

Because the selection of names is strongly related to cultural practices, it is of course

possible that the observed effect is spurious, due to the cultural tastes and practices of the

parents and the children. This would be in line with Bourdieus (1979) reproduction the-

sis. Based on this, one would expect there to be an intergenerational transfer of cultural

resources, or in this case, tastes and media preferences, which will in turn be converted

into educational credentials.When controlling for the parents four taste dimensions andthe variable measuring their media preference, the effects of the metrics for the meaningof the first names do indeed decrease. Yet, they remain statistically significant (see col-

umns 2 and 4 in Appendix 1). The relationship between the social meanings of the first

name and educational achievement is not completely explained by the parents socio-

economic status, level of education, tastes and media preferences.

Additionally, when controlling for pupils own media preferences and tastes the met-

rics for the social meaning of first names is insignificant in the case of the educational

metric and barely significant for the morphophonological metric (significance at the .05

level in a sample of 4,944 cases does not constitute a strong case) (see Appendix 1, col-

umn 3). For these reasons, it seems appropriate to reject hypothesis 4. When tested on thebasis of their impact on educational achievement, first names do not have a constitutive

meaning and labelling theory is not applicable to first names.

Conclusion

The contemporary practice of naming has to a great extent emancipated itself from the

strictures of tradition and religious practices, and in so doing became very revelatory of

the evocative meanings parents bequeath to their children, knowingly or otherwise. When

the parents do not select common names but try to be original, their choice of first namesclearly reveals their cultural position and cultural capital. This confirms that first names,

information about which is readily available, can be used to study variations in taste pat-

terns and cultural practices. The selection of first names has, moreover, as Lieberson

(2000) emphasizes, no material constraints attached to it. In this sense, they are pure indi-

cators of taste that should no longer be neglected in the study of culture and culture change.

The detraditionalization of name giving has not led to an individualization of naming

practices, however. Rather, a strong relationship was identified between social back-

ground, parental attributes (i.e. their level of education) and the first names selected for

their children. Such a relationship arises because the level of education and the general

taste patterns and cultural practices are strongly interrelated. With the exception of those

individuals choosing very common names, childrens first names are a good indication

of the cultural practices and social background of the parents. To this end, they



18/22


Appendix 1. Logistic regression: the impact of having a popular name on the chance to end upin vocational education, controlled for the media preferences and tastes

Metric for namemorphophonological

metrica(N = 4,944)

Metric for nameEducational metric

(N = 3,303)

Exp(B) Exp(B) Exp(B) Exp(B)

Constant 0.222***(0.085)

0.168***(0.101)

0.220***(0.103)

0.159***(0.124)

Metric measuring the meaningof name

1.306**(0.102)

1.251*(0.105)

1.529**(0.153)

1.320(0.158)

Grade (6th against 4th) 1.165(0.085)

1.508***(0.092)

1.158(0.104)

1.547***(0.112)

Gender (girls against boys) 0.832*

(0.092)

0.830

(0.122)

1.011

(0.104)

1.010

(0.143)At least one higher educatedparent

0.327***(0.107)

0.381***(0.109)

0.296***(0.134)

0.341***(0.137)

SES parents 0.887**(0.040)

0.870**(0.041)

0.963(0.051)

0.940(0.052)

Parents culture

Media preference parent 0.807***(0.048)

0.876**(0.051)

0.854**(0.060)

0.913(0.063)

Macho taste 1.047(0.035)

1.071(0.036)

1.013(0.043)

1.038(0.045)

Fun taste 1.236***(0.039)

1.038(0.042)

1.267***(0.049)

1.065(0.053)

Youthful taste 0.960(0.033)

.971(0.035)

0.967(0.041)

0.994(0.043)

High brow taste 0.884**(0.037)

0.964(0.038)

0.874**(0.046)

0.945(0.048)

Adolescents culture

Media preference adolescent 0.784**(0.071)

0.804*(0.088)

Macho taste 1.050(0.060)

1.085(0.073)

Fun taste 1.742***(0.068)

1.811***(0.085)

Alternative music (guitar) 1.004(0.055)

1.014(0.068)

High brow taste 0.615***(0.063)

0.613***(0.078)

Nagelkerke R 0.178 0.241 0.180 0.245

Notes: Results shown are exponents of the logistic regression coefficients (odds ratio) with standard errorsin parentheses.* p< .05, ** p< .01, *** p< .001 (two-tailed test).a Name ends on a a, y or ie.b Based on MDS loadings; inversed common space coordinates of the two-dimensional MDS solution(PROXSCAL technique).



19/22


distinguish in the sense of the word intended by Bourdieu. As a consequence of the

strong relationships between the social meanings of first names, social background, cul-

tural tastes and media preferences, a strong relationship exists between the social mean-

ing and morphophonological properties of first names and educational achievement. In

contrast to what many of our informants in the exploratory study believe, such a relation-ship appears to be spurious. Prejudiced labelling on the basis of first names, and hence

the constitutive and directive meaning of names, cannot be established. The relationships

between the bearers first name and educational achievement can be explained by the

cultural tastes and media preferences of the parents and of the pupils themselves, the lat-

ter playing a more important role. As far as educational achievement is concerned, nomen

est omen does not apply. Yet, our analysis helps to explain why so many of the young

people in the exploratory study are of the view that they are victims of bias and prejudice

on the basis of their first name. Controlling for background characteristics does not com-

pletely explain the effect of the social meaning of first names. Only controlling for thepupils own cultural tastes and practices does. Due to the association between first names

and cultural practices and tastes, it is likely that pupils blame the effects of their own

cultural dispositions on prejudice based on their first names. The exploratory study indi-

cates that the detraditionalization of naming has given rise to a theory that individualizes

the meaning of first names, that hides their social character and interprets the results of

class-based cultural tastes and practices as a consequence of labelling and prejudice

based on an individual trait such as the first name. To others first names often reveal the

class and tastes of the name bearer, while to many of the latter the belief in the constitu-

tive role of first names hides the effects of class and tastes.

Notes

1. The students were taking the introductory course in Sociology at a Belgian university in the

academic year 20052006.

2. Information about the parents is more reliable when this is given by the parents themselves and

they alone are able to provide information concerning their tastes and cultural practices. The

fact that in this selection mothers are over-represented is not problematic. Separate analyses for

mothers and fathers showed no significant differences in the observed effects.

3. The eigenvalue is 0.122. The eigenvalue is significant if greater than 0.03 (= 1/35, because there

is an input of 35 variables). A solution with two dimensions has an eigenvalue of 0.07, is thus

statistically still acceptable, but is difficult to interpret.

4. SPSS proxscal-MDS routine with Euclidian distance.

5. Names that are phonetically identical but are written differently, were grouped together, e.g.

Mark and Marc or Jessy and Jessie.

6. The scree plot indicates a sharp drop after two dimensions and the S-stress for two dimen-

sions has an acceptable value (S-Stress = 0.00020). S-Stress values vary from 0 to 1. Values

below 0.05 are considered indicative of an acceptable fit. Evolution of the S-Stress: 0.21169

(1 dimension) 0.00020 (2 dimensions) 0.00070 (3 dimensions).

7. Because of the large sample size, the Pearson correlation can be used instead of the point bise-

rial correlation which is not available in SPSS.

8. This morphophonological metric can certainly be made more refined. There are a number of

examples of female first names ending with a that are considered very traditional and rather

typical of highly educated milieus (Eva, Emma, Anna). For the moment we accept working



20/22


with this crude measure, increasing noise and measurement error, because it makes the test

more conservative and thus more likely to falsify our hypothesis.

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Mark Elchardus is professor at the Department of Sociology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel

(VUB), Belgium. He is a member of the research group TOR. His teaching and research is in cul-

tural sociology.

Jessy Siongers is a post doctoral senior researcher at the Department of Sociology and the research

group TOR at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Belgium. Her main research interests are

situated within the fields of sociology of education, sociology of youth and cultural sociology.

Cultural Sociology 2011 Elchardus 403 22

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