First names in the Netherlands from preferences of parents to socio-geographic representations...
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Transcript of First names in the Netherlands from preferences of parents to socio-geographic representations...
First names in the Netherlands from preferences of parents
to socio-geographic representations
Gerrit Bloothooft
Institute of Linguistics OTS
Utrecht University
Linguistics Groningen - 2005 2
The Netherlands
Population of 16 million people
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A full population study
(almost) all children born since 1983– first name– year of birth– family code – postal code
from the National Social Security Bank
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A very rich source
3.5 million children (1983-1999)
1.9 million families
152.274 different first names– 100.868 unique names– 3.120 names with frequency > 100
represent 3 million children
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Naming and subculturesHypothesis:
There are subcultures with own naming preferences
These subcultures may relate to – culture/language (Frisian, Arabic, Turkish,
Surinam, Antillean,..)– religion (Catholic, Protestant, Islam,..)– sociological status (education, income,..)– geography (urban, rural, regional,..)
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Naming and subculturesIssue:
We don’t exactly know the subcultures nor their membership
Reversily: Can we identify subcultures on the basis of the first names given to children?
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Naming and subculturesResearch aims:
Identification of subcultures (and their naming preferences) on the basis of the first names of children per family
Study of the relation between these subcultures (first names) and socio-cultural and geographic factors
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Note
Analysis (grouping) of first names on the basis of the choices of the parents
NOT on any other scientific assumption
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Contents
Method Sets of first names A map of name sets Geographic distribution of name sets Socio-cultural factors of name sets Conclusions
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Method (a chain of names)
Parents choose first names from a set that is popular in their subculture (relatives, friends, neighbors,..) (with higher probability)
This is informative only if there is more than one child (more than one name)
Pairs of first names (from a family) as unit for analysis
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Method (a chain of names)
Family: Mark, Peter, Linda
If Mark is popular in a subculture, then Peter and Linda may be popular as well
Name pairs: Mark - Peter, Peter - Mark, Mark - Linda, Linda - Mark, Peter - Linda, Linda - Peter
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Method (a chain of names)
Select all families with two or more children (1.17 million families, 2.81 million children)
Derive all pairs of first names (from a single family) (in all, 2.12 million different pairs)
Compute the frequency of each pair The higher the frequency of a pair, the more
likely the first names in the pair belong to the same set
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Most frequent name pairs
Frequency Pair of first names1091 Johannes Maria
790 Johannes Johanna
754 Jeroen Martijn
727 Johanna Maria
….
572 Mohamed Fatima
459 Lars Niels
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Clustering of first names Example:
Esther– 7.967 girls– 12.973 brothers and sisters– 276 times sister Judith (= 2.1 %)
Judith– 4.828 girls– 8.033 brothers and sisters– 276 times sister Esther (= 3.4 %)
Geometric average (2.7 %)– A symmetric measure of relationship between the two
names
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Clustering of first names
Name pairs from a (subculture-related) set have the highest relation measure
Esther:
Judith 2.7
Mirjam 2.4
Ruben 1.2
David 1.1
Judith:
Esther 2.7
Mirjam 1.6
Ruben 1.0
Miriam 0.8
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Clustering of first names
Iterative procedure to find sets of first names
4.013 first names– frequency of a pair > 4
340 name sets top-25 is most illustrative
– 2.887 first names– 2.64 million children (75%)
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Features of name sets
Period of maximum popularity– Traditional, Pre-modern (1950-1980), Modern
Language– Dutch, Frisian, English, American, French,
Spanish, Italian, [Arabic, Turkish]– Common Western
Topic area– Nature, History & Culture, Old Testament
Length– Short (one syllable), long
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A map of name sets
Presentation of a map of name sets– Based on mutual relations between name sets
The closer two name sets on the map, the more related the sets
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Spanish & Italian
Long American & English
Short American & English
Pre-modernEnglish & French
Names from the Old Testament
Names from nature
Names from history and culture
Short modern Common Western
Pre-modern Common WesternFrench Scandinavian
Pre-modern Dutch
Short modern Dutch
Traditional Dutch
Short traditional Dutch
Frisian
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Dimensions
Long Short
Traditional Pre-modern Modern
Foreign
Common Western
Dutch, Frisian
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Spanish & Italian RICARDO
Long American & English MICHAEL
Short American & English
Pre-modern English & French DENNIS
KIM
Names from the Old Testament DANIËL
Names from nature IRIS
Names from history and culture LAURENS
Short modern TIM Common Western
Pre-modern MARK Common WesternFrench Scandinavian NIELS
CHARLOTTE Pre-modern Dutch
JEROEN Short modern Dutch BART
Traditional DutchJOHANNES | JAN Short traditional
Dutch TEUNFrisianJELLE
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Intermediate conclusion
Name sets can be identified
but What do parents have in common, who
choose first names from the same set?– Geography– Religion– Income
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Geographical analysis
Based on postal code (3.584 units) Further grouping of name sets into
– Foreign (24 %)– Traditional Dutch (12 %)– Pre-modern (11 %)– Short (11 %)– History & Culture ( 6 %)– Frisian ( 2 %)
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Spanish & Italian
Long American & English
Short American & English
Pre-modern English & French
Names from the Old Testament
Names from nature
Names from history and culture
Short modern Western
Pre-modern WesternFrench Scandinavian
Pre-modern Dutch
Short modern Dutch
Traditional Dutch
Short traditional Dutch
ShortPre-Modern
Foreign
Traditional Frisian
History & Culture
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Geographical analysis
Characterize each postal code area:
Compute deviation from the grand average percentage (NL) for each name group
Most deviating name group gets that area
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Frisian
Pre-modern[rural]
History & Culture[cities & suburbs,higher education,higher income]
Short[Catholic, rural]
ForeignForeign[lower [lower education]education]
Traditional Dutch[Protestant, rural]
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Conclusions
Full scale population studies are very promising (and the only way to reliably study naming patterns)
The existence of subcultures can be derived from naming within families
Many more details were found but could not be presented here
Comparable studies of neighboring foreign regions would add an interesting dimension
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Contact
E-mail: [email protected]
Homepage:
www.let.uu.nl/~Gerrit.Bloothooft/personal
Mail:Trans 10, 3512 JK Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Religion
CatholicProtestant
None
Religion
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Religion
Lowest
Highest
Income
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Education level
Educational level
Lowest
Highest