Vol. 58 No. 1 (2010)
Research Article

Racial and Gender Differences in Diversity of First Names

PDF
  • Herbert Barry III,
  • Aylene S Harper
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/175622710X12590782368107

Published 2010-03-01

Keywords

  • ETHNONYM,
  • BUSHMAN NAME,
  • SAN NAME,
  • KHOISAN ETHNONYM,
  • POPULAR ETYMOLOGY,
  • ONOMASTIC METHOD,
  • CAPE KHOI
    • ...More
    Less

Copyright (c) 2010 Maney Publishing

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Abstract

First names and the number of individuals given each name were recorded on three populations, born in Pennsylvania in 1990, 1995, and 2000. Four categories of people were “black” females, “white” females, “black” males, and “white” males. Diversity of the name choices was measured by the 50 percent rank frequency, which divides the population equally between the individuals with more frequent and less frequent names. Diversity was highest for “black” females and lowest for “white” males. For all four categories of people, diversity increased progressively from 1990 to 1995 and from 1995 to 2000. Feminine phonetic attributes also were most frequent for “black” females and least frequent for “white” males. Racial divergence in choices of names was indicated by a smaller number of names in 2000 than in 1990 that were among the fifty most frequent for both “blacks” and “whites.”

PDF

References

  1. Barry, H. III. 1995. Computers and Research on Personal Names. Names, 43: 315–24.
  2. Barry, H. III, & Harper, A.S. 1995. Increased Choice of Female Phonetic Attributes in First Names. Sex Roles, 32: 809–19.
  3. Barry, H. III, & Harper, A.S. 2000. Three Last Letters Identify Most Female Names. Psychological Reports, 87: 48–54.
  4. Barry, H. III, & Harper, A.S. 2003. Final Letter Compared with Final Phoneme in Male and Female Names. Names, 51:13–33.
  5. Barry, H. III, & Harper, A.S. 2005. The Majority of Female First Names Ended in A or E Throughout the Twentieth Century. Gender Roles. Ed. by J. W. Lee. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science,pp. 117–43.
  6. Barry, H. III, & Harper, A.S. 2006. The Majority of Female First Names Ended in A or E Throughout the Twentieth Century. Gender Identity, Psychology and Life Style. Ed. by A.J. Lauber. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science,pp. 91–116.
  7. Black, K. 1996. Afro-American Personal Naming Traditions. Names, 44: 105–25.
  8. Eagleson, O.W. & Clifford, A.D. 1945. A Comparative Study of the Names of “White” and Negro Women College Students. Journal of Social Psychology, 21: 57–64.
  9. Evans, C.K. 1989. Adam and Andre, Lindsay and Lakeisha: Racial Differences in First Names. 1987. Bulletin of the North Central Name Society, Spring: 43–63.
  10. Evans, C.K. 2006. The Great Big Book of Baby Names: A Complete Guide from A to Z. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International Ltd.
  11. Fryer, R.G. Jr, & Levitt, S.D. 2004. The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 119: 767–805.
  12. Levitt, S.D. & Dubner, S. J. 2006. Freakonomics (revised and expanded). New York: HarperCollins.
  13. Lieberson, S. 2000. A Matter of Taste; How Names, Fashions, and Culture Change. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
  14. Lieberson, S. & Mikelson, K.S. 1995. Distinctive African American Names: an Experimental, Historical, and Linguistic Analysis of Innovation. American Sociological Review, 60: 928–46.
  15. Pennsylvania 1992. Pennsylvania Vital Statistics Annual Report, 1990. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Health Data Center.
  16. SPSS Inc. 1986. SPSSX User’s Guide. 2nd edn. Chicago: SPSS.
  17. Tucker, D.K. 2009. Increased Competition and Reduced Popularity: US Given Name Trends of the Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Centuries. Names, 57: 52–62.

Most read articles by the same author(s)