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First names in the Netherlands from preferences of parents to socio-geographic representations

This study examines first names in the Netherlands, analyzing the naming preferences of parents and exploring the socio-cultural and geographic factors influencing naming choices. It also identifies subcultures based on naming preferences and their relation to culture, religion, sociological status, and geography.

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First names in the Netherlands from preferences of parents to socio-geographic representations

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  1. First names in the Netherlandsfrom preferences of parents to socio-geographic representations Gerrit BloothooftInstitute of Linguistics OTS Utrecht University

  2. Dutch studies on first names • Limited scientific work • Dictionary (20.000 entries) • Few socio-linguistic studies • Limited scope, small samples • Topic is extremely popular in the media Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  3. First names data • Hard to get from civil registration • privacy issues • New horizons because of digitization of the population administration (and archives) • but distributed storage Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  4. A full population study • First names from the National Social Security Bank (SVB) • All children born since 1983 • first name (official, no call name, but..) • year of birth • family code (separate table) unique! • postal code Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  5. A very rich source • 4.2 million children (1983-2002) • 200.000 per year • 1.9 million families • 176.800 different first names • 108.500 unique names • 3.120 names with frequency > 100 represent 85% of the children Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  6. Datareduction needed • Far too many names to describe one by one • Names with common properties • Not from etymological point of view • Not from linguistic point of view • Based on choices of parents name use! Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  7. 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,..) Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  8. 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 Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  9. Once again • Analysis (grouping) of first names on the basis of the choicesof the parents, i.e. name use • NOT on any other scientific assumption Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  10. Contents • Method • Sets of first names • A map of name sets • Geographic distribution of name sets • Regional name profiles • Socio-cultural factors of name sets • Conclusions Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  11. 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) in a family • Pairs of first names (from a family) as unit for analysis Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  12. 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 Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  13. 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 Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  14. Most frequent name pairs Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  15. Clustering of first names • Define measure that reflects relationship between two names • Combine names that mutually have a strong relationship into a set • Johannes, Maria, Johanna, … Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  16. Name relationship measure • 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 Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  17. Alternative measure • In terms of probablitiesProb(name_pair) / indepentProb(name_pair)indepentProb = if there is no specific preference • Series of problems • High-frequent name pairs should get a stronger weight (estimation inaccuracies for low-frequent pairs) Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  18. Clustering of first names • Name pairs from a (subculture-related) set have the highest relation measure Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  19. Clustering • Start with strongly related name-pairs • Add new name-pair to existing cluster or start a new cluster • Iterative procedure Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  20. Clustering results • 4.013 first names • Frequency of a pair > 4 • result: 340 name sets • Limited number of large sets • High number of small sets • top-25 of sets is most illustrative • 2.887 first names • 2.64 million children (75%) Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  21. 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 Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  22. 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 Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  23. Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  24. Dimensions Foreign CommonWestern Dutch, Frisian LongShort Modern Pre-modern Traditional Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  25. Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  26. Geographical distribution • Postal code area level [3584] • Big differences between pc areas • city neighborhoods • villages (religion) • Enough children for characterisation • ~1200 births per pc in 20 years • Some further name grouping needed Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  27. Further grouping Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  28. Foreign History & Culture Pre-Modern Short TraditionalLatin Dutch Frisian Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  29. Traditional(Dutch) AaltjeBarendDirkjeEvertGeertjeHarmJantjeKlaasMargjeTeunis Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  30. Traditional(Latin form) AdrianaBernardusChristinaEduardElisabethFranciscusGeertruidaHubertusJohannaKrijnMaria Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  31. Frisian names AafkeBaukeDouweFroukjeJoppeJitskeJelleMennoSietskeOnnoWietskeWiebe Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  32. Pre-modern names (Dutch, Western) AnniekAnitaCarlaFrankJochemJeroenLindaMarkMarloesPaulSuzanne Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  33. Foreign names(English) AmandaDennisDannyChantalHenryIsabellaKimKevinMelissaRicardoSamanthaStephen Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  34. Short names(modern, Dutch,Western, Skand) AnneBartEvaGijsLisaKajNielsSanneSofieTim Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  35. Short names - Religion Religion None Protestant Catholic Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  36. Old testamenthistory, culture,nature DaniëlEstherJudithNaomiWillemijnDiederikFrederiekeMauritsIrisFleurJasmijn Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  37. Income Religion Lowest Highest Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  38. Arabic and Turkish names FatimaMohamedNouraHamzaSaraYassinFatmaMustafaHaticeMehmet Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  39. Further geographical analysis • Per pc area: percentage of children per name group (8 values) • These percentages reflect social composition of the pc area • Factor analysis on data from 3584 pc areas • 10 typical profiles Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  40. 10 profiles Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  41. Example profileTraditional – Latin form Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  42. Naming map of the Netherlands Frisian pre-modern ArabTurkish trad. Dutch elite foreign trad.Latin short foreign Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  43. EU constitution votes Education level Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  44. Educational level Education level Highest Lowest Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  45. Naming map of Groningenprovince trad. Dutch >pre-modern foreign pre-modern elite Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  46. Naming map of Groningen city(typical city pattern) % households with income in highest 20% class Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  47. Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  48. Typical Groningen names • Oldambt: Boelo, Doeko, Adzo, Elzo, Popko, Rienko, Wubbo | Grieto, Trienko • Frisian: Alke, Bouktje, Rikste, Eisse, Wiert • Peat-colonies: Hinderika, Harmannes, Geessien, Hillechien • regional names are becoming rare Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  49. Conclusions • Successful representation of Linguistics Groningen - 2005

  50. Further studies • Changes in naming • Missing data 1940-1982; towards full population data • Current study 1983-2002; towards 5 year period analysis • Who starts name renewal, how does it spread • Names • Call names & official names (using consumer questionnaires) • Spelling choices • Social factors in naming • Role of naming after relatives (in first, second, third name) • Gender dependencies • Income, education, religion • Mathematics of naming (chaos theory) • Name pronunciation (for speech synthesis) Linguistics Groningen - 2005

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