First names in the Netherlands from preferences of parents to socio-geographic representations Gerrit Bloothooft Institute of Linguistics OTS Utrecht University

Linguistics Groningen The Netherlands  Population of 16 million people

Linguistics Groningen 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

Linguistics Groningen A very rich source  3.5 million children ( )  1.9 million families  different first names – unique names –3.120 names with frequency > 100 represent 3 million children

Linguistics Groningen Naming and subcultures Hypothesis:  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 Naming and subcultures Issue:  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?

Linguistics Groningen Naming and subcultures Research 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 Note  Analysis (grouping) of first names on the basis of the choices of the parents NOT on any other scientific assumption

Linguistics Groningen Contents  Method  Sets of first names  A map of name sets  Geographic distribution of name sets  Socio-cultural factors of name sets  Conclusions

Linguistics Groningen 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

Linguistics Groningen 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 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 Most frequent name pairs FrequencyPair of first names 1091JohannesMaria 790JohannesJohanna 754JeroenMartijn 727JohannaMaria …. 572MohamedFatima 459LarsNiels

Linguistics Groningen Clustering of first names Example:  Esther –7.967 girls – 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 Clustering of first names  Name pairs from a (subculture-related) set have the highest relation measure Esther: Judith2.7 Mirjam2.4 Ruben1.2 David1.1 Judith: Esther2.7 Mirjam1.6 Ruben1.0 Miriam0.8

Linguistics Groningen Clustering of first names  Iterative procedure to find sets of first names  first names –frequency of a pair > 4  340 name sets  top-25 is most illustrative –2.887 first names –2.64 million children (75%)

Linguistics Groningen Features of name sets  Period of maximum popularity –Traditional, Pre-modern ( ), 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 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 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 Common Western Pre-modern Common Western FrenchScandinavian Pre-modern Dutch Short modern Dutch Traditional Dutch Short traditional Dutch Frisian

Linguistics Groningen Dimensions Long Short Traditional Pre-modern Modern Foreign Common Western Dutch, Frisian

Linguistics Groningen 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 Western FrenchScandinavian NIELS CHARLOTTEPre-modern Dutch JEROENShort modern Dutch BART Traditional Dutch JOHANNES | JAN Short traditional Dutch TEUN Frisian JELLE

Linguistics Groningen 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

Linguistics Groningen 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 %)

Linguistics Groningen 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 Western FrenchScandinavian Pre-modern Dutch Short modern Dutch Traditional Dutch Short traditional Dutch Short Pre-Modern Foreign Traditional Frisian History & Culture

Linguistics Groningen 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

Linguistics Groningen Frisian Pre-modern [rural] History & Culture [cities & suburbs, higher education, higher income] Short [Catholic, rural] Foreign [lower education] Traditional Dutch [Protestant, rural]

Linguistics Groningen 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

Linguistics Groningen Contact   Homepage:  Mail: Trans 10, 3512 JK Utrecht, The Netherlands

Linguistics Groningen Religion Catholic Protestant None Religion

Linguistics Groningen Religion Lowest Highest Income

Linguistics Groningen Education level Educational level Lowest Highest