A Cross Cultural Comparison of Four Gnerations of American, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

A Cross Cultural Comparison of Four Gnerations of American, Brazilian, French, and German Male and Female First Names Categorized According to Gender, Decade of Birth, and Geo-Location of Birth

Michael Jenkins, Tristan Roney, James Wuehler, Scott Irvine, Beate Kehl, Jessica Hancock, Leslie Koenen, Deryle Lonsdale, Matthew Spackman and Bruce Brown

American Name Society – January 7, 2007

Design

• The names and corresponding information

were acquired through the combination of the following resources:

Four Generation Genealogy Sheets of 7 Undergraduate Students Four Generation Genealogy Sheets of several native Germans The website familysearch.org Families and Friends

Design

• A reduced list of non-redundant first names for

both male and female names were produced with approximately 50 names per gender for each nation.

• Respondents rated each of these names on a set
• f seven adjective pairs:

Informal/formal Old-fashioned/modern Unfamiliar/familiar Unusual/popular Undistinguished/distinguished Unattractive/attractive

Design

• Our previous intent was to determine the

rater accuracy of identification of gender, location, and decade of birth.

• Our current intent is to find out how the

subjective properties of given names are compared according to the gender, birth geo-location, and birth decade associated with each name for the four national groups (USA, Brazil, France, and Germany)

Scatter plot for the Correlation Scatter plot for the Correlation between Actual Decade and Judged between Actual Decade and Judged Decade Decade on the 45 Most Common American Women’s Names

• n the 45 Most Common American Women’s Names

r = .689

.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00 .00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00

r2 = .475 .475 Half Signal and Half Noise

Scatter plot for the Correlation between Actual Decade and Scatter plot for the Correlation between Actual Decade and Judged Decade Judged Decade on the 48 Most Common Women’s Names

• n the 48 Most Common Women’s Names

r = .515

.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00 .00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00

r2 = .265 .265

One Fourth Signal and Three Fourths Noise

.000 .100 .200 .300 .400 .500 .600 .700 .800 r for male mediated unexplained r for female mediated unexplained

Lens Model Analysis of Adequacy of Adjective Ratings of Lens Model Analysis of Adequacy of Adjective Ratings of Names in Accounting for Decade Identification Accuracy Names in Accounting for Decade Identification Accuracy

Male Lens Model Stats Female Lens Model Stats

distinguished formal complex attractive popular familiar modern

Elpha Flossie Elinor Florence Edith Edna Elsie Emily Eva Ella Emma Elva

• Gender comparisons for combined American

data.

1.000 2.000 3.000 4.000 5.000 6.000 7.000 Complex Formal Distinguished Attractive Popular Familiar Modern Female Male

American male names on the whole are rated above the midpoint of the scale (4.00) on formal and distinguished, with Female names lower on these. Both male and female names are above the midpoint

• n familiar.

Results

• Gender comparisons for combined German data.

Results

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Complex Formal Distinguished Attractive Popular Familiar Modern Male Female

German names, both male and female, are seen (by Germans) as more complex and formal than American names (by Americans). American names are seen as more familiar.

• Decade comparisons for American female data.

Results

0.000 1.000 2.000 3.000 4.000 5.000 6.000 7.000 Complex Formal Distinguished Attractive Popular Familiar Modern

At the top right, the dark blue profile is 1820, the tan one is 1970, and the teal profile that is high on both left and right is 1990. At the bottom right, the sky blue profile is 1850 and the medium blue one is 1890. 1820 1890 1970 1850 1990

• Decade comparisons for American male data.

Results

0.000 1.000 2.000 3.000 4.000 5.000 6.000 7.000 Complex Formal Distinguished Attractive Popular Familiar Modern

At the top right, the medium blue profile is 1990, the tan one is 1970, and the dotted profile below them is 1820. At the bottom right, the sky blue profile is 1910 and the yellow one is 1930. 1820 1910 1970 1930 1990

• Decade comparisons for combined German data.

Results

.0000 1.0000 2.0000 3.0000 4.0000 5.0000 6.0000 7.0000 C

• m

p l e x F

• r

m a l D i s t i n g u i s h e d A t t r a c t i v e P

• p

u l a r F a m i l i a r M

• d

e r n d1790 d1800 d1810 d1820 d1830 d1840 d1850 d1860 d1870 d1880 d1890 d1900 d1910 d1920 d1930 d1940 d1950

1980 1960 1870 1800 At the top right, the pink profile is 1800, the turquoise one is 1960. Similar to the American data, both recent names and also early 19th century ones are seen as popular, familiar, and modern. German names from 1980 are low on complex, formal, and distinguished.

• Location comparisons for combined American data.

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 Complex Formal Distinguished Attractive Popular Familiar Modern

At the top right, the blue profile is the pacific coast and the maroon profile is the northwest. The upper left teal colored profile is “other,” and the purple profile at the bottom left is the northeast.

northeast northwest pacific coast “other”

Results

• Location comparisons for combined German data.

Names from Bavaria (Bayern), Hamburg, and Meckl-Schwerin are rated as relatively high on the attractive/popular/familiar adjectives. Names from Westfale have a somewhat lower profile across all seven adjectives.

Results

.0000 1.0000 2.0000 3.0000 4.0000 5.0000 6.0000 7.0000 C

• m

p l e x F

• r

m a l D i s t i n g u i s h e d A t t r a c t i v e P

• p

u l a r F a m i l i a r M

• d

e r n BadenW Bayern Brandenb Bremervo Hamburg Hessen MecklSch Neidersa NordrWes Potsdam Rhinelan Schleswi Westfale Other Foreign

Bayern Hamburg Meckl-Schwerin Westfale

Discussion

• Names are often cyclic

Names of grandparents are often come back into popularity. In the 1980s it seems that there was in Germany, an increase in “modern,” often foreign, names. Knowledge of how names cycle through the generations and the relative location of names in the semantic spaces of persons born in different decades may help in understanding comparative naming practices in various nations.