A given name (also known as a first name, forename) is a part of a person's personal name.[ quoted in ] It identifies a person, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a family or clan) who have a common surname. The term given name refers to a name bestowed at or close to the time of birth, usually by the parents of the newborn. The term Christian name is the first name that which is given at baptism historically in Christian custom.
In informal situations, given names are often used in a familiar and friendly manner.
By contrast, a surname (also known as a family name, last name, or gentile name), which is normally inherited, is typically shared with other members of one's immediate family.["A name given to a person at birth or at baptism, as distinguished from a surname" – according to the American Heritage Dictionary ] and Religious name are special given names bestowed upon someone receiving a crown or entering a religious order. Such a person then typically becomes known chiefly by that name.
Name order
The order
given name – family name, commonly known as the
Western order, is used throughout most
countries and in countries that have cultures predominantly influenced by European culture, including
North America and
South America Americas;
North India,
East India, Central and
Western India;
Australia,
New Zealand, and the
Philippines.
The order family name – given name, commonly known as the Eastern order, is primarily used in East Asia (for example in China, Japan, Korea, Malaysian Chinese, Singapore, and Vietnam, among others), as well as in South India and Northeast India parts of India, and in Hungary. This order is common also in Austria and Bavaria, and in France, Belgium, Greece and Italy, possibly because of the influence of bureaucracy, which commonly puts the family name before the given name. In China and Korea, generation name may be shared among all members of a given generation within a family and extended family or families, in order to differentiate those generations from other generations.
The order given name – father's family name – mother's family name is commonly used in Spanish-speaking countries to acknowledge the families of both parents. Today the order can also be changed legally in Spain and Uruguay using given name – mother's family name – father's family name.
The order given name – mother's family name – father's family name is commonly used in Portuguese-speaking countries to acknowledge the families of both parents.
Multiple given names
In many
Western world cultures, people often have more than one given name. One of those which is not the first in succession might be used exclusively as the name which that person goes by, such as in the cases of John Edgar Hoover and Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland.
Legal status
A child's given name or names are usually chosen by the parents soon after birth. If a name is not assigned at birth, one may be given at a
naming ceremony, with family and friends in attendance. In most jurisdictions, a child's name at birth is a matter of public record, inscribed on a birth certificate, or its equivalent. In western cultures, people normally retain the same given name throughout their lives. However, in some cases these names may be changed by following legal processes or by repute. People may also change their names when immigrating from one country to another with different naming conventions.
In certain jurisdictions, a government-appointed registrar of births may refuse to register a name that may cause a child harm, which is considered offensive or which is deemed impractical. In France, the agency can refer the case to a local judge. Some jurisdictions, such as Sweden, restrict the spelling of names.
Origins and meanings
Parents may choose a name because of its meaning. This may be a personal or familial meaning, such as giving a child the name of an admired person, or it may be an example of nominative determinism, in which the parents give the child a name that they believe will be lucky or favourable for the child. Given names most often derive from the following categories:
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Aspirational personal traits (external and internal). For example, the name Clement means "merciful".
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Occupations, for example George means "earth-worker", i.e., "farmer".
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Circumstances of birth, for example Thomas meaning "twin" or the Latin name Quintus, which was traditionally given to the fifth male child.
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Objects, for example Peter means "rock" and Edgar means "rich spear".
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Physical characteristics, for example Calvin means "bald".
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Variations on another name, especially to change the sex of the name (Pauline, Georgia) or to translate from another language (for instance, the names Francis or Francisco that come from the name Franciscus meaning "Franks or Frenchman").
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Surnames, for example Winston,
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Places, for example Brittany
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Time of birth, for example day of the week, as in Kofi Annan, whose given name means "born on Friday",
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Combination of the above, for example the Armenian name Sirvart means "love rose".
In many cultures, given names are reused, especially namesake or those who are particularly admired, resulting in a limited repertoire of names that sometimes vary by orthography.
The most familiar example of this, to Western readers, is the use of Biblical and saint names in most of the Christian countries (with Ethiopia, in which names were often ideals or abstractions—Haile Selassie, "power of the Trinity"; Haile Miriam, "power of Mary"—as the most conspicuous exception). However, the name Jesus is considered taboo or sacrilege in some parts of the Christian world, though this taboo does not extend to the cognate Joshua or related forms which are common in many languages even among Christians. In some Spanish speaking countries, the name Jesus is considered a normal given name.
Similarly, the name Mary, now popular among Christians, particularly Roman Catholics, was considered too holy for secular use until about the 12th century. In countries that particularly venerated Mary, this remained the case much longer; in Poland, until the arrival in the 17th century of French queens named Marie.
Most common given names in English (and many other European languages) can be grouped into broad categories based on their origin:
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, most often from the Bible, are very common in, or are elements of names used in historically Christian countries. Theophoric name have elements meaning "God", especially "Eli". Examples: Michael, Joshua, Daniel, Joseph, David, Adam, Samuel, Elizabeth, Hannah and Mary. There are also a handful of names in use derived from the Aramaic language, particularly the names of prominent figures in the New Testament—such as Thomas, Martha and Bartholomew.
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All of the of history and the present day use at least some names constructed like these in Hebrew (and the ancient Hebrews used names not constructed like these—such as Moses, probably an Egyptian name related to the names of like Thutmose and Ahmose). The Muslim world is the best-known example (with names like Saif-al-din, "sword of the faith", or Abd-Allah, "servant of God"), but even the Carthaginians had similar names: cf. Hannibal, "the grace of god" (in this case not the Abrahamic deity God, but the deity—probably Melkart—whose title is normally left untranslated, as Baal).
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Germanic names are characteristically warlike; roots with meanings like "glory", "strength", and "will" are common. The "-bert" element common in many such names comes from beraht, which means "". Examples: Robert, Edward, Roger, Richard, Albert, Carl, Alfred, Rosalind, Emma, Emmett, Eric and Matilda.
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French forms of Germanic names. Since the Norman conquest of England, many English given names of Germanic origin are used in their French name. Examples: Charles, Henry.
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Slavic names may be of a peaceful character, the compounds being derived from word roots meaning "to protect", "to love", "peace", "to praise gods", or "to give". Examples: Milena, Vesna, Bohumil, Dobromir, Svetlana, Vlastimil. Other names have a warlike character and are built of words meaning "fighter", "war", or "anger". Examples: Casimir, Vladimir, Sambor, Wojciech and Zbigniew. Many of them derive from the root word "slava" ("glory"): Boleslaus, Miroslav, Vladislav, Radoslav and Stanislav.
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Celtic languages names are sometimes anglicisation versions of Celtic language, but the original form may also be used. Examples: Alan, Brian, Brigid, Mórag, Ross, Logan, Ciarán, Jennifer, and Seán. These names often have origins in Celtic words, as Celtic versions of the names of internationally known Christianity , as names of Celtic mythology, or simply as long-standing names whose ultimate etymology is unclear.
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Greek names may be derived from the history and mythology of Classical Antiquity or be derived from the New Testament and early Christian traditions. Such names are often, but not always, anglicised. Examples: Helen, Stephen, Alexander, Andrew, Peter, Gregory, George, Christopher, Margaret, Nicholas, Jason, Timothy, Chloe, Zoë, Katherine, Penelope and Theodore.
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Latin names can also be adopted unchanged, or modified; in particular, the inflected element can be dropped, as often happens in borrowings from Latin to English. Examples: Laura, Victoria, Marcus, Justin (Latin Justinus), Paul (Lat. Paulus), Julius, Cecilia, Felix, Vivian, Julia, Pascal (not a traditional-type Latin name, but the adjective-turned-name paschalis, meaning 'of Easter' ( Pascha)).
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Word names come from English vocabulary words. Feminine names of this sort—in more languages than English, and more cultures than Europe alone—frequently derive from nature, flowers, birds, colours, or . Examples include Jasmine, Lavender, Dawn, Asteraceae, Rose, Iris, Petunia, Rowan, Jade, and Violet. Male names of this sort are less common—examples like Hunter and Fischer, or names associated with strong animals, such as Bronco and Wolf. (This is more common in some other languages, such as Northern Germanic and Turkish).
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Trait names most conspicuously include the Christian virtues, mentioned above, and normally used as feminine names (such as the three Christian virtues—Faith, Hope, and Charity).
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are sometimes used to distinguish between two or more people with the same given name. In English, Robert may be changed to "Robbie" or Thomas changed to "Tommy". In German the names Hänsel and Gretel (as in the famous fairy tale) are the diminutive forms of Johann and Margarete. Examples: Vicky, Cindy, Tommy, Abigail, Allie.
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Shortened names (see nickname) are generally nicknames of a longer name, but they are instead given as a person's entire given name. For example, a man may simply be named "Jim", and it is not short for James. Examples: Beth, Ben, Zach, Tom.
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Feminine variations exist for many masculine names, often in multiple forms. Examples: Charlotte, Stephanie, Victoria, Philippa, Jane, Jacqueline, Josephine, Danielle, Paula, Pauline, Patricia, Francesca.
Frequently, a given name has versions in many different languages. For example, the biblical name Susanna also occurs in its original biblical Hebrew version, Shoshannah, its Spanish and Portuguese version Susana, its French version, Suzanne, its Polish version, Zuzanna, or its Hungarian version, Zsuzsanna .
East Asia
Despite the uniformity of
, Chinese given names can be fairly original because Chinese characters can be combined extensively. Unlike European languages with their Biblical and Greco-Roman heritage, the
Chinese language does not have a particular set of words reserved for given names: any combination of Chinese characters can theoretically be used as a given name. Nonetheless, a number of popular characters commonly recur, including "Strong" (,
Wěi), "Learned" (,
Wén), "Peaceful" (,
Ān), and "Beautiful" (,
Měi). Despite China's increasing urbanization, a great many namessuch as "Pine" (,
Sōng) and "
plum tree" (,
Méi)also still reference nature.
Most Chinese given names are two characters long anddespite the examples abovethe two characters together may mean nothing at all. Instead, they may be selected to include particular sounds, Chinese tones, or radicals; to balance the Chinese elements of a child's birth chart; or to honor a generation poem handed down through the family for centuries. Traditionally, it is considered an naming taboo and not an honor to have a newborn named after an older relative, so that full names are rarely passed down through a family in the manner of American English Seniors, Juniors, III, etc. Similarly, it is considered disadvantageous for the child to bear a name already made famous by someone else, although Romanizations might be identical or a common name like Liu Xiang might be borne by tens of thousands.
Korean names and Vietnamese names are often simply conventions derived from Classical Chinese counterparts.
Many female end in -ko (), meaning "child". This can make them seem decidedly unfeminine to Europeans accustomed to Indo-European tendencies to end masculine names in o.
In many Westernised Asian locations, many Asians also have an unofficial or even registered Western (typically English) given name, in addition to their Asian given name. This is also true for Asian students at colleges in countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia as well as among international businesspeople.
Gender
Most names in English are traditionally masculine (Hugo, James, Harold) or feminine (Daphne, Charlotte, Jane), but there are
as well, such as Jordan,
Jamie, Jesse, Morgan, Leslie/Lesley, Joe/Jo, Jackie, Pat, Dana, etc.). Often, use for one gender is predominant. Also, a particular spelling is often more common for either men or women, even if the pronunciation is the same. Predicting gender using names in the US or Europe is about 99% accurate.
Many culture groups, past and present, did not or do not gender names strongly, so that many or all of their names are unisex. On the other hand, in many languages including most Indo-European languages (but not English), gender is inherent in the grammar. Some countries have laws preventing unisex names, requiring parents to give their children sex-specific names. Names may have different gender connotations from country to country or language to language.
Popularity distribution of given names
The popularity (frequency) distribution of given names typically follows a power law distribution.
Since about 1800 in England and Wales and in the U.S., the popularity distribution of given names has been shifting so that the most popular names are losing popularity. For example, in England and Wales, the most popular female and male names given to babies born in 1800 were Mary and John, with 24% of female babies and 22% of male babies receiving those names, respectively.
Choice of names
Education, ethnicity, religion, class and political ideology affect parents' choice of names. In the United States, popular names tend to be chosen by parents with more education. Politically conservative parents choose common and traditional names, while politically liberal parents choose the names of literary characters or other relatively obscure cultural figures.
[J. Eric Oliver, Thomas Wood, Alexandra Bass. "Liberellas versus Konservatives: Social Status, Ideology, and Birth Names in the United States" Presented at the 2013 Midwestern Political Science Association Annual Meeting] Devout members of religions often choose names from their religious scriptures. For example, Hindu parents may name a daughter
Saanvi after the goddess, Jewish parents may name a boy
Isaac after one of the earliest ancestral figures, and Muslim parents may name a boy
Mohammed after the prophet Mohammed.
There are many tools parents can use to choose names, including books, websites and applications. An example is the Baby Name Game that uses the Elo rating system to rank parents preferred names and help them select one.[ Baby Name Game.]
Influence of popular culture
Popular culture appears to have an influence on naming trends, at least in the United States and United Kingdom. Newly famous celebrities and public figures may influence the popularity of names. For example, in 2004, the names "Keira" and "Kiera" (anglicisation of Irish name Ciara) respectively became the 51st and 92nd most popular girls' names in the UK, following the rise in popularity of British actress
Keira Knightley.
In 2001, the use of Colby as a boys' name for babies in the United States jumped from 233rd place to 99th, just after
Colby Donaldson was the runner-up on
. Also, the female name "Miley" which before was not in the top 1000 was 278th most popular in 2007, following the rise to fame of singer-actress
Miley Cyrus (who was named Destiny at birth).
[ Popular Baby Names, Social Security Administration, USA]
Characters from fiction also seem to influence naming. After the name Kayla was used for Kayla Brady on the American soap opera Days of Our Lives, the name's popularity increased greatly. The name Tammy, and the related Tamara became popular after the movie Tammy and the Bachelor came out in 1957. Some names were established or spread by being used in literature. Notable examples include Pamela, invented by Sir Philip Sidney for a pivotal character in his epic prose work, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia; Jessica, created by William Shakespeare in his play The Merchant of Venice; Vanessa, created by Jonathan Swift; Fiona, a character from James Macpherson's spurious cycle of Ossian poems; Wendy, an obscure name popularised by J. M. Barrie in his play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up; and Madison, a character from the movie Splash. Lara and Larissa were rare in America before the appearance of Doctor Zhivago, and have become fairly common since.
Songs can influence the naming of children. Jude jumped from 814th most popular male name in 1968 to 668th in 1969, following the release of the Beatles' "Hey Jude". Similarly, Layla charted as 969th most popular in 1972 after the Eric Clapton song. It had not been in the top 1,000 before.[
]
Kayleigh became a particularly popular name in the United Kingdom following the release of a song by the British rock group Marillion. Government statistics in 2005 revealed that 96% of Kayleighs were born after 1985, the year in which Marillion released "Kayleigh".
Popular culture figures need not be admirable in order to influence naming trends. For example, Peyton came into the top 1000 as a female given name for babies in the United States for the first time in 1992 (at #583), immediately after it was featured as the name of an evil nanny in the film The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.[ On the other hand, historical events can influence child-naming. For example, the given name Adolf has fallen out of use since the end of World War II in 1945.
]
In contrast with these anecdotal evidence, a comprehensive study of Norwegian first name datasets
See also
Notes
External links
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Given Name Frequency Project – Analysis of long-term trends in given names in England and Wales. Includes downloadable datasets of names for people interested in studying given name trends.
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NameVoyager – Visualization showing the frequency of the Top 1000 American baby names throughout history.
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U.S. Census Bureau: Distribution of Names Files Large ranked list of male and female given names in addition to last names.
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Popular Baby Names – The Social Security Administration page for Popular U.S. Baby Names
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Muslim Names Islamic names with Audio Voice for pronunciation of Arabic names.
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Given Name - Meaning of Given Names. TOP 1000 Given Names. Encyclopedia of Given Names
