Naming differences in divided Germany.

Autor/inn/en	Huschka, Denis; Gerhards, Jürgen; Wagner, Gert G.
Institution	Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung
Titel	Naming differences in divided Germany. Gefälligkeitsübersetzung: Unterschiede bei der Namensgebung im geteilten Deutschland.
Quelle	Berlin (2005), 24 S. PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Reihe	Research Notes. 8
Beigaben	Tabellen 2; grafische Darstellungen 3
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Monographie; Graue Literatur
ISSN	1860-2185
Schlagwörter	Soziales Milieu; Eltern; Kind; Individualisierung; Polarisierung; Soziale Klasse; Sozioökonomischer Faktor; Name; Selektion; Verfahren; Deutschland
Abstract	"Our point of departure is the assumption that naming one's child is a social act according to Max Weber's understanding. Choosing a name is a selection process that is crucially influenced by the social setting in which the parents are embedded. Hence, comparative name studies can shed light on the historical and societal circumstances under which name selections have taken place. The political and societal differences between East and West Germany from 1949 to 1989, which became particularly marked in the 1960s, led us to ask whether these two different German societies are reflected in different name choices. We have anecdotal evidence that Germans can guess relatively well whether someone comes from East or West Germany upon hearing their name. Most Germans believe, for example, that names like 'Mandy', 'Cindy' and 'Mike' (sometimes creatively spelled 'Maik' or 'Meik') are typical of East Germans, although both parts of Germany share a mutual history and culture, very similar traditions (of naming), and the same language with absolutely no variations in grammar or orthography. In this article, we use representative social science survey data to empirically analyze whether different societal settings in East and West Germany really did lead to different naming behavior, and if so, how these differences developed over time. First we analyze name frequency distributions and general naming patterns. Are there differences in the frequency-rank distribution of names? Do the frequency-rank distributions show greater polarization in East Germany and broader dispersion in West Germany, suggesting more individualized naming patterns in the West as a result of greater individualization in diverse areas of social life? In the second part of our analysis, we look at concrete name types. We ask whether people in the two parts of Germany used different name types, and compare the concrete name types and origins of names. Did parents in East and West Germany choose the name for their children out of the same 'name reservoir'? What types of names were preferred in each part of the country? Finally, we analyze naming differences over time to test the hypothesis that the divergent cultural paths in East and West Germany led to different sets of cultural preferences in each." (excerpt).
Erfasst von	GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Mannheim
Update	2006/4