Message: "Re: Popularity charts question"

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[Facts] Re: Popularity charts question

by Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans)

2/28/2007, 11:34 AM

Yes, they are just made up from first names because the SSA list where the data is drawn from does not include middle names.

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- Anneza +4

3/1/2007, 10:11 PM

Really? That's weird! And guaranteed to distort the statistics, quite apart from confusing people who use their middle names, not their first names ... like my husband and several friends. Not that they'd appear on an American list, but you do take my point.

I've just started doing some very elementary genealogical research, and I also find it frustrating when just a first name and an initial appear: this is on UK census lists, and I've seen an Edward A, Sarah A and Florence B, but no indication of what A, A and B they were. Sarah Anne and Sarah Alexandrina would give very different impressions! And I'm betting that Great-Uncle Ted was Edward Albert, but he needn't have been ...

- Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans) +1

3/5/2007, 11:51 AM

The problem in making up a popularity chart using birth certificate data is that there is absolutely no way of knowing whether or not a particular child (or adult) is "going by" a middle name in everyday life. This sort of data just isn't available. It would be really nice to have separate lists of the most popular middle names, but to just add in the middle names with the first names would very seriously distort the true popularity of names as they are actually used, because the number of people who "go by" their middle names is small, and because there are a great many names, especially for women, which are hugely popular as middle names while being much less common as first names, such as Ann, Anne, Lynn, Marie, Rose, Renee, etc.

- Anneza

3/6/2007, 5:01 AM

True ... but they are still names in use, names being given (for whatever reason) and names which have their own fashions ... it seems churlish to ignore them! Does this apply to all the popularity charts on this site, do you know, or do different countries do things differently?

Wouldn't two lists be the real answer? One for the first names only, and one for all given names lumped together? It would be simple then to see how the distribution worked.

As for middle names ... my cousin Robin Thompson has Arthur as his first name, though there was never any intention that he would use Arthur. Wouldn't you rather be ART than RAT? My husband was given Ernest as his first name, after his father, who was named after a friend of his father. Neither of them ever used it, and our son is glad to have escaped ... .

Also, I suspect that middle name fashions change in the same kinds of ways as first name fashions, only more slowly. It would be nice to know for sure!

- raindancing +1

3/2/2007, 12:44 AM

One of my husbands ancestors was called Ted by his family and freinds, for a long time I thought this meant he was Edward but I later discoved he was Edwin :)

- Anneza

3/2/2007, 2:04 AM

Aaargh!

- Elea

2/28/2007, 4:20 PM

Interestingly the statistics for Scotland have a separate list of the most popular middle names.

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/library/pernames/the-most-popular-names-in-scotland-2006/additional-names.html
(You may need to paste the link separately into a new browser)

This message was edited 3/2/2007, 11:45 AM

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