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[Opinions] Re: American Names
But you will also see a lot of Italian and Portuguese-derived names in the Northeast, because Italian and Portuguese are very prevalent backgrounds in those areas.
It's kind of almost a cliche that Utah parents tend to pick more unusual, tryndee-seeming names for their babies, like Kinsley and Braxton and such.But in general, I'd say that family's ethnic backgrounds, family tradition and other factors are much more to do with the prevlalence of names than pure geography is.Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you criticize him, you're a mile away and you have his shoes!
Steve Martin
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You also see a lot of Italian names in the Midwest like because there are a lot of Italians that settled those areas too as well as in the New Orleans Metro area.
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"But in general, I'd say that family's ethnic backgrounds, family tradition and other factors are much more to do with the prevlalence of names than pure geography is."Agreed, there are a lot of factors. A few name trends are very Geographical like Aurora's popularity in Alaska due to the aurora borealis, but belief patterns, work traditions, and history all come into play. Since some areas were predominately settled by a particular group (Dutch, Spanish, German, Irish, Norwegian, etc.), it definitely impacts the regional culture. One town I visited came into being after a Catholic priest advertised the area in a Catholic magazine in Germany during the mid 1800s, so the whole area is very Catholic and very German.
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