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Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

Is your surname here?

    • 2,112 members
    • 2,031 studies
    • 7,227 surnames

General

Baker, Joanna The worldwide book of names London : Minerva, 1997 303p. ISBN 1861065264

Barry, H. ‘Computers and research on personal names’ Names 43 (1995), 315-324

Enzo Caffarelli (with Doreen Gerritzen), “Frequenze onomastiche. I prenomi del 2000: i più diffusi in 40 Paesi del mondo” (The most frequent names in the world at the end of 2nd Millennium), Rivista Italiana di Onomastica, VIIII:2,(2002), 631-710

Clark, Cecily ‘Personal-Name studies: bringing them to a wider audience’ Nomina 15 (1991-92), 21—34

Corkery, J.M. ‘Approaches to the study of English forename use’ Nomina 23 (2003), 55-74

Cottle, Basil Names Thames & Hudson, 1983
Notes: Reviewed in Nomina 7 (1983)

Dunkling, Leslie Facts on File Dictionary of First Names New York: Facts on File Publications, 1984.
Notes: ISBN 0871962748. Previously published as, Everyman’s dictionary of first names, 1983

Dunkling, Leslie First names first Sevenoaks: Coronet, 1978.
Notes: ISBN 0340230932. Originally published: New York : Universe books ; London : Dent, 1977

Dunkling, Leslie The Guinness book of names
Notes: Reviewed in Nomina 7 (1983)

Eshel, A. ‘On the frequency distribution of first names’ Names 49-1 (2001), 55-60

Galbi, D. ‘Long-term trends in the frequency of given names’ Names  (2003)
Notse: also available online: link to article at D Galbi’s website

Hahn, M. W. & Bentley, R. A. ‘Drift as a mechanism for cultural change: an example from baby names’  Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B
Notes: published online: link to article [link not accessible]
Abstract: In a paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society Biology Letters (13 June 2003), Matthew Hahn (Duke University) and Bentley tracked the comings and goings of the top 1000 most popular first names for babies (one list for girls’ names, another for boys’) as recorded by the U.S. Social Security Administration for each decade of the 20th century. The authors modelled the comings and goings of popular names by simply simulating what population geneticists call random drift – in their model, people randomly copy existing names from other babies, with some occasionally inventing new names. The model predicts closely how name popularity has been distributed over the last century. Some parents today who invent some original name for their baby could, through simple chance and random copying by others unwittingly be determining the names of thousands of children ten years from now.
The study has larger implications for how culture changes in general. Social scientists often assume a ‘reason’ something became popular, such as a special symbolic meaning or function. In many cases, however, things become popular by dumb luck and acquire their meaning afterward.

Lieberson, Stanley A matter of taste :how names, fashions and culture change Yale University Press, 2000.
Notes: ISBN 0-300-08385-8

Lieberson, Stanley and Freda B. Lynn ‘Popularity as a taste : an application to the naming process’ Onoma 38 (2003) : pp 235-276
Notes: Mainly USA, but some graphs of forename turover in Scotland c1950-1990

Merry, E. First names : the definitive guide to popular names in England and Wales 1944-1994 and in the regions 1994 London: HMSO, 1995

Rattar, W.W. ‘Some personal names in our place-names’ New Shetlander, 5 (1947), 8.
Notes: covers 55BC – 1947 in the Shetland Islands

Redmond, George Christian names in local and family history The National Archives, Feb 2004
Notes: ISBN 190336552x
Abstract: This sets the background for a local/family historian to study the development/retrenchment of types of forenames, based on a sound statistical footing.

Smart, V. ‘Personal names in England’ in: Name studies : an international handbook of onomastics (3 vols), edited by E. Eichler, G Hilty, H Loffler,H Steger and L Zgusta, Berlin, de Gruyter Vol 1 (1995-1996), 782-786

Steel, Donald John ‘The descent of Christian names’ Genealogists’ Magazine, 14:2 (1962), 34-43.
Notes: covers 600 – 1962

Wilson, S. The means of naming : a social and cultural history of personal naming in western Europe London: UCL Press, 1998
Notes: The standard monograph

Withycombe, E.G. ‘Christian names’ Genealogists’ Magazine, 10:2 (1947), 41-8.
Notes: covers 500 – 1947

Withycombe, E.G. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian names 3rd edn. Oxford, 1977.
Notes: Reviewed in Nomina 3 (1979)

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Modern British Surnames

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