Please call me John: name choice and the assimilation of immigrants in the United States, 1900–1930

Pedro Carneiro; Sokbae Lee; Hugo Reis

doi:10.1016/j.labeco.2019.101778

Please call me John: name choice and the assimilation of immigrants in the United States, 1900–1930

Pedro Carneiro, Sokbae Lee, Hugo Reis^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

The majority of immigrants to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century adopted American first names. In this paper we study the economic determinants of name choice, by relating the propensity of immigrants to carry an American first name to the local concentration of their compatriots and local labor market conditions. We find that high concentrations of immigrants of a given nationality discouraged members of that nationality from taking American names, in particular for more recent arrivals. In contrast, labor market conditions for immigrants do not seem to be associated with more frequent name changes among immigrants.

Original language	English
Article number	101778
Number of pages	18
Journal	Labour Economics
Volume	62
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2019.101778
Publication status	Published - Jan 2020

Keywords

Americanization
Culture
First name
Identity
Immigration JEL classification code
J15
N32

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.labeco.2019.101778Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

20226941Final published version, 860 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/32286Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Please call me John: name choice and the assimilation of immigrants in the United States, 1900–1930",

abstract = "The majority of immigrants to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century adopted American first names. In this paper we study the economic determinants of name choice, by relating the propensity of immigrants to carry an American first name to the local concentration of their compatriots and local labor market conditions. We find that high concentrations of immigrants of a given nationality discouraged members of that nationality from taking American names, in particular for more recent arrivals. In contrast, labor market conditions for immigrants do not seem to be associated with more frequent name changes among immigrants.",

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AB - The majority of immigrants to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century adopted American first names. In this paper we study the economic determinants of name choice, by relating the propensity of immigrants to carry an American first name to the local concentration of their compatriots and local labor market conditions. We find that high concentrations of immigrants of a given nationality discouraged members of that nationality from taking American names, in particular for more recent arrivals. In contrast, labor market conditions for immigrants do not seem to be associated with more frequent name changes among immigrants.

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KW - Culture

KW - First name

KW - Identity

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Please call me John: name choice and the assimilation of immigrants in the United States, 1900–1930

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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CUBE: Católica Lisbon Research Unit in Business and Economics

Cite this

Please call me John: name choice and the assimilation of immigrants in the United States, 1900–1930

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

CUBE: Católica Lisbon Research Unit in Business and Economics

Cite this