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Where a name sits

Why names matter in 1880: SSA name files begin

ks differed for identical résumés labelled Emily/Greg versus Lakisha/Jamal. No. Etymology and character charts re frequency data, not advice about who a child will become. What should I read next in this atlas? For mechan ase mispronunciation, teasing or form friction. Lieberson treated popularity as taste cycles, not virtue. Why Did a résumé study really show name bias? Yes. Bertrand and Mullainathan’s 2003 NBER paper (AER 2004) found U. The spelling on a form and the sound in a classroom can differ. For Why names matter the year of that difference is 1880, the line is “SSA name files begin,” and the figure is 2003. A popularity rank is not a personality score. U.S. Social Security later published given-name frequencies from 1880, making fashion visible as a time series.

Did a résumé study really show name bias? Yes. Bertrand and Mullainathan’s 2003 NBER paper (AER 2004) found U.S. callbacks differed for identical résumés labelled Emily/Greg versus Lakisha/Jamal. No. Etymology and character charts are historical or folk systems. They describe culture; they do not predict a life.

Uniqueness can aid recall and also increase mispronunciation, teasing or form friction. Lieberson treated popularity as taste cycles, not virtue. Why do governments care what you are called? Civil registration, inheritance, taxation and travel documents need a stable identifier. That is administration, not aesthetics.

Official files such as SSA, ONS and Statistics Korea count registrations. They are frequency data, not advice about who a child will become. What should I read next in this atlas? For mechanisms, open identity-and-names or sound-and-phonetics. For rules, open name-laws. For fashion, open name-trends.

The two places are the register and the nickname. 1880’s “SSA name files begin” splits them. The figure is 2003.1880

Figures to keep

Year of the rule
1880
Figure on the name
2003
Topic
Why names matter
Line in the record
SSA name files begin

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