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Given names

The name you are given — saints, generation syllables, fashion files and the gap between a legal forename and what people actually shout.

A given name is the personal slice of a naming system: the part that usually distinguishes siblings, not the inheritable family tag.

It is “given” by parents, godparents, elders or a ritual — and then given again every time a teacher, clerk or algorithm decides how to say it.

This page stays with forenames: how they are chosen, counted and constrained. Surnames, nicknames and usernames have their own chapters.

Also calledForename / first name
Fashion filesSSA · ONS · KOSTAT
Kin optionGeneration syllable
Bias studyEmily / Lakisha
Not a forecastEtymology ≠ trait
OrderNot always first

Profile

Identity weight
88
Trend volatility
70
Legal friction
40
Cultural depth
75
Practical difficulty
52
Everyday reach
90

Seven chapters

History

How personal given names became countable, fashionable and legally bounded.

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Science

Demography, fashion theory and audit studies of given names.

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Craft

Choosing or using a given name as a practical string.

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Culture

How cultures stage the giving of a personal name.

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Trends

Given-name fashion is one of the best-documented cultural time series we have.

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Voices

Demographers and writers who took given names seriously as data.

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Worldwide

Given-name systems that are not “first name on the left.”

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Frequently asked questions

Is a given name always the first name?
No. In much of East Asia the family name is written first. “Given” means bestowed, not left-to-right order.
Where can I see how common a given name is?
SSA (U.S. from 1880), ONS (England and Wales) and Statistics Korea publish counts. Always keep the year on the citation.
Do given names show race or class?
They can be used as signals. Bertrand and Mullainathan showed U.S. employers treating forenames as racial cues on otherwise identical résumés.
What is a generation given name?
In Chinese practice a shared character marks a sibling or cousin cohort. Korean 돌림자 is a related kin design — description, not fortune-telling.
Can a country ban a given name?
Yes. Iceland’s committee, German Namensrecht and Japan’s kanji lists all constrain what may be filed.
Are middle names given names too?
Usually yes — additional given names. Some systems treat them as optional; others expect several.
Did Mary really dominate U.S. girls’ lists?
In SSA historical files, Mary was the most frequent U.S. girls’ name for much of 1880–1961 — a dated band, not a live #1 claim.
Should I pick a name from last year’s leaderboard?
Only if you like that fashion. Lieberson treated peaks as taste, not quality.

Open the name lab →