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Quick answers
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.
If they published a method and a year, they belong here. If they sold a lucky forename, they do not.
Read these voices as maps of a time and place — not as a fortune for Given names.
People
- Stanley Lieberson 1933–2018 · United States — Forename fashion
The standard sociological account of given-name taste.
- Patrick Hanks 1940–2024 · United Kingdom — Dictionary of First Names
Etymology as history for given names.
- Marianne Bertrand b. 1970 · Belgium / U.S. — Forename audit
Emily as experimental treatment.
- Cleveland Kent Evans b. 1953 · United States — ANS / popularity
Public education on U.S. given-name charts with years attached.
- Statistics Korea name team ongoing · Korea — KOSTAT files
The official Korean given-name time series.
- ONS Vital Statistics ongoing · England & Wales — Official counts
The honest source for those jurisdictions.
The given name is a public statistic and a private gift. Good voices keep both facts.