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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.
Compare bestowal rules, not just sounds.
A generation character and a saint’s name are different technologies for filling the given slot.
Regions
- United States — SSA given names
Longest popular time series; common-law flexibility on what else you use.
- England & Wales — ONS given names
Civil-registration counts, annual, dated.
- Korea — KOSTAT + 돌림자
Frequencies plus optional generation syllables as kin design.
- China — Generation names
Given names often include a cohort character from a family poem.
- Japan — Kanji given names
Jinmeiyō limits the written form; readings stay social.
- Iceland — List-constrained given names
The personal name is tightly regulated; the “surname” is often not a family name at all.
Laws
- Icelandic given-name list Iceland — High friction on the personal name itself.
- German Namensrecht Germany — Given names must not harm the child; gender marking has been a live legal issue.
- Japanese name-kanji rules Japan — The given name’s characters are legally bounded.
- U.S. state restrictions United States — Numerals, obscenity and length rules vary — generally lower friction than Iceland.
Worldwide, the given name is the part most likely to carry fashion — and the part most likely to be mis-ordered on a form.