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Quick answers
Why do names matter if they are “just labels”?
Labels are how institutions and strangers find you. A name is a retrieval key for records, introductions and memory — social technology, not magic.
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.
Do names determine character?
No. Etymology and character charts are historical or folk systems. They describe culture; they do not predict a life.
Is a unique name always better?
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.
Are baby-name charts destiny maps?
Official files such as SSA, ONS and Statistics Korea count registrations. They are frequency data, not advice about who a child will become.
A “first name plus last name” form is a North Atlantic habit, not a human default.
Worldwide pages in this atlas treat Spanish two surnames, Korean 돌림자, Japanese koseki and Icelandic lists as descriptions of systems — never as luck manuals.
Regions
- United States — SSA frequencies + common-law names
Fashion is public; legal change is state-by-state. Bias research (Emily/Lakisha) is also U.S.-centric.
- England & Wales — ONS baby names
The Office for National Statistics releases annual given-name counts from civil registration — ranks with years, not oracles.
- Korea — Hanja, 돌림자, KOSTAT
Statistics Korea publishes name frequencies. Generation syllables (돌림자) mark sibling sets; they are kinship design, not fortune-telling.
- Japan — Koseki and jinmeiyō kanji
The family register and the ministry’s name-kanji list decide what can be filed; readings remain a separate social layer.
- Iceland — Patronymics + committee
Given names are often drawn from an approved list; surnames typically change each generation (-son / -dóttir).
- Spanish-speaking world — Two surnames
Children commonly take a first surname from each parent; forms that allow only one surname lose information.
Laws
- Icelandic naming committee Iceland — Mannanafnanefnd reviews names for grammar and list fit — a famous high-friction system.
- German Namensrecht Germany — Civil-status rules constrain which names can be registered and how marriage changes family names.
- Japanese koseki / jinmeiyō Japan — Characters for given names must generally come from approved sets; the register is the legal source of truth.
- U.S. state name-change statutes United States — Court petitions, publication rules and fraud exceptions vary — everyday reach with uneven friction.
If a form cannot store the local system, the harm is administrative, not spiritual.