The Name Game: Cultural Modernization and First Names [Hardcover]

Jurgen Gerhards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2005 | ISBN-10: 076580297X | ISBN-13: 978-0765802972

From decade to decade, significant changes occur in the choice of first names for children. One-time favorites are perceived as old fashioned and replaced by new choices. In The Name Game, Jrgen Gerhards shows that shifts in the choice of names are based on more than arbitrary trends of fashion. Instead, he demonstrates, they are determined by larger currents in cultural modernization.

Using classic tools of sociology, Gerhards focuses on changing atterns of first names in Germany from the end of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth, using these as an indicator of cultural change. Among the influences he considers are religion, and he notes a trend toward greater secularization in first names. He considers the extent to which Christian names have been displaced, and whether the process is similar for Catholics and Protestants. He traces the impact of different political regimes (Second Empire, Weimar Republic, Third Reich, West Germany, East Germany) and the accompanying rise and fall of German nationalist sentiment. He also investigates the dissolution of the family as a unit of production, and its impact on the naming of children. He shows that the weakening of traditional ties of religion, nation, and family has led to greater individuation and greater receptivity toward foreign first names. Gerhards concludes with a discussion of whether the blurring of gender and sex roles is reflected in the decrease of gender-specific names.

Written in a lucid, approachable style, The Name Game will be of interest not only to sociologists and cultural studies specialists, but also non-professionals, especially parents who are interested in reflecting on the process of name giving.

Jrgen Gerhards is professor of sociology at the Free University of Berlin. He was a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin and at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences. He is co-author with Myra Marx Ferree, William A. Gamson, and Dieter Rucht of Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is an enormously interesting and thought-provoking book. Next to historians of Germany and social theory, anybody who has children (and worried about naming them) will find countless nuggets of inspiration in this volume." ---Jessica Gienow-Hecht, Journal of Social History

Product Details

• Hardcover: 156 pages
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076580297X
• ISBN-13: 978-0765802972
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,587,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.