Full Citation

Title: Black and White Names: Evolution and Determinants

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2022

ISBN:

ISSN: 0022-0507

DOI: 10.1017/S0022050722000389

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: Black and white Americans tend to have different names today. This divide was long in the making. I show that the racial divergence in naming patterns was a gradual and continuous process spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I then exploit the migration of households from the South to determine if place matters for name choices. Children born after their households moved receive names that are less black or more white than their older siblings, a difference that widens with time spent outside the South. This may reflect the cultural assimilation of households rather than a response to economic incentives.

Url: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/black-and-white-names-evolution-and-determinants/2154C64A041F32B34BA66C3EFDBFE323#

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Tan, Hui Ren

Periodical (Full): The Journal of Economic History

Issue: 4

Volume: 82

Pages: 959-1002

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Race and Ethnicity

Countries: