Relating Humanities and Social Thought

Taylor & Francis

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, Jurgen 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 accompanyi.