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Please Call Me John: Name Choice and the Assimilation of Immigrants in the United States, 1900-1930

Author

Listed:
  • Carneiro, Pedro

    (University College London)

  • Lee, Sokbae

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)

  • Reis, Hugo

    (Banco de Portugal)

Abstract
The vast majority of immigrants to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century adopted first names that were common among natives. The rate of adoption of an American name increases with time in the US, although most immigrants adopt an American name within the first year of arrival. Choice of an American first name was associated with a more successful assimilation, as measured by job occupation scores, marriage to a US native and take-up of US citizenship. We examine economic determinants of name choice, by studying the relationship between changes in the proportion of immigrants with an American first name and changes in the concentration of immigrants as well as changes in local labor market conditions, across different census years. We find that high concentrations of immigrants of a given nationality in a particular location discouraged members of that nationality from taking American names. Poor local labor market conditions for immigrants (and good local labor market conditions for natives) led to more frequent name changes among immigrants.

Suggested Citation

  • Carneiro, Pedro & Lee, Sokbae & Reis, Hugo, 2016. "Please Call Me John: Name Choice and the Assimilation of Immigrants in the United States, 1900-1930," IZA Discussion Papers 9792, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9792
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Timothy J. Hatton & Zachary Ward, 2024. "International Migration in the Atlantic Economy 1850–1940," Springer Books, in: Claude Diebolt & Michael Haupert (ed.), Handbook of Cliometrics, edition 3, pages 507-535, Springer.
    2. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Boustan, 2017. "Immigration in American Economic History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1311-1345, December.
    3. Fouka, Vasiliki & Mazumder, Soumyajit & Tabellini, Marco, 2021. "From Immigrants to Americans: Race and Assimilation during the Great Migration," IZA Discussion Papers 14371, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Tabellini, Marco & Fouka, Vasiliki & Mazumder, Soumyajit, 2020. "From Immigrants to Americans: Race and Assimilation during the Great Migration," CEPR Discussion Papers 14396, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Shamsuddin,Mrittika & Acosta,Pablo Ariel & Battaglin Schwengber,Rovane & Fix,Jedediah Rooney & Pirani,Nikolas, 2021. "Integration of Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants in Brazil," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9605, The World Bank.
    6. Leonardo Monasterio, 2017. "Surnames and ancestry in Brazil," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(5), pages 1-15, May.
    7. Mazumder, Soumyajit, 2019. "From Immigrants to Americans: Race and Assimilation during the Great Migration," OSF Preprints eka5y, Center for Open Science.
    8. Santiago Pérez, 2019. "Southern (American) Hospitality: Italians in Argentina and the US during the Age of Mass Migration," NBER Working Papers 26127, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Platt Boustan & Katherine Eriksson, 2016. "Cultural Assimilation during the Age of Mass Migration," NBER Working Papers 22381, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Alexander, Rohan & Ward, Zachary, 2018. "Age at Arrival and Assimilation During the Age of Mass Migration," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(3), pages 904-937, September.
    11. Zhenxiang Chen & Xiaoguang Fan, 2022. "Intention and Perceived Control: International Migrants’ Assimilation in China," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 2075-2100, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    identity; first name; culture; Americanization; immigration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

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