Using the SSA Website to Investigate Baby Naming Practices

Pre-Assignment Assessment: What is this showing?

Mark all that apply

• a. The percent of girls named Jayla who fall into different racial/ethnic groups

• b. The percent of girls in each racial/ethnic group who are named Jayla

• c. The rate at which girls in different racial/ethnic groups are named Jayla

• d. The racial/ethnic composition of girls named Jayla

Learning Goals

• You will learn why it is important to formulate research questions before analyzing data.

• You will use an interactive website tool to determine:

  • the sex composition of a babies with the name Taylor
  • the rates at which of boys and girls are named Taylor
  • state variation in the rank of a name of your choice

• You will interpret analyses.

• You will see the advantages and disadvantages of using an interactive website tool.

Research on Baby Naming Practices

• Lieberson, S., & Mikelson, K. S. (1995). Distinctive African American names: An experimental, historical, and linguistic analysis of innovation. American Sociological Review, 928-946.

• Sue, C. A., & Telles, E. E. (2007). Assimilation and gender in naming. American Journal of Sociology, 112(5), 1383-1415.

• Barucca, P., Rocchi, J., Marinari, E., Parisi, G., & Ricci-Tersenghi, F. (2015). Cross-correlations of American baby names. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(26), 7943-7947.

What do you think?

• What is the distinction between the concepts of sex and gender?

• How do you measure the popularity of a particular name in 2023?

• What percent of babies named Taylor in the 1990s were classified as male on their birth certificate?

• What percent of babies classified as male on their birth certificate in 2023 were named Taylor?

What is this showing?

What is this showing?

What is this showing?

Overview of SSA Data and Website

• Message from SSA Commissioner: Popular Baby Names (ssa.gov)

• Based on SSNs registered from 1880 to 2023

• Variables: state_abb (NY), sex (M), year (2000), name (Nicholas)

• Website tool includes every name that was a top 1000 name in any year

Exercise 1 link: Sex Composition of Babies Named Taylor

• What percent of babies named Taylor in the 1990s were classified as male?

• Under Select Decade enter 1990s and click Go

• Search for Taylor to find the numbers of boys and girls with this name.

• Calculate the percent of babies named Taylor who were classified as male. Also calculate the percent classified as female.

Exercise 2 link: Rates at Which Boys and Girls are Named Taylor

• What percent of boys born in 2023 were named Taylor?

• Under Popularity of a Name

  • Enter Taylor for Name

  • Enter 1900 & later for Years

  • Under Sex associated with name choose Male

  • Click Go

Exercise 3 link: State Variation in Baby Naming

• Under Top 100 names for a selected State and year of birth, enter the requested information for a hypothetical person (e.g., yourself or a family member) and click Go.

• Is their name on a list for the Top 100 names?

• Under Top 5 names by State for a selected year of birth, enter the same year of birth as in the previous step.

• Is the name of your hypothetical person on these lists? If so, for what states is their name ranked highest?

Post-Assignment Assessment: What is this showing?

Mark all that apply

• a. The percent of boys named Mateo who fall into different racial/ethnic groups

• b. The percent of boys in each racial/ethnic group who are named Mateo

• c. The rate at which boys in different racial/ethnic groups are named Mateo

• d. The racial/ethnic composition of boys named Mateo

Discussion

• Were the results for Exercises 1 and 2 consistent with your expectations?

• What do you think are the limitations of the SSA interactive tool?

• Why is it important to formulate research questions before analyzing data?

• What would you explore in future analyses of these data?

Other SSA Data Sets

• See data sets under this link: Beyond the Top 1000 Baby Names

  • National data (1 file per year of birth)

    • Kara,F,950

  • State-specific data (1 file per state)

    • OK,F,1967,Kara,15

• Search for other data on baby names under github.com.

Mapping Baby Names in R