Jackie: From Nickname to Unisex Name

 How does a nickname become a popular unisex last name? Jackie is am English nickname that originated from the French names Jacqueline and Jacques. This paper explores the androgyny of Jackie through the critical comparison of other unisex names and its famous influences.
 Firstly, I decided to compare Jackie to other unisex names to search for general trends in time series and gender. I used the names Stevie and Ollie because the gender switch looked similar to Jackie. (Yau, 2021) I chose Marion and Jessie because they are some of the most unisex names. (Yau, 2021) When looking at the female correlation graph, it should be noted that Marion and Ollie visually correlate with one another. Jackie, Jessie, and Stevie appear to have a similar correlation pattern, but start at different times. In the larger plot, Stevie and Jackie have a -.836 correlation, while Jessie and Jackie have a -.044. It shows how correlation accurately account for correlation we visually see in unisex names.

  library(GGally)
  ggpairs(SSA_some_wide.df[,-1])

 For the male correlation,Jackie visually correlates with Stevie. However, all names have a negative correlation from the 1980s to 2000. We note the time lag again with Jackie and Stevie in the next graph, when their similar peak still gives them a .148 correlation. Marion is the closest correlation to Jackie with a weak .251. due to a similar positive correlation in the 1800s. Through these comparisons we see how unisex names tend to trend similarly, such as the rapid drop in popularity after their peak. It reflects people’s views on unisex names as a unique until they become too commonly used.

  library(GGally)
  ggpairs(SSA_some_wide.df[,-1])

 Also, although unisex names tend to lack a direct cause for dips and peaks, sometimes they are impacted by famous celebrities or characters. (Yau, 2021) I decided to make a list of famous male and female Jackie’s to see how they affected the gender trends of Jackie. I also included whether the name was a given name or nickname to see which type was more common between famous Jackie’s. As expected, Jackie Kennedy and Jackie Robinson maintained a strong influence on their 1954 and 1963 peaks, which influenced the switch in gender. The fluctuating small peaks of the 1970s to the 2000s were attributed to people such as Jackie Chan or Jackie DeShuana. The variety of famous men and women kept the group neutral. What I noted is that most famous Jackie’s are using their nickname, with Jack and Jacqueline being the most common given name. The rarity of a “true” Jackie connects to the decreasing popularity of Jackie seen in the correlation graph. Perhaps Jackie as a nickname is much more popular now than as a given name.This could be attributed to parents shifting away from tradition to more unique names that do not have variants. However, since there are no complete databases ranking the popularity of nicknames, Jackie would appear to be statistically decreasing without context.
knitr::kable(biographies.df)
name gender DOB name_type fame_acclaim
Jackie Gleason M 1916-02-16 nickname: Herbert actor in The Jackie Gleason Show 1950s-1970s
Jackie Wilson M 1934-06-09 nickname: Jack soul singer, solo career in 1957 with 50 charted songs
Jackie Chan M 1954-04-07 nickname: Chan martial artist actor known for 1990s action movies
Jackie Robinson M 1919-01-31 nickname: Jack First African American Major League Baseball Player of 1950s
Jackie Kennedy Onassis F 1929-07-28 nickname: Jacqueline United States first lady 1961-1963
Jackie Joyner Kersee F 1962-03-03 nickname: Jacqueline 1980s-1990 American Olympic Track and Field athlete
Jackie DeShannon F 1941-08-21 nickname: Sharon Singer-songwriter with multiple hits in the 60s
Jackie Burkhart F 1960-09-24 name fictional character from That 70s Show 1998-2006
 Furthermore, I analyzed Jackie to its male, female, and unisex ethnic counterparts to try to pinpoint an origin to Jackie. For Males, Jackie became slightly common in 1980, and became sightly more popular than Jacques in 2010. France still tends to favor gendered names, probably due to its cultural connection to the French Language.For females, Jackie and Jacqueline maintain similar patterns of popularity, but Jackie has started to increase since 2010. The creation of Jackie could be attributed to anglicization, since Jackie is a unisex English name that does not follow French masculine/feminine labels. Jacqui was a plausible option, but the data shows that the alternate unisex spelling was never really popular in France. Times of modernity, where immigration is increased, could’ve brought anglicized french names back to France.
 In conclusion, Jackie’s status as a unisex name in a combination of popularity, naming conventions and ethnic origin. Its unique status as name and nickname is one that needs to be explored more.

French Male Plot

French Female Plot

Bibliography

Nathan Yau, “The Most Gender-Switched Names in US History.” Flowing Data, Accessed
| April 25, 2021, https://flowingdata.com/2019/08/28/gender-switched-names/.

Nathan Yau, “The Most Unisex Names in US History.” Flowing Data, Accessed April 25,
| 2021, https://flowingdata.com/2013/09/25/the-most-unisex-names-in-us-history/.