November 30, 2021

What is an “Asian Name?”

  • Names of Asian-American immigrants seem to follow a trend- they’re often generic-sounding white names that still seem to sound uncommon.
  • Kevins, Vivians, etc. often sound like they’re “Asian names” despite having European origins. Are there any names with European origins that are more popular amongst Asian immigrants, and what would explain this phenomenon?
  • Previous research- A study using data from the phone books.
    • The study used a list of the most common Chinese last names from Wikipedia and found full names that had these last names by getting matches from an online phonebook called ZabaSearch. The data was only collected from the Boston area due to limitations with the ZabaSearch phonebook that didn’t allow more than several hundred results to be shown at any given time.

Flaws in the Harvard names:

  • Small sample sizes- choosing to use an online phonebook that wouldn’t show more than 1000 results as a database limited the scope of the names gathered to only the Boston area. This is a significant weakness, as it only explores a small subset of the Asian immigrant population and is a poorer and less accurate data source. Additionally, while ZabaSearch, which is akin to other online phonebooks such as WhitePages, claims to use widely available public information, it is still a privately owned and operated business. I found little data to suggest that ZabaSearch is especially accurate or inaccurate, but the possibility remains that its data is incomplete. This overlocalized method can be skewed easily by immigration patterns, local cultural differences, and demonstrates significant sampling bias, and relying on a singular web source also seems like a potential source of inaccuracy.

Flaws in the Harvard names continued:

  • Top 100 Chinese surnames- this research used Wikipedia’s list of most popular Chinese surnames to find names of Asian people in Boston. This is a severely flawed method, as there are more groups of Asian immigrants that are from countries other than China. Additionally, relying on the most popular last names from the country or area of origin won’t necessarily produce the results we’re looking for. Wikipedia’s list is contemporary, while many Asian immigrants likely arrived here years, decades, or even generations ago. It is possible that some older immigrant groups include names that have fallen out of popularity in their home countries. These sample last names will likely be held by Asian people in the US, but to call this an accurate representation of all Asian-American immigrants would be an error.

Changes and improvements in my data:

  • I used data from the 2010 Census to find Asian last names. This data included all last names that occurred in the Census over 100 times, and it also included demographic data such as what race the people with these last names put down in the Census. To find Asian last names, I created a dataframe of all last names which were over 50% Asian.
  • Finding a wide-reaching database with first and last names was difficult. I wanted to avoid sampling bias as much as possible, so I tried to find a larger database that would be able to represent the general population more effectively. I initially tried locating phonebooks like the original research did, but most of them available online were focused on businesses or outdated by several decades. Additionally, city-wide birth records or directories seemed like a good choice, but most of these were only available in archival/undigitized formats. I finally tried finding voter registration records, but most states that offered them to the public required paid order forms, receiving data in mailed DVDs/CDs, or citizenship in the state. Upon further research I found that Ohio’s statewide voter records were available online and for free.

Franklin County, Ohio’s top Asian names

Franklin County, Ohio’s top Asian names

Explaining trends in the data:

  • For both male and female names, most of the popular English “Asian names” seem to be falling in popularity.
  • However, these lists include both English “assimilated” names and common ethnically-specific names.
    • Many ethnically-specific names are carried over from origin countries, and it seems like these have increased in popularity in the general population over the past few decades.
    • Thanks to discrimination and economic disadvantages often linked with less assimilated names, many have historically chosen more generic sounding names. My hypothesis is that these names tend to trend towards the older side because they are seen as more established, having been popular in the past.

Further Research:

  • State-wide data
  • What are the most “Asian” names? Name popularity differences between Asian and white populations for assimilated names
  • Linking names in the voter database with birth years- is age a confounding variable?
  • Popular names amongst different ethnic backgrounds