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A Sociobiological Analysis of Namesaking Patterns in 322 American Families 1
Author(s) -
McAndrew Francis T.,
King Jennifer C.,
Honoroff Lora R.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.tb00245.x
Subject(s) - sociobiology , kinship , psychology , birth order , parental investment , developmental psychology , order (exchange) , social psychology , demography , genealogy , sociology , offspring , history , anthropology , population , pregnancy , finance , biology , economics , genetics
A study of the naming patterns used for 648 children in 322 American families provided mixed support for a number of hypotheses that are derived from the propositions that namesaking (the naming of a child after another person) functions as advertisement of genetic kinship when it may be in doubt and as a strategy to procure future investment of resources from the father and other relatives. Males and second‐born children with older sisters were more likely to be namesaked, and birth order was a significant predictor of the probability of being namesaked for males. First‐borns were more likely to be named after a patrilineal relative, but there was no tendency for children born early in a marriage to be namesaked more frequently than children born after many years of marriage. Parents who themselves were namesaked were more likely to namesake their own children.