Gifting a baby with a personal name is a universal cultural phenomenon that is attached with a profound symbolical value.

Although the pool of potential names is theoretically infinite, the range of names traditionally used has been quite limited because the choice of a specific name was bound by existing cultural practices.

In historical Europe, for instance, many children were named after their close relatives or cherished religious figures. The weight of tradition therefore implied that many individuals shared the same names, a circumstance that was transmitted across generations.

Parents had nonetheless the last word and the degree to which they conform to those practices speaks a great deal about their cultural identity and preferences. Indeed, the stock and variety of names expanded, slowly and unevenly, from the 18th century onwards as the importance of religious considerations and the need to transmit names within families declined in response to the underlying societal changes that Europe was undergoing.

Naming practices thus reflect the cultural context underpinning a particular society, together with the values and beliefs of the parents themselves, thus offering a unique opportunity to study cultural variation, persistence and change.

Likewise, given that names provide crucial insights about parental values and beliefs, they can shed light on how cultural factors may have influenced the way parents raised their children (i.e. the care they devoted to their children, the importance they attached to education, etc.).

This project therefore uses the information contained in names as expressions of parental values and beliefs, as they signal the importance that families attached to religious values, family ties, political beliefs, and gender roles, among other dimensions.

Relying on individual-level information contained in parish and civil registers and population censuses (and other historical sources), the project seeks to:

1. Trace the relative importance of different naming practices in Europe (circa 1750-1950).
2. Analyse the dimensions that explain the variation in naming practices, not only across regions and over time, but also between families.
3. Explore how culture helps shedding light on how parents raised their children and therefore shaped their individual outcomes (i.e. infant and child mortality, education, heights, marriage age, etc.).