Ryan,+Erin,+Josh

=Project Plan=
 * How does culture influence how parents choose their children's names?** How do American and Korean names differ in meaning and how do those meanings affect parents' decisions of naming their children?

**Hypothesis**
We Hypothesize that culture affects parents decisions to choose their children's names. Because countries have different meanings behind their words, we will strive to understand how parents select or combine different words to come up with names for their children. Throughout this process, we will determine whether or not parents are trying to achieve something as a byproduct of their children's name.

**Objective**
Our main object is to find out how whether culture, domestic traditions, and history affects a parent's decision to choose their children's name. We will also find trends in order to determine whether parents strive to achieve something collinear such as individualism and uniqueness for their child whence selecting a certain name.

**Method**
As a backdrop to this project, we will examine the general vibe of the meanings of both American and Korean names. The background information provided will include descriptions about the general origination of names in both countries, and whether or not they are literal or figurative. We will then research trends in what names are selected most, and make conclusions about why the most common and uncommon names in both countries seem to be stale. For real-time feeds of our hypothesis, we can also get insight from parents who have children, and ask them what went into their decision to choose a name for them. As an addendum to this plan, information about past shifts in name selection will also be used as reference to our research. We could also further prove our point in the statistics of those who change their names specifically because they were a partisan of some sort of spiritual movement, did not like the name they were initially given, or if they are simply trying to attract attention. The concept of surnames passed down by descendant may also allow us to levy interesting notions of how family names originated in the first place. This will be done by conducting research through a database of common surnames, and examining how those names were assigned to the earliest generation of that respective family. Furthermore, we can also research about the change from medieval to present names in both countries.

**Potential Errors**
Some of the information may be inaccurate or hard to find. For example, if we were to determine how the surnames of the earliest generation of a specific group were found, we would need to go through multiple degrees of prior research - this may result in inconsistencies of what we are trying to find out. I also think that the real-time feeds or surveys that will be conducted may not be nearly enough to make an overall conclusion to our hypothesis. We should therefore orchestrate this project so that more of the research is done online.

=**Scholarly Literature Review**=

__Ryan__

1. Parents Choosing More Unusual Baby Names Now By: Jeanna Bryner Published: 2010 http://www.livescience.com/9841-parents-choosing-unusual-baby-names.html

This first article goes into detail on why parents choose specific baby names as opposed to others. Research shows that parents are "choosing less common names for their kids," in order to make them stand out from others. Statistical analysis shows that during the 1950's, the average class off 30 students would contain at least one child named James, while in present day a generic name such as Jacob (most common name during the 1950s), would take up to six classes (of 30) to identify. This demonstrates an influx of various different names being assigned to children in order to place emphasis on "uniqueness and individualism." The article then goes on to make connections between name selection and narcissism.

2. How American Parents Choose Baby Names By: babycentre Published: N/A http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/naming/americannames/

The second article gives more background to the question we are trying to answer. The process of selecting a name is divided into multiple categories. It was found that 35% of parents surveyed said that the process of selecting a baby name was the best part of pregnancy. 57% of parents said that girls name were easier to choose than boys. In either case, it was stated that parents tend to choose names that are indicative of their gender's general traits. Nicknames are also given to their child in order to depict a chronic trait of their child. Half of these names are assigned prior to birth and the other half are given after. To perpetuate the statistic mentioned in the previous article, slightly over 35% of parents choose a classic name over one that is unique.

3. Why Are Parents Choosing Ever Stranger Baby Names? By: The Week Published: N/A http://theweek.com/article/index/212554/why-are-parents-choosing-ever-stranger-baby-names

The final article goes in depth about how names are selected in different states of America. Parents believe that a unique name will help the child stand out from the rest and become a responsible individual. Narcissism is associated with parents who select unique names for their child because they want their child to be special. This is specifically evident in the frontier states that have demonstrated to be "more culturally individualistic." This trend continues to develop internationally, not just in America.

__Erin Hannah__

Modernization Arrested: Child Naming and the Family in a Utah Town Journal of American History (1987)

A study done in Hingham, Massachusetts shows that more modern American families tend to not name their children after relatives. A history of naming shows that parents slowly stopped giving their children biblical names in the middle of the eighteenth century. After that, naming children for family slowly started to decrease as well, this trend is also seen in several other Massachusetts towns. Different places in the United States all show different trends, in the south parents were more likely to name their kids for the grandparents, in Massachusetts, parents were more likely to name them after themselves. In Virginia, parents were more likely to give their children biblical names. There are other factors in child naming, as white families stopped naming their children for their kin, black families were naming their children for kin more. The article continues to talk about how early Mormons in Utah, since they were not born Mormon, were less likely to name their children for kin, but after 1860 when all the Mormon parents had been Mormon for at least 10 years, over 2/3 of the first children born were named for their parents or grandparents while the rest of society was not naming their children for kin. “Rigid rules for naming children are today found mostly in tradition-bound societies; the modern American suburban family, of course, picks whatever names it fancies, generally oblivious to any rules.”

Naming Children in Middle Class Families American Sociological Review (1965)

A survey of 347 middle class mothers was done (951 children from the mothers) and it showed that kin was the major source of the name for their children. Boys were more likely to be named for family, the first born male was most likely to be named for family, and all other males after that were much less likely to be named for family. The family member that the child was named after was usually grand parent or great grandparent.

Child Naming, Religion, and the Decline of Marital Fertility in Nineteenth-Century America Journal of American History (1987)

In Puritan New England in the late 17th century, over 90% of the children born were given biblical names. The biblical names chosen were not random, they were chosen from people in the bible who were especially pious or had strong morals. The continued use of biblical names in later generations is most likely because they were naming their children after family members. In the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a dramatic decrease in using familial names. Although there is no data that shows these trends in any other areas, the south continued to use familial names through the 18th century more than anywhere else, which reflects their family lineage. As familial naming decreased, people were naming their children after different cultural things such as war heroes, kings, queens, politicians and even characters in novels.

** Works Cited ** Darlington, Roger. "The Use of Personal Names." Roger Darlington's World. Web. . Jayson, Sharon. "USA TODAY." USATODAY.COM. USA Today, 1 Dec. 2011. Web. . Rhymes, Besty. Naming as Social Practice: The Case of Little Creeper from Diamond Street 25.2 (1996): 237-60. JSTOR. Cambridge University Press. Web. . Rochman, Bonnie, Alice Park, and Maia Szalavitz. "Baby Name Game: How a Name Can Affect Your Child’s Future | Healthland | TIME.com." Time. Time, 2 Dec. 2011. Web. . Suddath, Claire. "Twilight Zone: Why Do Babies Have the Same Names?" Time. Time, 10 May 2010. Web. .

=** Feedback **=

The overall project is very interesting, but I feel that it is too difficult to get results unless more time is given. You're method is detailed and well thought out, but I'm just wondering how you will make this work. **(Kevin)**

As Mr. Duncan have said, how are u specifically going to make this happen? What are your actions as the experimenter? **(William)**

I think you have a good idea of what you are going to study for this project. However, I think you might be making an error in generalizing your data to fit the population. Just because a few Korean parents put special meaning in their children's names does not mean that the vast majority of Korean parents are inclined to name their children in a certain way to make their children live up to their names. I think you have chosen a difficult question to work with, because obtaining the necessary data for this project would definitely be challenging. Also, you would need to put in a lot of analysis to explain the perceived differences between Korean and American parents. Good luck! **(Lisa)**

"We could also further prove our point in the statistics of those who change their names specifically because they were a partisan of some sort of spiritual movement, did not like the name they were initially given, or if they are simply trying to attract attention."

I thought this sentence was a little confusing relating to the project idea. Reason why that is because I'm not sure how related spiritual movement might majorly affect the meaning of names since it appears to not be a common sight.

However, I do find the overall topic interesting and the way of conducting research to be detailed. One thing I think that might tie into the error is that on the internet, there are "multiple" meanings for 1 singular name even from the same culture so should be careful of picking the right one. **(Jasmine)**