Slovak Naming Patterns
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Christine Lawlor
Dec 13, 2017, 12:59:09 AM12/13/17
to Slovak Spot
Martin,
I have two questions. The attached link is to a page of Church records. The microfilm should be image 316 of 732. On the righthand side, entries 11,12, and 13 are all for female infants named Maria. Question one is, were there naming patterns as there are in other ethnicities, that is, was the firstborn daughter named Maria. Question two is: there isn't a lot of variety, why do the families keep using the same names over and over, the next generation, cousins with the same names, etc.? There were plenty of names in the Bible that they would have heard of at Church.
I don't know why the above isn't a hyperlink, but I tested cut and paste and it worked w/that method.
Christine
Martin
Dec 13, 2017, 11:40:57 AM12/13/17
to Slovak Spot
were there naming patterns as there are in other ethnicities, that is, was the firstborn daughter named Maria. Question two is: there isn't a lot of variety, why do the families keep using the same names over and over, the next generation, cousins with the same names, etc.? There were plenty of names in the Bible that they would have heard of at Church.
It's a difference between now, both here and there, and then, both here and there, Christine. While people did not go through the Bible to find names for their children, it has been the source of the most popular first names in Europe for centuries. The #1 men's name has been John in Britain, Ján in Slovakia, and its versions in other countries/cultures. The same with women's #1, Mary, Mária.
What's happened since the 19th century, both in the U.S. and Slovakia, is a growing inclusion of a wider variety of names, and continual shifts in what the most popular names are (often influenced by the media -- TV series, movies, personalities). Such shifts took place in the 19th century, too, but were minor by comparison to today. For instance, the occurrence of the name František, nickname Fero, was influenced by the name of Emperor Francis Joseph, and real as well as reconstructed historical Slovak/Slavic names began to be given to children with growing frequency as a result of ethnic activism, the "National Revivals" of the 19th century, just as "national" names were gaining frequency among the Slovaks' neighboring groups (Germans, Hungarians...), too.
For instance, in the 1950s, over 60% boys and over 50% girls in the U.S. were given one of the 50 most popular names for each gender. That commonality in names has since dropped to under 35% and 25% respectively.
As to naming one child or the oldest child after one of the parents, it was not a dominant trend. For instance in Germany, it was the case with about a quarter of the oldest children in 1910, while only 3% of the children are named so there today. There are no such detailed historical statistics for Slovakia, but the changes in and range of the names given to children in Slovakia in recent decades indicate the same growing dispersion by comparison to the distant past.
What's happened since the 19th century, both in the U.S. and Slovakia, is a growing inclusion of a wider variety of names, and continual shifts in what the most popular names are (often influenced by the media -- TV series, movies, personalities). Such shifts took place in the 19th century, too, but were minor by comparison to today. For instance, the occurrence of the name František, nickname Fero, was influenced by the name of Emperor Francis Joseph, and real as well as reconstructed historical Slovak/Slavic names began to be given to children with growing frequency as a result of ethnic activism, the "National Revivals" of the 19th century, just as "national" names were gaining frequency among the Slovaks' neighboring groups (Germans, Hungarians...), too.
For instance, in the 1950s, over 60% boys and over 50% girls in the U.S. were given one of the 50 most popular names for each gender. That commonality in names has since dropped to under 35% and 25% respectively.
As to naming one child or the oldest child after one of the parents, it was not a dominant trend. For instance in Germany, it was the case with about a quarter of the oldest children in 1910, while only 3% of the children are named so there today. There are no such detailed historical statistics for Slovakia, but the changes in and range of the names given to children in Slovakia in recent decades indicate the same growing dispersion by comparison to the distant past.
Regina Haring
Dec 13, 2017, 6:31:10 PM12/13/17
to slova...@googlegroups.com
My mother's was a family of seven, and my father's a family of nine.
Both had a Mary, Joseph, Sue, Elizabeth, Andrew, and Edward. I had a brother, father, grandfather, two uncles and a brother-in-law all named Andrew!--
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Martin
Dec 13, 2017, 10:03:43 PM12/13/17
to Slovak Spot
Both had a Mary, Joseph, Sue, Elizabeth, Andrew, and Edward. I had a brother, father, grandfather, two uncles and a brother-in-law all named Andrew!
A nice example, Regina. By coincidence and although the year isn't over yet, Slovakia's central registry just listed the most frequent names given to children in 2017 (in descending order):
Sofia, Nina, Natália, Viktória, Ema, Nela, Eliška, Kristína, Laura, Tamara.
Jakub, Adam, Samuel, Michal, Tomáš, Martin, Filip, Oliver, Matej, Matúš.
By comparison, the overall frequency of first names, i.e., counting the whole population, is more traditional:
Mária, Anna, Zuzana, Katarína, Eva, Jana, Helena, Alžbeta, Marta, Monika.
Ján, Jozef, Peter, Štefan, Milan, Martin, Michal, Miroslav, Ladislav, František.
And one of Slovakia's largest banks reports that the most frequent first names among its mortgage borrowers are Peter, Jozef, and Martin. The most frequent woman's name comes at #9 -- Zuzana.
Sofia, Nina, Natália, Viktória, Ema, Nela, Eliška, Kristína, Laura, Tamara.
Jakub, Adam, Samuel, Michal, Tomáš, Martin, Filip, Oliver, Matej, Matúš.
By comparison, the overall frequency of first names, i.e., counting the whole population, is more traditional:
Mária, Anna, Zuzana, Katarína, Eva, Jana, Helena, Alžbeta, Marta, Monika.
Ján, Jozef, Peter, Štefan, Milan, Martin, Michal, Miroslav, Ladislav, František.
And one of Slovakia's largest banks reports that the most frequent first names among its mortgage borrowers are Peter, Jozef, and Martin. The most frequent woman's name comes at #9 -- Zuzana.
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