Cross-correlations of American baby names

DOI10.1073/PNAS.1507143112zbMATH Open1359.62523arXiv1410.2771OpenAlexW2123256262WikidataQ35818666 ScholiaQ35818666MaRDI QIDQ2962287FDOQ2962287

Authors: Paolo Barucca, Jacopo Rocchi, Federico Ricci-Tersenghi, Enzo Marinari, G. Parisi 

Publication date: 16 February 2017

Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The quantitative description of cultural evolution is a challenging task. The most difficult part of the problem is probably to find the appropriate measurable quantities that can make more quantitative such evasive concepts as, for example, dynamics of cultural movements, behavior patterns and traditions of the people. A strategy to tackle this issue is to observe particular features of human activities, i.e. cultural traits, such as names given to newborns. We study the names of babies born in the United States of America from 1910 to 2012. Our analysis shows that groups of different correlated states naturally emerge in different epochs, and we are able to follow and decrypt their evolution. While these groups of states are stable across many decades, a sudden reorganization occurs in the last part of the twentieth century. We think that this kind of quantitative analysis can be possibly extended to other cultural traits: although databases covering more than one century (as the one we used) are rare, the cultural evolution on shorter time scales can be studied thanks to the fact that many human activities are usually recorded in the present digital era.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1410.2771

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Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Applications of statistics to social sciences (62P25)

Cites Work

• Statistical mechanics of complex networks
• Eigenvalues and Condition Numbers of Random Matrices
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names
• Further remarks on Darwinian selection and altruism

Cited In (1)

• ROLE OF NEUTRAL EVOLUTION IN WORD TURNOVER DURING CENTURIES OF ENGLISH WORD POPULARITY

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