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The growing number of given names as a clue to the beginning of the demographic transition in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandra Minello

    (Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD))

  • Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna

    (Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD))

  • Guido Alfani

    (Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi)

Abstract

Background: Cultural factors are usually considered to have played a crucial role in the reduction in neonatal and infant mortality during the demographic transition; however, so far historical demographers have failed to produce precise measurements of their impact. This article introduces a new measure: the number of given names. We show the existence of a connection between the number of names given to a newborn and neonatal survival in 19th-century Europe. Methods: The article makes use of information from the CHILD database, focusing on six urban parishes in northeastern Italy, 1816–1865. We carried out a continuous-time event history analysis looking at neonatal transition to death. Results: We show that the habit of assigning to the newborn a growing number of names spreads over time. Among the children with a single name neonatal mortality remains high and constant throughout the fifty years analyzed, while it halves among the children with two names and it decreases three times among children with three or more names. The kind of information we use is available also for other world areas, and we provide some evidence for this trend in France. Contribution: We interpret this as evidence of the spread of greater attention to children. We argue that it is possible to use the number of given names as an indicator of the spread of new practices and of the timing of their initial emergence, and as a measure of the ability of cultural factors to shape neonatal and infant mortality.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandra Minello & Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna & Guido Alfani, 2021. "The growing number of given names as a clue to the beginning of the demographic transition in Europe," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(6), pages 187-220.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:45:y:2021:i:6
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2021.45.6
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christine Bachrach, 2014. "Culture and Demography: From Reluctant Bedfellows to Committed Partners," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(1), pages 3-25, February.
    2. Gianpiero Dalla-Zuanna & Alessandro Rosina, 2011. "An Analysis of Extremely High Nineteenth-Century Winter Neonatal Mortality in a Local Context of Northeastern Italy [Une analyse des niveaux extrêmement élevés de mortalité néonatale hivernale au 1," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 27(1), pages 33-55, February.
    3. Samuel H. Preston & Michael R. Haines, 1991. "Fatal Years: Child Mortality in Late Nineteenth-Century America," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number pres91-1, June.
    4. Frans Willekens, 2013. "Chronological objects in demographic research," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 28(23), pages 649-680.
    5. Tommy Bengtsson & Cameron Campbell & James Z. Lee, 2004. "Life Under Pressure: Mortality and Living Standards in Europe and Asia, 1700-1900," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262025515, December.
    6. Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna & Fiorenzo Rossi, 2010. "Comparisons of infant mortality in the Austrian Empire Länder using the Tafeln (1851-54)," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 22(26), pages 813-862.
    7. Alessandra Minello & Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna & Guido Alfani, 2017. "First signs of transition: The parallel decline of early baptism and early mortality in the province of Padua (northeast Italy), 1816‒1870," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(27), pages 759-802.
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    Cited by:

    1. Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia & Gabriele Cappelli, 2024. "Missing girls in Liberal Italy, 1861–1921," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(1), pages 185-211, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mortality; cultural factors; historical demography; children; name;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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