Family Naming Practices and Intergenerational Kinship Affiliations

The study of naming practices has captured the interest of researchers in a variety of related disciplines. Studies of names and naming have led to a body of literature suggesting that naming practices are infused with meaning and reflect emotional ties between family members. This study examined four research hypotheses related to family naming practices in an intergenerational sample of Mormon women. Ninety women from three generations of 30 families participated in the study. Through telephone interviews, each woman completed a survey designed to gather information about sources of children\u27s names, kinship affiliations, and religiosity. The information gathered from the surveys was analyzed using three statistical analyses: descriptive statistics, the chi square test of significance, and multiple regression. Data analyses indicated that there were no significant differences in naming practices in this group and that naming practices were similar across generations. Analyses of the relationship between family closeness and naming indicated that there was no significant relationship between closeness to the family of origin and naming for family members. However, closeness to the family of procreation was found to be inversely related to naming for relatives. Both of the religiosity items --level of church activity and frequency of church attendance for both husbands and wives--were found to be inversely related to naming children for relatives. Further data analyses revealed that child gender was the factor that contributed most heavily to whether or not children were named for relatives