Names as Cultural Mirrors

Measuring cultural values at scale remains a central challenge in the social sciences. We show when first names provide a powerful window into these underlying cultural orientations, and when they do not. We introduce a novel framework to detect which dimensions of culture are reflected in names and offer individual-level evidence of these cultural signals. Linking Danish administrative data with survey responses, we validate that first names capture parents’ cultural identities along four dimensions: religiosity, collectivism, nationalism, and traditionalism. We then present three applications. First, we develop new methods to extrapolate survey information to entire populations using first names. Second, leveraging full-count data on family links, names, demographics, and socio-economic characteristics, we analyze the determinants of naming choice and highlight factors that must be accounted for when using names as cultural indicators. Third, we document how the four cultural orientations have evolved over the past half century. Our findings demonstrate the potential and the limitations of names as indicators of cultural values and open new avenues for studying cultural change.