Ethnolinguistic and Gender Aspects of Latino Naming in Chicago: Exploring Regional Variation

Abstract

The naming behavior of ethnolinguistic minorities in the US can provide insight into a group’s cultural stances, language ideologies, and even language planning efforts. This study examines the names of Latinos in Chicago, with a particular focus on those born by the second generation. Building on previous studies of Latino immigrant naming practices in Texas and Los Angeles, a comparative analysis of the ethnolinguistic and gender-related patterns of a corpus of 386 names is performed. Results show a general alignment of name type preferences across Latino communities but suggest there may be site-specific trends in the popularity of individual names. In terms of gender divergence in assimilative naming, an additional perspective is provided to complement previous conflicting findings.

Keywords:

• Latino
• Hispanic
• anthroponyms
• Spanish
• ethnolinguistic minority
• personal names
• assimilation