- the etymology (or meaning) of names,
- establishing the first appearance of different names from historic records,
- the study of how names have evolved over the centuries,
- tracing ancestral lineage, or,
- providing a genealogical research service.
The Research Basis for Origins
OriginsInfo Ltd in the UK has developed Origins, a cultural classification tool, after extensive data collection and research. Through a research partnership with University College London and a project funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council, it was demonstrated that a person’s origin could be reasonably inferred from their name.
One of the outcomes from this work is the popular SurnameProfiler available at www.spatial-literacy.com.
Drawing on this experience, Professor Richard Webber internationalised the name pool and developed batch name evaluation software. This has resulted in the Origins product.
Research and Conference Papers
This section contains links to a series of papers and presentations relating to names analysis in Australia.
Cultural Diversity in Selected Australian Sports
Michael Dove (2007)
A New Approach to Understanding Cultural Diversity in Australia
Michael Dove and Richard Webber (2007)
Using Name Analysis to Achieve Health Outcomes for CALD Communities
Michael Dove (2008)
Using Name Analysis to Support Marketing to CALD Communities
Michael Dove (2008)
View this conference presentation
Look out for new ones as they are added
Journals and Seminars
Many of these papers are associated with Richard Webber, the creator of Origins, and his colleagues in the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College, London. Some have appeared in journals and others have been presented at conferences and seminars on names research.
Roots marketing: the marketing research opportunity
Clive Nancarrow, Julie Tinson and Richard Webber (forthcoming 2007)
The Quantitative Analysis of Family Names: Historic Migration and the Present Day Neighbourhood Structure of Middlesbrough, United Kingdom
Paul Longley, Richard Webber and Daryl Lloyd (2006)
Surnames as a quantitative evidence resource for the Social Sciences
Daryl Lloyd, Richard Webber and Paul Longley - 28th to 30th April 2004
Surnames, forenames and correlations, Tucker DK
Surnames and the search for regions, Schurer K
The how and why of a taxonomy of names, Webber R
Cornish migration, Webber R
Our Research Interest
The research interest of OriginsInfo is the statistical and geographic patterns that can be identified from comprehensive international registers of names.
We also support the research of our clients by linking the insights gained from our research with their customer lists, so they can apply the results and realise a business opportunity.We are especially interested in the parts of the world from which different names and naming practices have originated. We are also interested in how the current geography of names can reveal patterns of migration both within and between countries; and seek to describe and explain changing fashions in the naming of children, houses, and streets.
Sales of Origins software licences to government and commercial organisations provide funding for ongoing research and product development.
For clarity, OriginsInfo does not specialise in
