Ethnicity estimation using family naming practices

PLoS One. 2018 Aug 9;13(8):e0201774. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201774. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

This paper examines the association between given and family names and self-ascribed ethnicity as classified by the 2011 Census of Population for England and Wales. Using Census data in an innovative way under the new Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service (SRS; previously the ONS Virtual Microdata Laboratory, VML), we investigate how bearers of a full range of given and family names assigned themselves to 2011 Census categories, using a names classification tool previously described in this journal. Based on these results, we develop a follow-up ethnicity estimation tool and describe how the tool may be used to observe changing relations between naming practices and ethnic identities as a facet of social integration and cosmopolitanism in an increasingly diverse society.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acculturation
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Algorithms*
  • Censuses
  • Cluster Analysis
  • England
  • Ethnicity* / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Marital Status
  • Middle Aged
  • Models, Psychological
  • Names*
  • Sex Factors
  • Wales
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by: 1. Economic and Social Research Council, Grant ES/L013800/1, ‘The Analysis of Names from the 2011 Census of Population’, PAL, https://esrc.ukri.org/; 2. Economic and Social Research Council, Grant ES/L011840/1, ‘Retail Business Datasafe / Consumer Data Research Centre’, PAL, https://esrc.ukri.org/; 3. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Grant EP/M023583/1, ‘UK Regions Digital Research Facility’, PAL, https://epsrc.ukri.org/; and 4. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also co-funded in kind through resourcing the use of its Secure Research Service (SRS; formerly the Virtual Microdata Laboratory, VML) facilities, https://www.ons.gov.uk/ (No grant number). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.