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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

What if names were still occupations?

Many common names come from occupations. Smith, Miller, and Kruger are examples.

What if this were common today? What is someone born in, say, 1980 took the name of their father or mother's current occupation? What sort of names would we have?

There's a list of the 10 most common occupations here.

The following are the lists for women and men:

Title (1980 code, 1970 code) -- Women

Secretaries (313, 372)
Teachers, elementary (156, 142)
Bookkeepers (337, 305)
Cashiers (276, 310)
Office clerks (379, 394)
Managers, n.e.c. (019, 245) *
Waitresses and waiters (435, 915)
Sales workers (274, 283)
Registered nurses (095, 075)
Nursing aides (447, 925)


Title (1980 code, 1970 code) -- Men

Managers, n.e.c. (019, 245) *
Truck drivers, heavy (804, 715)
Janitors and cleaners (453, 903)
Supervisors, production (633, 441)
Carpenters (567, 415)
Supervisors, sales (243, 231)
Laborers (889, 780)
Sales representatives (259, 281)
Farmers (473, 801)
Auto mechanics (505, 473)

There are some obvious last names on this list, such as "Carpenter" and "Farmer". "Carter" is one who uses a cart, which might be seen slightly related to truck driver.

As the original authors note, only "manager" shows up on both lists.

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