How can you tell what nationality a person is by their name?

Question

Like when someone says their name.... you know it's an Italian, Polish, German.... How do you know?

Answer 1

I think that's a linguistics question. Maybe names that have 'ia' in them are generally Irish...so Brian, Liam, Ian etc...just sound linguistically like they come from that region, just because so many do.

DaQuan and DeShawn are mainly heard in African American circles, while Olowafemi is more from the continent of Africa.

Names that sound more 'nasal' and end in 'ng' seem to come from Asian places. See where I'm going with this?

Even so, there ARE African American's named Brian, and there are Europeans named Carlos...so you can't always tell what nationality the person descended from...but you may still know the name origin.

Last names are easier, but even so...there are a LOT of Scottish Armentrouts, and Armentrout is German. That happened due to marriages.

Answer 2

It depends on the name.

Hebert, Caouette, Lachance, and such are French names. I know this because I'm French, and they are common.

Murphy and Duffy are Irish; I've got Irish friends, and these are common Irish names.

It's similar for other nationalities. There are just some names that are common in those places, and many have similar enough composition so as to be able to make a good guess.

Answer 3

Actually you don't. Not only does Ellis Island uphold their reputation to change names they can't spell, people go to lawyers to change their names for psychological, criminal concealment or pronoucement difficuly reasons. Many people will retain their ethnic identification by choosing their grandparents' surnames or retaining the same initials for an alias such as Johann Sebastian becoming Joe Smith (welcome to the club) or Juanita DelCamino becoming Jane Doe as a murder victim, but if Bev Cvejkus (Swaykus) becomes Bev Tarantino, you get a nationality or race change and Joesph M'Gata switches from Afro-American to Swedish when he becomes Chuck Johnson. LMAO, can't tell the players without a program or their filed fingerprints. Ya gotta love it when Inger Svenborg is identified as the serial killer Jose M'buto as ya gotta know he/she played the system for several years before being identified positively as Elliott VanderSwank son of a homeless man whom dated this years debs in New York Society.

Answer 4

This doesn't indicate their nationality, it indicates their country of origin. Nationality means the nation in which you were born or in which you became a naturalized citizen. However, names from different countries have certain characteristics. I suppose we learn from example and experience the country of origin of these names.

Answer 5

Through experience. You can look it up on a website, but if you want to recognize it on your own, you must have lived in the U.S., UK etc.
For example, if a person has last name Giovanni, it sounds Italian. If it is Smith, he's English etc.

Answer 6

Some names you know are from certain countrys... For example you know someone with the name Hung is probably from China, or someone with the name Francoise is probably from France!! You just kinda know when you hear the name!!

Answer 7

You have to know the origin of that name and even then you may not be right in your guess.

Answer 8

i would of thought just the Cahill part would be Scottish, i dont know about the Yi part but

Answer 9

Can't. May have married it!

Answer 10

almost always no possible to