Ethnicity estimation using family naming practices

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.