The only cultural good accessible to all but also required of all by the State, the first name is a strong marker of the sex, age and social and ethnic origin of the person who wears it. According to sociologist Baptiste Coulmont, changing one’s first name, however, allows one to escape this determinism by validating the identity that one has chosen for oneself.
Baptiste Coulmont is a lecturer in sociology at the University of Paris 8 Saint-Denis. He is the author of Sociology of first namesParis, La Découverte, coll. “Repères”, 2011, from Sex shops, a French story (with Irene Roca Ortiz), Editions Dilecta, 2007, and Contemporary trends in sociology (with Céline Béraud), PUF2008.