Slate article on baby names
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| Mon, 04-11-2005 - 11:05am |
Thought people might be interested:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2116449/
snippet:
"Which is more dangerous: a gun or a swimming pool? How much does campaign spending really matter? What truly made crime fall in the 1990s? These are the sort of questions raised—and answered—in the new book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. In today's excerpt, the first of two, authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner explore the impact of a child's first name, particularly a distinctively black name. Tomorrow's excerpt shows how names work their way down the socioeconomic ladder.
It has been well established that we live in an age of obsessive, even competitive, parenting. The typical parent is led to believe that her every move will greatly influence her child's future accomplishments. This belief expresses itself in the first official act a parent commits: giving the baby a name. Many parents seem to think that a child will not prosper unless it is hitched to the right one; names are seen to carry great aesthetic and even predictive powers. "
enjoy!
Sarah

Thanks for sharing that - that was the most interesting thing I've read on here in weeks! maybe months!
because I work for the athletic dept of a high school I come across a lot of what that article was talking about. the top 20 "blackest", "whitest", and "crossover" lists were almost right on the mark.
here are the exceptions to those lists in my area:
Kathryn/Katerine is not rare among black girls at all, little ones maybe, but for those born in 60s-80s, not rare at all
I have come across an occasional black Amy and Heather, one Emily, in high school there now, daughter of an Emma, probably born in the late 50s.
on the flip side of that I am shocked that Alexus (any spelling) would be on the black lists. There must be literally dozens of white Alexis' in my area, not a single black one that I know of from any decade from the 60s to now. I know one white Nia, have heard of several white Jada's recently, and several white Kiara's recently.
On the crossover side I'm surprised to see Alexandria, that is definitely "all-white' here.
for the boys, I was amazed that Scott was on the "whitest" rather than the "crossover". Here it is a definite crossover. also surprised that Garrett was on the "whitest" - here it is a slight crossover, but more black.
very very interesting reading though. that was good.