A recent study out of the University of Pennsylvania finds that the more common a boy's first name is, the less likely he is to commit crimes. And, the less popular a boy's first name is, the more likely he is to be a juvenile delinquent.
For example, Michael and David are pretty safe. Alec, Ernest, Ivan, Kareem and Malcolm are not.
There's obviously a lot (too much) to explore here, but I note that first names are more diverse than they used to be. Prior to 1950, approximately one-quarter of all boys and girls got one of the Top 10 names. On the boys side that meant James, Robert, John, Michael, David, William, Richard, Thomas, Charles and, surprisingly, Gary.
Today, only one-tenth of boys and girls have a Top 10 name. Uh-oh. Does that mean there will be proportionately more crime?
Of course, this study is going to have some built in bias. It is well known that our prison population is disproportionately (and disconcertingly) non-white, and of course, it is the whites who are the biggest factor in deciding what the most popular names are. It stands to reason, then, that the more unique names provided by African-American parents, and the foreign names provided by people who have immigrated from other countries, would gel with our disproportionate criminal treatment of minorities.
I, for one, love unique names. Sometimes they are funny, but sometimes they resonate. Plus, I have to admire parents who go "off the board" and make up a previously little-known name for a child. In a way, it's like art; a creative vision of how you think of the child, or who you want the child to be.
I wonder if you would be able to guess how many of the Top 10 boy names from 1950 are still in the Top 10 today (as of 2007). Without looking, I'll say six...the first six listed above. All very common names.
Wrong. These were the Top 10 boy names in 2007: Jacob, Michael, Ethan, Joshua, Daniel, Christopher, Anthony, William, Matthew and Andrew. Only two in common with the above list. And still a fairly boring set of names.
If you are curious, none of the Top 10 girls names in 2007 were in the Top 10 in 1950. Good riddance to the #1 name from 1950: Linda. I mean, a few Lindas here and there are okay, but as the MOST popular name in the entire country??? I'm also split on the #1 girls name from 2007: Emily. On the one hand, I love the name and like to hear it. On the other, I don't want it to be so watered down. After all, virtually every Emily I've ever met has been beautiful. Once the name is #1, there are bound to be some hideous people that end up with the name and take it down a notch.
In the year I was born, my name was #16, behind Anthony and ahead of Steven (take that, Steven!). In Florida anyway. In the nation, it was #9, just behind Richard and ahead of Thomas. That's disappointing...to be so ordinary. On the other hand, it looks like I won't be incarcerated. For newer Jeffs, not so lucky. It was #190 in 2007.
