Baby names follow social order, says economist

dr. what · Post by **dr. what** » 2005-05-17 09:32am

Not exactly 'news' per se, but still rather fascinating....

linky

Aviva, Sumner may become common by 2015

OTTAWA - Madison, meet your snooty successors Clementine and Linden.

Little Clemmie and Linden are the latest winners in the name game, while Madison is steadily losing cachet as a name for "high-end" baby girls born in California.

And if a University of Chicago economist is correct, Clementine and Linden will have plenty of company by 2015.

Steven Levitt, author of the best-seller Freakonomics (which looks at the hidden incentives behind all sorts of behaviour), says once a name catches on among high-income, highly educated parents, it starts working its way down the socioeconomic ladder.

Stephanie and Brittany started out as high-end names, but then a pattern emerged, Mr. Levitt said. "For every high-end baby named Stephanie or Brittany, another five lower-income girls received those names within 10 years."

If the pattern holds, an unusual name, such as Linden, will be solidly mainstream by 2015.

"As a high-end name is adopted en masse, high-end parents begin to abandon it," explains Mr. Levitt. "Eventually, it is considered so common that even lower-end parents may not want it, whereby it falls out of the rotation entirely."

In building his theory, Mr. Levitt examined birth-certificate information for every child born in California since 1961-- more than 16 million births. Besides standard items such as name, gender and race, the data included parents' zip code -- a telling economic indicator -- and their level of education.

Using a pair of "smart" databases, Mr. Levitt has extracted a sampling of today's high-end names which he feels are bound to become tomorrow's mainstream names.

Based on the California data, he expects the most popular girl's names of 2015 will include Aviva, Flannery and Linden.

Mr. Levitt's forecast for the most popular boys names of 2015 includes Aldo, Bennett, and Finnegan and Sumner.

Before you scoff, says Mr. Levitt, "Ask yourself this: Do any of them seem more ridiculous than Madison might have seemed 10 years ago?"

Surprisingly, Mr. Levitt found that celebrities have only a slight effect on baby's names.

"As of 2000, the pop star Madonna had sold 130 millions records worldwide but hadn't generated even 10 copycat namings -- in California, no less."

He says many parents seem to believe that a child will not succeed "unless it is hitched to the right name." Names are seen "to carry great aesthetic or even predictive powers."

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2005-05-17 12:05pm

The scary thing is I believe the gentleman's findings would be similar in West Virginia as well. I can tell you that the number of "Brittany" variations has steadily increased over the last 8 years.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2005-05-17 07:17pm

If these "high end" folks new what Madison meant I bet there's no way they'd name their kid that. And for those who are wondering it means "son or daughter of a soldier" and yes my daughter is named Madison.

SPOOFE · Post by **SPOOFE** » 2005-05-17 07:43pm

That's really fascinating, but not entirely surprising. I mean, anyone familiar with Dr. Seuss would be able to talk about the constant contest between the Haves and the Have-Nots.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2005-05-17 08:53pm

"My name is Aldo, and this is my sister, Linden."

Christ, I'm going to have to fight not to snicker while I call roll.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2005-05-17 09:39pm

Finnegan? Doom your son to a life of renfairs? Madness

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2005-05-17 10:04pm

Flannery is a last name, and Linden is the street I live off of. They can't be fucking first names, I'm sorry.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2005-05-17 10:07pm

Funny thing is that in a year or two you'll see those 'high end' names on titty bar signs.

Now Performing Live w/Lap Dances: Brittany, Linden, Nicole, Nichelle, and Clementine!

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2005-05-17 11:31pm

I'm giving my kid an exotic name. How does Buggles sound to you?

Max · Post by **Max** » 2005-05-18 12:11am

If I ever have a kid.. it's going to be named Max (which is my middle name).

Simple, easy, people won't laugh. *crosses fingers*

The Spartan · Post by **The Spartan** » 2005-05-18 12:13am

Hmmm... I was considering naming my (future) son either Isaac Albert A. or Freddy Michael A. Would that be too obvious?

The A. is my last initial. In case it wasn't obvious.

Max · Post by **Max** » 2005-05-18 12:21am

So you are going with either a double famous scientist name, or a double famous horror monster name? I like em both!

The Spartan · Post by **The Spartan** » 2005-05-18 12:26am

Well actually the second one was for the initials: FMA. Or F=ma, force equals mass times acceleration. It's Newton's Second Law of Motion.

Max · Post by **Max** » 2005-05-18 12:37am

That's quite witty.. makes me appreciate it even more now!

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2005-05-18 12:47am

Based on the California data, he expects the most popular girl's names of 2015 will include Aviva, Flannery and Linden.

Mr. Levitt's forecast for the most popular boys names of 2015 includes Aldo, Bennett, and Finnegan and Sumner.

What the fuck is up with this shit? What's wrong with Joe? Mike? Mary? David? Katie? Karen? Kristen? Peter? Nathan? Tom? Sue? Ashley?

Goddammit, if I ever have kids and I'm wealthy I'm going to name the female Propecia and the male Ziggurat. That's the only way they'll fit in at the rate this shit is going.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-05-18 12:54am

Wow, a researcher who wrote a whole paper to describe the fact that yuppies like to choose fashionable chic-sounding names for their kids: something that every normal parent has already noticed about his idiot yuppie neighbours.

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-05-18 01:06am

This thread makes me want to recite George Carlin's hilarious rant on HBO about pussified, yuppie male names (Kyle, Todd, Tucker, Brett, Blane etc.) and how 10 times out of 10 Nick, George and Jim could kick the living shit out of Todd Kyle and Tucker.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2005-05-18 01:09am

This doesn't explain the names of lower income black females. I'm still not sure whose ass those get pulled from.

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-05-18 01:10am

Wicked Pilot wrote:This doesn't explain the names of lower income black females. I'm still not sure whose ass those get pulled from.

LOL like the two sisters who were named Orangejello and Lemonjello (emphasis on "ange" as awnnnnnggge and "lemon" as "lemawwwn" respectively)?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-05-18 01:22am

Wicked Pilot wrote:This doesn't explain the names of lower income black females. I'm still not sure whose ass those get pulled from.

Those names are the result of illiterate American-born welfare recipients trying to sound "african".

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2005-05-18 02:04am

My friend maintains that he'll name his first two kids Khaela Mensha Khaine and Lysander.

I've always been partial to Gaius and Decius.

Anhaga · Post by **Anhaga** » 2005-05-18 04:24am

I've always liked the hellenic names- Sophia, Zoe, Helen, Basil, Theodore and the like

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2005-05-18 09:18am

Vympel wrote:
Wicked Pilot wrote:This doesn't explain the names of lower income black females. I'm still not sure whose ass those get pulled from.
LOL like the two sisters who were named Orangejello and Lemonjello (emphasis on "ange" as awnnnnnggge and "lemon" as "lemawwwn" respectively)?

My mom works at a pediatrics office, and she ran into some poor child named "Placenta." When my mom asked the mother why she named her child that, she said, "Well I heard the doctor say it, and I thought it sounded pretty."

Also, a while back, I was at a McDonald's, and the cashier's name was "Stephanique" ... Apparently "Stephanie" wasn't good enough. It needed some extra syllables.

Sporkzen · Post by **Sporkzen** » 2005-05-18 10:35am

Oi... i dunno whats the deal with yuppie names. Just found out my wife is pregnant!

We've decided on Amandalin Grace for a girl and Samuel Randolph for a boy.

but Clementine!!!..... wtf?

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2005-05-18 12:26pm

Darth Wong wrote:
Wicked Pilot wrote:This doesn't explain the names of lower income black females. I'm still not sure whose ass those get pulled from.
Those names are the result of illiterate American-born welfare recipients trying to sound "african".

Our office called them "Designer Names".
'Le', 'De', 'La', 'Ka'... the list goes on, and 3/5 of them end with a variation on 'Tonya'.