A Roshanda by Any Other Name

Slate ^ | April 11, 2005 | By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

[End Times Sentinel]

 the dismal science
A Roshanda by Any Other Name
How do babies with super-black names fare?
By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Posted Monday, April 11, 2005, at 3:32 AM PT

<SNIP>

These are the sort of questions that led to "The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names," a research paper written by a white economist (Steven Levitt, a co-author of this article) and a black economist (Roland G. Fryer Jr., a young Harvard scholar who studies race). The paper acknowledged the social and economic gulf between blacks and whites but paid particular attention to the gulf between black and white culture. Blacks and whites watch different TV shows, for instance; they smoke different cigarettes. And black parents give their children names that are starkly different than white children's.

The names research was based on an extremely large and rich data set: birth-certificate information for every child born in California since 1961. The data covered more than 16 million births. It included standard items like name, gender, race, birthweight, and the parents' marital status, as well as more telling factors: the parents' ZIP code (which indicates socioeconomic status and a neighborhood's racial composition), their means of paying the hospital bill for the birth (again, an economic indicator), and their level of education.

<SNIP>
Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/id/2116449/

[End Times Sentinel]

The 20 Whitest Girl Names

1. Molly
2. Amy
3. Claire
4. Emily
5. Katie
6. Madeline
7. Katelyn
8. Emma
9. Abigail
10. Carly
11. Jenna
12. Heather
13. Katherine
14. Caitlin
15. Kaitlin
16. Holly
17. Allison
18. Kaitlyn
19. Hannah
20. Kathryn

The 20 Blackest Girl Names

1. Imani
2. Ebony
3. Shanice
4. Aaliyah
5. Precious
6. Nia
7. Deja
8. Diamond
9. Asia
10. Aliyah
11. Jada
12. Tierra
13. Tiara
14. Kiara
15. Jazmine
16. Jasmin
17. Jazmin
18. Jasmine
19. Alexus
20. Raven

 

The 20 Whitest Boy Names

1. Jake
2. Connor
3. Tanner
4. Wyatt
5. Cody
6. Dustin
7. Luke
8. Jack
9. Scott
10. Logan
11. Cole
12. Lucas
13. Bradley
14. Jacob
15. Garrett
16. Dylan
17. Maxwell
18. Hunter
19. Brett
20. Colin

The 20 Blackest Boy Names

1. DeShawn
2. DeAndre
3. Marquis
4. Darnell
5. Terrell
6. Malik
7. Trevon
8. Tyrone
9. Willie
10. Dominique
11. Demetrius
12. Reginald
13. Jamal
14. Maurice
15. Jalen
16. Darius
17. Xavier
18. Terrance
19. Andre
20. Darryl

[End Times Sentinel]

I hate excerpting, stupid MSN, but click on over to the article, it's a great read.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2116449/

 Owl_Eagle

(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,

 it was probably sarcasm)

[zlala]

Interesting, I've heard this debated before. Out of the names listed (both black & white), my family, including extended...we have 2 of the girl names and none of the boys names. That's out of a total of 20 females and 17 males.

[Red Badger]

Where's Juwan and Keneisha?......

[Betis70]

A thread on this story got yanked yesterday.

I suspect it won't last today either.

[Mr. K]

I swear I know someone who wanted to name her daighter Urethra

[shempy]

Yes, that was a very interesting read. The results of the study are what I would have expected. I suppose it would be nice if some of the problems in the black community could be explained by "black" names. Nice if only because it is a relatively easy fix.

[AnAmericanMother]

Interesting.

A couple of passing observations here:

1. Note that the "traditional" (John, Mary, most saints) names aren't by and large on either list. Probably because black and white families use them about the same amount -

2. One thing that isn't mentioned here about the resume study is that they tried the same trick using both "conventional" names of the John-and-Mary sort and redneck-trash names like Bubba or John Wayne whoever - and got just about the same results.

3. For those reasons, I'd be interested to see names ranked on a socio-economic basis (they have the data - see the article) rather than race. Because the "crossover" list - most popular among either group - contains some of the names (Amber, Brandon, Shawn, Tiffany etc.) that are associated with trailer trash of whatever color. As a friend of mine who used to work at the jail said, "I never seen a boy named Shane that wasn't gone bad." Of course, she WAS workin' at the jail . . .

[Sam's Army]

Actual folks I went to HS with (partial list, obviously):

Torrian

Vontrice

Shamiqua

Luqretia

Konosone

Yaounde

Kwami

Okenyi

Kenneya

Bob

[SlowBoat407]

I guess Condoleezza will be relieved to hear that a name isn't going to hold her back.

[tumblindice]

I saw a baby girl named 'Treblinka' on a birth certificate. Left me speechless.

[Mr. K]

No really?????????? BOB?!!?!?!

[Lekker 1]

What? No LaFawnDuh? Gosh.

[dljordan]

"I swear I know someone who wanted to name her daighter Urethra"

We had a young lady apply for a job whose name was "Female'. It made me wonder what happened at the hospital.

[blam]

Ima Hogg, wonderful lady.

[Sam's Army]

Uh-huh. He was bussed in.

[Lee'sGhost]

Can't believe Simeon wasn't on there.

Then there's the two twins named (pronounced) Or-ron-ja-lo and La-mon-ja-lo and spelled Orangejello and Lemonjello.

Somebody tell me what book that came from.

[Little Pig]

I knew a couple of Shanes. One was kind of a wierd guy who hung out with a sometimes-druggie guy I knew. Only thing that stands out in my mind about him was that he rode an unusual Honda motorcycle (pretty normal Universal Japanese Motorcycle, except it had an automatic transmission). The other Shane I knew worked for a major Data Storage company, and was looking to buy (yes, buy outright) a new light plane. He was probably worth around 3-5 million dollars last time I saw him in 2001 (he was about 35 years old).

[AnAmericanMother]

Bet he was never NEAR the jail! :-D

[End Times Sentinel]

I honestly went to High School with a kid named Joe Mumma.  Real jerk that kid was.

 Owl_Eagle

(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,

 it was probably sarcasm)