Adolescents with Unpopular Names More Prone to Committing Crime
A new study in the journal Social Science Quarterly examined the relationship between first name popularity in adolescents and tendency to commit crime. Results show that, regardless of race, juveniles with unpopular names are more likely to engage in criminal activity.
David E. Kalist and Daniel Y. Lee of Shippensburg University analyzed state data by comparing the first names of male juvenile delinquents to the first names of male juveniles in the population.
Researchers constructed a popularity-name index (PNI) for each name. For example, the PNI for Michael is 100, the most frequently given name during the period. The PNI for David is 50, a name given half as frequently as Michael. The PNI is approximately 1 for names such as Alec, Ernest, Ivan, Kareem, and Malcolm.
The least popular names were associated with juvenile delinquency among both blacks and whites. While the names are likely not the cause of crime, they are connected to factors that increase the tendency to commit crime, such as a disadvantaged home environment, residence in a county with low socioeconomic status, and households run by one parent.
Also, adolescents with unpopular names may be more prone to crime because they are treated differently by their peers, making it more difficult for them to form relationships. Juveniles with unpopular names may also act out because they consciously or unconsciously dislike their names.
“First name characteristics may be an important factor to help identify individuals at high risk of committing or recommitting crime, leading to more effective and targeted intervention programs,” the authors conclude.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121639144/abstract
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January 28, 2009
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Comments
I'm so screwed.
June 18, 2009 by Anonymous, 22 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 37386
I've yet to met a person that was born with my name.
Even then, I haven't met a person that has changed their name to my name either.
Only other person I know of is my grandmother, but I never met her.
And her name had one less 'S' than mine.
BECAUSE MY NAME IS SPECIAL AND ODD (yettotallybeautiful.bejealous)
I'M GOING TO BECOME A CRIMINAL. A REAL REAL BAD ONE.
When I'm in court, I'll tell them about these two men, David and Daniel,
who told me that people with unique names are more likely to commit a crime.
So. It's not my fault. It's /their/ fault for getting bad thoughts in my head. :c
Punish them, judge. Punish them good.
Oh MAN
January 31, 2009 by Anonymous, 42 weeks 5 days ago
Comment: 34136
I've heard of Adan, even Thor, but Brick? Really? Oh MAN!
You know, the cable guy was over the other day and his work order had been screwed up by the dispatcher, whose name was "Taniqua." And he was bitching about it, and I go, "Well hell, with a name like 'Taniqua' what do you expect?" And we were kind of laughing about that - hell, it was funny.
But I have a name that's unusual enough that I've never met another that has it, and I must say it's a pain in the arse. My real name is Charlene, but my brother couldn't pronounce that and his 18-month-old wisdom told him to just change it. However, my parent's 20-something wisdom thought that was cute as hell, so I am forever with a strange name.
Can I blame that on my apparent failure to thrive, socially unacceptable ideas, and general inability to fit into society? I'm looking for something, as my childhood was far too cool to be the culprit.
Let me know, wouldja?
A boy named Sue!
January 29, 2009 by Anonymous, 42 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 34104
'Nuff said
Sorry
January 29, 2009 by Anonymous, 42 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 34101
Well it looks like 'Stu Padassel' and "Shara Dickey" both have a long rough road ahead of them!
Pretty damn, actually.
January 29, 2009 by Anonymous, 42 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 34095
Considering I'm a practicing MD and MY first name happens to be Vaudeville.
And it's Jaquavious, no D. One of my surgeons is named Jaquavis, the origin of the name. I've got two lawyers on speed-dial named Linebacker and Tumultuous. These are all first names, by the way.
Name discrimination
January 29, 2009 by Anonymous, 42 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 34094
The real crime is that people with unusual names get turned down for jobs more often.
Well, duh.
January 29, 2009 by Anonymous, 42 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 34093
If I had a weird name, and the other kids made fun of me, I would commit a crime, too.
Assault.
Doctors and lawyers - not
January 29, 2009 by Anonymous, 42 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 34092
How comfortable are you saying "this is my lawyer Jadquavius Williams" or "My doctor is great, her name is Shaniqua Jones"?
I've never met another with my name
January 29, 2009 by Anonymous, 43 weeks 38 min ago
Comment: 34088
If this were true, I'd be on death row by now.
Read the last chapter of the
January 28, 2009 by Anonymous, 43 weeks 11 hours ago
Comment: 34086
Read the last chapter of the book "Freakonomics"...it discusses this very issue and how the certain names trickle down in popularity from the higher socio-economic levels. An interesting tie-in to this story.
Sparkenickle
January 28, 2009 by Anonymous, 43 weeks 16 hours ago
Comment: 34080
I know this guy with a werid name that just became president.
I also love the names of the two guys
January 28, 2009 by Anonymous, 43 weeks 16 hours ago
Comment: 34079
Daniel and David. It's like they're saying "Our names are common and thus we're normal, but if your name isn't normal, you're probably a criminal."
Actually, no
January 28, 2009 by Anonymous, 43 weeks 16 hours ago
Comment: 34077
The article says that it's not the TYPE of parents, but the SITUATION the parents are in, nothing to do with their education level, but their economic status and where they live; they also claim that a single parent is more likely to raise a criminal than a two-parent home.
The whole study is bull. A parent who is OVEReducated will more likely give their child a unique name simply because they're tired of the same pablum. Nobody's original with names anymore, or they just string together semi-meaningless syllables and call it a name. Basically it's just an excuse to give another type of profile and discrimination: If you're looking for a criminal, look for people with weird names, they're probably your suspect. Don't worry about Dave Allister, but for the gods' sake, watch out for Bipartisan Jacobs.
Parents the issue
January 28, 2009 by Anonymous, 43 weeks 16 hours ago
Comment: 34076
The article clearly states that it is not the name, it is the type of parent that names their child something odd. Certain names obviously corrolate to parental education level or lack there off, socio economic status, and type of home life. As a school teacher I see it all the time. You can often predict a child behavior based on name, why? Because the wonky names come from wonky or uneducated parent(s) and their kid is the same.
My kid's gonna grow up to be one serious super-criminal, then
January 28, 2009 by Anonymous, 43 weeks 16 hours ago
Comment: 34075
I named him God.
Kids
January 28, 2009 by Anonymous, 43 weeks 17 hours ago
Comment: 34074
So are kids with names that start or end with "sha" or "qua," not to mention peppered with apostrophes and excess syllables, essentially screwed?
lol
January 28, 2009 by Anonymous, 43 weeks 17 hours ago
Comment: 34073
So dont name/curse your kids with anything starting with "Sha", or ending with "Qua".
and yet
January 28, 2009 by Anonymous, 43 weeks 19 hours ago
Comment: 34069
hunky soap and romance novel leads have names like "Brick" and "Thor" and "Adan"
methinks the influencing factors are probably more about the kinds of parent(s) that adorn their progeny with such winning names.
-signed Alfred
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