Boys with unusual names 'more likely to commit crime'

[bijou]

That would appear to be the advice from researchers who claim the more unusual a boy’s name is, the greater the likelihood he will commit crimes in adolescence.

A study conducted by economists at the Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania set out to explore “the relationship between first name popularity and juvenile delinquency”.

David E. Kalist and Daniel Y. Lee compared the first names of juvenile offenders in one US state with the first names of young males in the general population of that state.

They assigned a popularity-name index (PNI) for each name based on how common it is among the general population and how unlikely it is to be associated with criminal behaviour. Therefore for Michael, the PNI is 100 while for David, it is 50.

For names such as Alec, Ernest, Ivan, Kareem, and Malcolm, however, the PNI came out around one.

When they considered young offenders, the researchers discovered a different distribution of names to that of the general population.

The study found that, regardless of race, juveniles with the least popular names were more likely to engage in criminal activity.  ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4380988/Boys-with-unusual-names-more-likely-to-committ-crime.html

You may want to scratch the name T'ange-rine off your list of baby names.  Seriously though this wouldn't be a great surprise if true.

[jtyangel]

I'm willing to bet that this is because the parent(s) who would saddle them with such names probably aren't the greatest or most responsible people around. Less of a cause and effect(the name creates the criminal) versus the name being a symbol of a bigger issue of irresponsibility in the community that the child comes from and grows up in.

[Chris_]

I'm willing to bet that this is because the parent(s) who would saddle them with such names probably aren't the greatest or most responsible people around. Less of a cause and effect(the name creates the criminal) versus the name being a symbol of a bigger issue of irresponsibility in the community that the child comes from and grows up in.

There have been many studies that show that giving kids ghetto names like Liquana or Kenisha is setting them up for failure and crime,

[thundley4]

The study found that, regardless of race, juveniles with the least popular names were more likely to engage in criminal activity

Sure, they point this out, but they don't show that the fact is that more minorities are likely to name burden their kids with odd names.  If this study is true, then we should be seeing a bunch of Hollyweird kids starting a crime wave in about 10 years or so.

[Chris_]

I wonder where the name "Barack" falls in this list?

[Miss Mia]

I'm willing to bet that this is because the parent(s) who would saddle them with such names probably aren't the greatest or most responsible people around. Less of a cause and effect(the name creates the criminal) versus the name being a symbol of a bigger issue of irresponsibility in the community that the child comes from and grows up in.

Agreed.

[Vagabond]

I know a couple of guys that handle recruiting for their  companies.  Neither one would admit it out loud, but when they look at a resume and see Kinesha, Shinequa, Lashawn, Devonte, and such that resume gets round filed without any further consideration.  Is it fair?  No, but these guys who don't know each other told me that certain names indicate a certain mindset far more often than not.

[DixieBelle]

My son has an unusual name. He's the only one in his entire school with that first name. I am seeing versions of his name pop up though.

It's easy to say, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, it's just not common. And, when people hear it they think it's really neat.

[Red October]

  Chesterton Pumpernickle never did a damn thing to me.

[Red October]

How does a study like this pass the scrutiny to secure funding?  What a waste of potential AIDS relief.

[Lord Undies]

I know a family with a son named K-ron (pronouced "Kay Ron").  He reports to Probation regularly.

[DumbAss Tanker]

I wonder how they corrected for race on this one.  American Black culture seems to place a special value on unique given names; despite the stereotypes about names like 'Kinesha' and 'Tyrell' what actually happens is that even those names are not standardized but are used with every conceivable 'nuance' of spelling tricks or letter combinations to purposely make them different from the similar name of anyone else the parents mother may know.  This peculiarity in Black culture is not shared to anything like the same degree by any other ethnic or racial group in the US.

[JohnnyReb]

I wonder how they corrected for race on this one.  American Black culture seems to place a special value on unique given names; despite the stereotypes about names like 'Kinesha' and 'Tyrell' what actually happens is that even those names are not standardized but are used with every conceivable 'nuance' of spelling tricks or letter combinations to purposely make them different from the similar name of anyone else the parents mother may know.  This peculiarity in Black culture is not shared to anything like the same degree by any other ethnic or racial group in the US.

Marquintis, Quavon, Toshia, Octivia and a few more like that made the local newspaper this morning. It's just liberals giving them more excuses for bad behavior and failure.

BTW: I have a rather obscure(rare) first name (and a middle name that I considered to be from from hell) that has been mispronounced (or at least not the way I wanted it) all my life. My "X" and her family gave it the British pronunciation which I hated most of all.......GRRRRRRRRRR .....There would have been a fight for doing that that when I was a kid.

[Lord Undies]

Marquintis, Quavon, Toshia, Octivia and a few more like that made the local newspaper this morning. It's just liberals giving them more excuses for bad behavior and failure.

BTW: I have a rather obscure(rare) first name (and a middle name that I considered to be from from hell) that has been mispronounced (or at least not the way I wanted it) all my life. My "X" and her family gave it the British pronunciation which I hated most of all.......GRRRRRRRRRR .....There would have been a fight for doing that that when I was a kid.

HaHa!  My name is usually considered a girl's name.  I'm the boy named Sue, so to speak.

[JohnnyReb]

HaHa!  My name is usually considered a girl's name.  I'm the boy named Sue, so to speak.

Good are bad.....it makes you tough and people remember you.

[Lord Undies]

Good are bad.....it makes you tough and people remember you.

I learned at an early age to confront confrontation and never back down to anyone.  You'd be surprised how many fights I never had.  It was quite an accomplishment for a passive soul such as I who has always looked at life through joyous and happy eyes.

[JohnnyReb]

I learned at an early age to confront confrontation and never back down to anyone.  You'd be surprised how many fights I never had.  It was quite an accomplishment for a passive soul such as I who has always looked at life through joyous and happy eyes.

Yep....jump on the bully...even if he whips your butt, the rest will leave you alone.

[Lord Undies]

Yep....jump on the bully...even if he whips your butt, the rest will leave you alone.

Thank you.  That was indeed my message.

[Splashdown]

The great kid's poet Shel Silverstein wrote "Boy Named Sue." I've often wondered if he had similar experiences with his name being close to sounding like a girl's.

[JohnnyReb]

Thank you.  That was indeed my message.

My son has some problems at school....a good old fashion schoolyard brawl would solve them.....but that's not allowed in todays schools. On the way home from school yesterday he was telling me (held up his hands and did the quote signs thing), "It's all about "Feelings", "Emotions", "Self Esteem". My god you'd think they wanted to make sissies and wussies out of all of us boys." My only comment was, "Yep!."

The boy is learning somethings at school that they don't teach....... He's coming to understand liberalism without anyone even having to explain it to him...... ....and those kinds of lessons aren't easily forgotten.