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May 19, 2009 11:09 pm US/Central
Good Question: What's Really In A Name?
(WCCO)
In the quest for a unique, memorable name, many Minnesota parents ended up giving their children the exact same names. It's one of the most stressful decisions a parent can make. So what's really in a name?
"We wanted to give him a strong name," said Jeff Cotter, the proud father of 1-day-old Lincoln Jeffrey, from his wife Anne's room at Fairview Southdale Hospital.
"There were a couple less manly names on our list," laughed Anne. "We wanted just a strong name that carries with it some uniqueness."
"We also didn't want him to get beat up on the playground," explained Jeff.
"We were asking the nurses about our top two names, 'Which is more likely to get him beat up?'" said Anne.
According to the Social Security Administration, the number one name for Minnesota girls in 2008 was Ava (443 babies), followed by Olivia (385) and Emma (363).
For boys, Ethan is tops with 406 babies. Alexander follows (371) and Logan (363).
Nationally, Jacob and Emma are the top names, based on applications for Social Security numbers.
"Originally we thought Oliver would be a girl, this was Reece Kaitlin," said new mom Tracey Klocksien, from Rogers.
"Honestly I just loved the name, I can't tell you why," she said, even though she acknowledged worrying about the little boy from Oliver Twist.
"I guess I do think of the porridge thing, 'Please sir can I have another,'" she laughed.
There is a great deal of research suggesting that extremely creative names can be a negative indicator of problems throughout life.
Two economics professors from Shippensburg University, David Kalist and Daniel Lee, published a paper in Social Science Quarterly, showing a link between unpopular boys' names and ending up in trouble. The more unpopular a boy's name, the more likely that person would be associated with children in the juvenile justice system.
"It is not that the name is causing the crime," Kalist said. But he surmised that troubled families, who tend to raise troubled children, also tend to give children unusual names. The data held true regardless of the race of the child.
Researchers have found that names considered attractive, correspond with a positive perception by others.
On the flip side, a researcher in 1993 found that most people perceive those with strangely spelled names (like Jayson) as less likely to be moral, warm and successful.
And a 2004 study published in the American Economic Review titled, "Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha And Jamal?" sent out identical resumes for various job openings with different types of names. They found that "white-sounding names" got 50 percent more callbacks for interviews than "African-American sounding names."
There are some studies that indicate children with unusual names have some benefits, including better group identity and sense of self, but the weight of the research indicates that more conventional names have fewer potential negatives.
Lincoln Cotter's parents said they knew the power they possessed when they named him.
"He'll have this name for 80 or 90 years or more. That's exactly what we were thinking when we named him," said his father, Jeff Cotter.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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