A press release came across the email yesterday about a new scholarly article from March issue of Social Science Quarterly.  Usually, I just check it out for the photos of hot chicks, but this one caught my interest.

Adolescents with Unpopular Names More Prone to Committing Crime

 

Shippensburg, PA – January 28, 2009 – 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 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.

Naturally, Johnny Cash’s song, “A Boy Named Sue” came immediately to mind, but I immediately felt that I was being too frivolous.  I requested that the flak send me the full article, but heard nothing back, so I’m left to deal with this bizarre finding on its face.

The findings, that boys with unpopular names are more prone to commit crimes but that the authors contend that the names are not the cause of crime, leaves me scratching my head.  So what’s their point?  Either the names cause crime or they don’t.  If there is a direct correlation between the two, then they do. But the authors say they don’t.  Which is it?

The explanation offered is that they “may be more prone to crime” because (a) they are treated differently or (b) they hate their names and therefore become criminals.  Both seem to suggest that names then do cause crimes, though through slightly attenuated routes.  Frankly, neither hypothesis smells right.  Keith doesn’t necessarily kill and Malcolm doesn’t inherently maim.  Some Henry’s are hated and some Loyds are loved.  I find it extremely hard to believe that the popularity of a name carries that much influence on future criminal conduct.

And yet the authors find a direct correlation, even to the point that it crosses racial lines.  Does this mean that the new argument at sentencing is that Bruce is less blameworthy than Brian?  Is the answer that new parents should all name their children Michael from now on, just to be safe?  Or should schools create at risk classrooms for all the kids with names that don’t make it into the top 10 for their birth year?

This is one strange study. 

Addition:  While I may have been reticent to file this under “A Boy Named Sue,” others felt differently.  James Joyner at Outside the Beltway parsed the song for its relevance,

I would not dismiss out of hand the causal relationship, which was anecdotally suggested decades ago by Shel Silverstein’s story song about a “Boy Named Sue” who, because of said appellation, “grew up quick” and “grew up mean” and whose “fist got hard” and “wits got keen.” Indeed, he even vowed to “kill that man who gave me that awful name.”   Ironically, Johnny Cash recorded the song in his famous concert for the inmates at San Quentin prison.

Regardless of the generalizability of the causality, the concluding advice of that song, it seems, was apt: “If I ever have a son, I think I’m gonna name him… Bill or George! Anything but Sue!”

Probably good advice under any circumstances.

H/T Radley Balko

Update:  I just received a copy of the full article, and will read it as soon as possible to see whether there’s beef behind this curious conclusion.  For anyone who wants to read it now,