Comments on: Boys With Unpopular Names More Likely to Commit Crimes

By: The Boy Named Sue

The Boy Named Sue — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:22:43 +0000

I guess this study falls into the “Gee, I could have had a V8″ catagory. Dads, name your son Bill, George, anything but Sue!

By: DOJ

DOJ — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:52:53 +0000

what if your name just rhymes with a euphemism for genitals?

By: JT

JT — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:45:36 +0000

yo man my name totally rocks “JT”
agree with u kevin

By: wok

wok — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:17:05 +0000

We’re looking at you, Adolf

By: GailW

GailW — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:21:32 +0000

Is the name “Adolf Hitler” on that list?

By: just a guy

just a guy — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:26:55 +0000

oops, please ignore the second ‘false’ in that third sentence. -_-

By: just a guy

just a guy — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:25:10 +0000

I hate things like this. Most logicians know the old axiom “Correlation does not imply causation.” These kinds of ‘studies’ spread false information and false reinforce false thinking habits. :c

At most, you can notice a trend or pattern, but there’s so many other factors that could be playing into it, that it’s illogical (by definition) to claim one causes the other. (and using the terms ‘is more likely’ is often read by the masses as meaning the same thing. Then again, media had been using thought-influeincing terminology for quite a long time. Just watch Fox news and see. Wait, I take that back, DONT watch it! D: ).

By: Steve M

Steve M — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:30:14 +0000

I have to go with Paulio and Kevin on this one. You can’t just jump right out and call a study like this “a crock” or something like that. It is, in fact, based on hard facts and numbers. We have the names of people who have a criminal record. We have the names of people who don’t have a criminal record. We have the names of babies born in the last X numbers of years, and can rank which ones were used the most. Therefore, we can correlate the names of the criminal and non-criminal citizens to the names on that baby name list. That’s not a crock, and short of leafing through the research paper and examining the methodology, it’s hard to say that the findings are invalid. However, as far as causation goes, saying someone with a different name was treated differently than their peers and therefore committed crimes is pushing it a little. Note they use the word “may” when describing that. It’s just part of a bigger theory. I would guess it’s much more likely that the people who give their kids “normal” (meaning: far more common on the list of recently named babies) names are much more likely to raise their kids in a “normal” (meaning: respectful, undramatic, legal) way than those parents who don’t name their kids with a “normal” name. Since it is parents who give names to their kids, they must become part of the equation. Now, if all children were assigned names at random upon birth, then we’d have a whole new study on our hands.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:17:11 +0000

Agree with Kevin, too.

Also, the “traditional” names tend to be “Biblical” names, chosen by parents who might have been raised in Christianity or at least have some religious influence. Those parents are probably much more stable than the parents who just want to set a trend with an unusual name.

By: Paulio

Paulio — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:08:09 +0000

@kevin- exactly!

By: Paulio

Paulio — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:06:48 +0000

I’m not sure if the study went into any depth or not about why the kids were named as such. A similar study was done in the book “Freakonomics” which I suggest everyone should read. It seems in reality that usually lower income, crime ridden, etc. areas of the country, have mothers that are more likely to give their kids obscure names. This does not imply that the name is what caused them to be criminals, but rather; where they come from. This study was geared toward the obscure black kids names that you hear so often, like “Juwan”, “Guquanda”, or whatever else you can come up with to make your baby “special”.
As steohawk said: “In other words, correlation doesn’t necessarily imply causality.”

By: red

red — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:50:44 +0000

unpopular by who’s standards? name trends change over the years.

By: DrChoy

DrChoy — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:16:46 +0000

@7 Inversely if you wish you child to become a crime fighter make sure their last name is Wayne

By: kevin

kevin — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:26:31 +0000

It is more likely that parents that don’t put much thought into their kid’s names, don’t put much thought into raising their kids.

By: Steohawk

Steohawk — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 06:45:31 +0000

According to one study conducted by the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a decline in the number of pirates corresponds to the recent rise in global temperatures.

In other words, correlation doesn’t necessarily imply causality.

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:27:19 +0000

this is a crock. If you’d like something good, I have a crockpot of soup over here. Minestrone.

By: Persephone

Persephone — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:09:26 +0000

If you want to guarantee that your child ends up on death row, be sure his middle name is Wayne.

By: violet

violet — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 02:54:51 +0000

Oh my god: Hollywood has been spawning a future criminal syndicate. Pilot Inspektor? Suri Cruise? Kal-El, Scout, AUDIO SCIENCE…

By: Timmothy

Timmothy — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 02:53:30 +0000

Does anyone believe this crap?

By: rucksackjack

rucksackjack — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 02:52:44 +0000

Dude, Johnny Cash knew this 40 years ago.

By: Jerse

Jerse — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:56:49 +0000

I know a guy named Alec – but everyone just calls him Mugsy…

Good guy though…

By: mother theresa

mother theresa — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:53:00 +0000

So did they study a name/crime link with girls’ names?
Chauvinist pigs.