"Babies' Names Reveal Parents' Political Leanings"

[Wendy31]

I love baby names & all the different baby-naming trends, so I found this article interesting.

http://http://t.living.msn.com/family-parenting/baby-names-reveal-parents%e2%80%99-politics

From the article:

Researchers also found that well-educated liberal parents are more likely to choose obscure names while well-educated conservative parents favor conventional names. Though parents may not be making their choices along idealogical lines deliberately, one study leader said that naming is a way of signaling status.

However, less educated parents overall were more likely to give their child an uncommon name; among parents who had less than a college education, there were no major idealogical differences in naming choices.

In a closing statement that may rub those on either side of the maternity ward the wrong way, the researchers conclude, As we see in patterns of baby names, liberal elites use esoteric cultural references to demonstrate their elevated social position just as conservatives invoke traditional signals of wealth and affluence.

I'm not sure whether or not I agree w/ this finding or not - because I know both conservatives & liberals, & their kids' names don't stay within this pattern. However, I have to admit, DH & I are both college-educated & do tend to be more politically conservative, & our 3 kids all have classic, traditional names.

So, where do your kids' names fall on the political spectrum?

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I hope this thread doesn't run up against the no politics rule.

“As we see in patterns of baby names, liberal elites use esoteric cultural references to demonstrate their elevated social position just as conservatives invoke traditional signals of wealth and affluence.”

Well, apparently DH and I fit the pattern. We're well educated liberals and we chose a fairly rare, esoteric culutral reference, but not made up name for our daughter.

That being said, I always think it's werid when people put the words liberal and elite together, as if they are equivalent. I was raised as a conservative elitist, only my political leanings have changed in adulthood.

 

[wiigirl]

Interesting article.

 

[Wendy31]

I hope this thread doesn't run up against the no politics rule.


Well, apparently DH and I fit the pattern. We're well educated liberals and we chose a fairly rare, esoteric culutral reference, but not made up name for our daughter.

That being said, I always think it's werid when people put the words liberal and elite together, as if they are equivalent. I was raised as a conservative elitist, only my political leanings have changed in adulthood.

(bolding mine)

Oh, me either! I didn't want to start any kind of political debate or argument at all!

Just a fun, fluffy Friday kinda thread!

 

[ols386]

I'm just slightly left, high school education, some college, and my kids' names are pretty traditional.

 

[aprilchem]

We are liberal and well-educated (I have a Ph.D, my DH has a masters). One of my kids' names is relatively unusual and the other two are old names that are rarely used anymore, but we like them.

 

[mhsjax]

This article fits us.

 

[soccerdad72]

One thing the article doesn't cover is what the researchers consider "obscure" names.

The really traditional (John, Ann, Michael) names are obvious, as well as the really odd ones. But in the middle ground, there's a whole lot of gray area on what some might consider unusual.

 

[Robinrs]

I'm UBER liberal and have a college education and named my kid a VERY traditional name.

There was a reason for that, believe me.

I think conservative vs liberal doesn't trump class structure. I automatically think "ghetto" when I hear some names...

 

[Lorelei Lee]

I'm fairly liberal and hold a JD. Dh is to my left politically and has a master's in education. our two dd's have mainstream names.

well, except that the older dd has a very unusual middle name. which she absolutely hates.

 

[ironpig70]

Is it me or is obscure and uncommon pretty much the same thing

 

[soccerdad72]

Is it me or is obscure and uncommon pretty much the same thing

I suppose you could argue that obscure is a "real" name, just something that is archaic in nature (e.g. Ezra or Agatha) whereas uncommon is just flat out made up (anything with an extra 'y' or two thrown in).

But yeah, I would normally say they're basically the same thing.

 

[tar heel]

I think that article is nonsense, at least among my family and friends. Two of my three sons share their names with Apostles and the other has a strong Old Testament name. Each has a family name as his middle name. Both my DH and I are extremely liberal politically.

 

[DarthKTrava]

When two of my friends had a child, the only thing they wanted to do when naming their daughter was to avoid the "Wal-Mart rule of naming" where both first and middle name all become one name. "Betty Lou" and "Sue Ellen" come to mind.

Don't know how their eventual naming lines up with their political views. Child's name is fairly common/traditional.

 

[bdcp]

I don't agree at all. We're conservative and our kids have traditional names. My sisters are more liberal and their kids have pretty traditional names too. I have friends who are conservative who have weird/uncommon named kids and people who are liberal with traditional names. I think culture and income have more to do with it than political leanings. We all hear these really weird names and 9 times of 10 they belong to poor inner city families or very young uneducated parents. My DH's family is NY Puerto Rican and believe me, the family in the south Bronx comes up with some doozies as do their friends and neighbors of all races/ethnicities but same econmic situation.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

DH and I are both conservative (duh) and educated. Our kids, Katherine and Judah, have pretty classic conventional names, although my son's is a little on the eccentric side.

 

[KimR]

Well educated, socially liberal, fiscally conservative and our children have trendy, non-traditional names. Wonder how that fits?

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Pretty sure DH and I don't follow this thinking. We both have very common very easily misspelled names. To avoid the ultra bizarre we stuck to family names and ruled out the hard to spell or very common. But then DH and I are very much independents when it comes to politics.

 

[pigletgirl]

Sure, you can say that I guess. Our DD is Charlotte, and that's a traditional name. It's just what we prefer.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

My wife and I are ultra-liberal and highly educated (MBA for DW, J.D. & Ph.D. for me) by the most ivory tower-ish college and university and our children have classically esoteric names (meaning everybody has "heard of them" but they are not on the top 200 names list in their birth years). DD also has a very rare middle name, but it's a family name with a lot of emotional meaning. DS's middle name is more classic, but again is a family name.