I guess this would mostly apply to word names. Are there names you -either with or without a particular reason- associate with liberalism or conservatism? I’m thinking of a subtle association, more along the lines of [name_f]Liberty[/name_f] than [name_m]Nixon[/name_m]/ [name_u]Reagan[/name_u].
With the statistically demonstrated differences between liberals and conservatives in education, intelligence, and knowledge of world events, I definitely tend to associate trendy names like [name_m]Braden[/name_m] and [name_f]Nevaeh[/name_f] with conservatives and classic names like [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] and [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m] with liberals. I would also assume that literary names like [name_f]Ophelia[/name_f] are given by liberals, while names that glorify violence ([name_m]Remington[/name_m], [name_m]Gunner[/name_m], [name_m]Rekker[/name_m], [name_m]Maverick[/name_m], [name_u]Hunter[/name_u]) were bestowed by conservatives.
I was on a radio show – I think it was an LA NPR station – with the professor who did the widely-reported recent study on liberal vs. conservative names. He matched baby names to voting records in different areas and so there was a lot of quantitative data behind the parsing of names as liberal or conservative. Here’s one story on the study: Republicans and Democrats can’t even agree on baby names
And here’s a list of specific names and how often the parents who choose them are considered liberal: Circle of Moms
Excellent links, [name_f]Pam[/name_f]!
“[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and colleagues argue that liberals, consciously or unconsciously, signal cultural tastes and erudition when picking their child’s name.”
Certainly true for this liberal. I like the idea that liberals choose “softer-sounding” names for both boys and girls – also true of my picks, at least. It also makes sense that names associated with non-white populations would track liberal, since people of color are vastly more likely to vote blue.
First Name// Gender// Name Frequency// Percentage Liberal
[name_f]Amani[/name_f] Female 0.02% 100%
[name_u]Amari[/name_u] Female 0.03% 100%
[name_f]Anaya[/name_f] Female 0.01% 100%
[name_f]Aniya[/name_f] Female 0.01% 100%
[name_u]Antoine[/name_u] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.01% 100%
[name_f]Ashanti[/name_f] Female 0.01% 100%
[name_f]Ayana[/name_f] Female 0.01% 100%
[name_u]Deandre[/name_u] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.01% 100%
[name_m]Deshawn[/name_m] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.01% 100%
[name_f]Diamond[/name_f] Female 0.02% 100%
[name_f]Essence[/name_f] Female 0.01% 100%
[name_m]Jamal[/name_m] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.01% 100%
[name_f]Janiya[/name_f] Female 0.01% 100%
[name_m]Jaylon[/name_m] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.01% 100%
[name_u]Jermaine[/name_u] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.01% 100%
[name_u]Kamari[/name_u] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.01% 100%
[name_m]Khalil[/name_m] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.02% 100%
[name_m]Marquis[/name_m] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.02% 100%
[name_m]Marquise[/name_m] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.01% 100%
[name_m]Mekhi[/name_m] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.01% 100%
[name_m]Nasir[/name_m] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.02% 100%
[name_u]Omari[/name_u] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.01% 100%
[name_m]Reginald[/name_m] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.01% 100%
[name_m]Tyrell[/name_m] [name_m]Male[/name_m] 0.01% 100%
So, I have to conclude by this data that I do not like liberal names. lol
v Yes, I read it, but do you know how to take a slight jest? I thought the “lol” might indicate that I was only poking fun.
Did you read the first article?
“This leads to the second difference: the names they chose. [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and colleagues find that there were roughly two kinds of uncommon baby names: ones that are completely made up or just different spellings of common names (like “Jazzmyne” for [name_f]Jasmine[/name_f]), and ones that are just esoteric. When racial minorities and the poor chose uncommon names, they were more likely to choose the former. When Democrats or liberals chose uncommon names, they were more likely to choose the latter.”
What the first article didn’t note, but which is relevant to the second, is that racial minorities and the poor tend to vote Democrat – thus the results of the BabyCenter poll.
I found it really interesting that certain sounds were associated with political leanings, like [name_m]Kurt[/name_m] being conservative and softer sounds trending liberal. A couple of people called into the show and gave their kids’ names and Professor [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] guessed their political leaning, and got it right every time. I have to admit if I had been the one guessing, I may not have been as accurate! But he was judging purely on the sound thing.
Of course, any attempt to predict one kind of behavior based on another just makes me want to run out and do the opposite, just to defy expectations.
And yes, ethnic differences and educational differences add another factor to political differences. If you are looking at white college-educated liberals vs. white college-educated conservatives, you are going to see different baby naming patterns than if you compare white college-educated liberals with white high school dropout liberals with black college-educated liberals.
Here’s a difference I’ve found when it comes to unisex names when comparing stats from “blue” and “red” states: It may surprise some, but unisex names - for both genders - tend to be more common in the more conservative areas (if you’re interested I have a spreadsheet testing the theory several times). Those from areas like the U.S. South have often commented that they often encounter males with names that are more typically used on girls elsewhere in the country, and my tests have largely proved them right. Of all the U.S. regions the Northeast has been shown to be the most “sexist” in naming - there are fewer boys but plenty of girls with “crossover” names there (as well as more staid boy’s classics that continue to rank high there but have dropped in other regions). States like [name_u]California[/name_u] which are often considered to be the more sexually liberal ones come out pretty much neutral with regard to the aforementioned points.
I agree. Where I live, in south [name_f]Louisiana[/name_f], it’s not unusual to run into a guy named [name_u]Kelly[/name_u], [name_u]Blake[/name_u], [name_u]Kasey[/name_u], or I even know an [name_u]Aubrey[/name_u]. [name_u]Dakota[/name_u] is another prevalent one.
So interesting! Namefan, you’ve got to write a [name_u]Berry[/name_u] Juice blog about this!
None of this is at all surprising, we choose names, what we choose is loaded with meaning (consciously or unconsciously). Of course there will be broad trends among these groups.
I don’t like hard names on boys/men…probably because I don’t like ‘hard’ men. I don’t want to bring up an ultra-masculine son (and with my genes I can be relatively confident that I couldn’t) and will be naming accordingly. That I also abhor violence/war etc is probably no coincidence.
So there you are, just another pinko greenie from Australia 
who likes names like [name_u]Florian[/name_u] and [name_m]Lysander[/name_m] and [name_f]Shashi[/name_f]. I think the ‘hardest’ name I like is Turing, and that’s a tribute name for a man who famously amazing and brilliant…and persecuted for being gay.
Hmmm. The unisex-names-in-conservative-areas thing isn’t that surprising to me. I don’t associate unisex names with lack of sexism, just abundance of tradition, which the South certainly has. Makes sense to me. I feel like most people trying to “signal cultural tastes and erudition” would steer clear of unisex/surname names, unless they opted for a really fancy, aristocratic one like [name_m]Kensington[/name_m].
Also, to answer the original question, I always assume obscure biblical names were chosen by either very conservative parents or Jewish/Muslim ones.
[name_u]Lee[/name_u] and [name_u]Logan[/name_u] I both strongly associate with the right wing.
I recently taught a workshop at a very fancy private elementary school in [name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u]–that is, the kids likely had highly educated and quite liberal parents–and I can confirm that unisex names were non-existent. [name_m]Dashiell[/name_m], [name_m]Cole[/name_m], [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m], and [name_m]Graeme[/name_m] for boys; [name_f]Cecily[/name_f], [name_u]Ruby[/name_u], [name_f]Ella[/name_f], and [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] for girls. In the [name_m]Bronx[/name_m], which is liberal but far less wealthy, the kids are much more likely to be named [name_u]Jayden[/name_u], [name_m]Anton[/name_m], [name_f]Kayla[/name_f], [name_f]Imani[/name_f], or Tazrian. I haven’t encountered many stereotypical “ghetto” names in ten years working in different “ghetto” schools, and many of the names strike me as beautiful as well as idiosyncratic, but there are still strong markers of class and political leanings evident.
I do remember reading about the sound associations, though my daughter’s name ended up being half conservative and half liberal. It’s funny what names my husband and I do and don’t agree on, given that he’s conservative and I’m liberal. We both prefer to use less common names but nothing made up. He likes [name_u]Bay[/name_u]'s (nick)name because of [name_u]Bay[/name_u] [name_m]Buchanan[/name_m] and because he grew up sailing and I like her given name [name_m]Bayard[/name_m] because someday she will learn about [name_m]Bayard[/name_m] [name_m]Rustin[/name_m] and everything he did for gay/ civil rights.
What about us Libertarians?
This sort of makes sense. My parents are die-hard republicans and they named me [name_f]Toni[/name_f] and my sister’s mn is Jo (following the unisex theory).
My IL’s are democrats that named their sons [name_m]Jason[/name_m] and [name_u]Dustin[/name_u] at the peaks of their popularity.
I dunno, cause i see examples where his research is spot-on, but i see equally as many where it falls flat. Like my super-democrat dad and moderate-democrat mom named us a weird mash-up sibset: one sister has a trendy (at the time) unisex name, the other has an extremely uncommon made-up name, i have a classic name that’s been in the top 100 since about the 1800s.
My extremely-conservative sister and my extremely-liberal sister have exactly the same taste in names. My conservative sister finds name inspiration from literature, my liberal sister just uses family names or whatever she likes the sounds of. They both prefer soft-sounding boys. And I find myself right in the middle, as always: I’m politically moderate, I’m the most educated of the three of us, and my taste in names is the same as theirs, but slightly more [name_u]Brit[/name_u]-inspired than theirs (which i chalk up to my obsession with BBC TV shows)
Perhaps it has more to do with how you grew up, or where you live, or how passionate you are about your political stance?
I don’t have as much hard evidence, but looking among the libertarian-authoritarian dimension libertarians tend to be more free-thinking and less into family names than for example the South where usage of family names is stronger.
tct1219, so interesting about how one conservative spouse and one liberal one come to an agreement on names! Let me know if you ever want to write about that.