May 11, 2005

Now Hiring; Only "Raven"s Need Apply

White Trash Wednesday

According to Freakonomics, here are the five most popular 'Low-End White Girl Names' in the 1990's:

  1. Amber
  2. Heather
  3. Kayla
  4. Stephanie
  5. Alyssa
What a coincidence: substitute 'Jasmine' for 'Stephanie' and you've got the dancers roster at our local titty bar! Incidentally, but probably not coincidentally, Amber is the name of the model for my WTW logo!

I learned the above while perusing the book at the store (not the part about the dancers), but Slate has an excerpt that discusses the whole baby naming thing in a lot more detail. I especially like this observation:

There is a clear pattern at play: Once a name catches on among high-income, highly educated parents, it starts working its way down the socioeconomic ladder. Amber, Heather, and Stephanie started out as high-end names. For every high-end baby given those names, however, another five lower-income girls received those names within 10 years.
I have also commented on babynaming stupidity here and here.

It's White Trash Wednesday! Take the whole tour:

Posted by Chris at May 11, 2005 06:54 AM

Category: White Trash Wednesday
Comments

I thought "bitch" was the most popular low end white trash girls name - that and Cousin Jillie.

Posted by: Dan at May 11, 2005 08:09 PM

Well, sure, as a 'call' name. The 'registered' name is what we're talking about here.

Posted by: Chris of Dangerous Logic at May 11, 2005 08:11 PM

Umm...HELLOOOO...what about "Tanya"? That's the classic WT name.

Posted by: Kelly at May 12, 2005 01:41 AM