What's in a name? Maybe a criminal future

I would love to read this study in it's entirety. I simply do not buy the connection between name and tendency towards criminality. If we follow this to one logical conclusion, we would simply imprison all with these names. Or simply outlaw the names.

"...could help officials " identify individuals at high risk of committing or recommitting crime, leading to more effective and targeted intervention programs,"

Sounds like just another way to profile the population. Next it will be identity 'chips' and national identity cards.

I thought Bush and Cheney had departed Washington.

and what about all the weird celebrity names like apple, phineas, rocket etc? what are those kids doomed too? oh yeah...celebrity rehab 2020!

What a bunch of bunk! Sorry, but this is just as ridiculous as the notion that someones body shape/type contributes to the possibility of their criminality. I do not buy this at all. How many serial killers have been named Eugene? Or Fred? Or how about Barney or Buford? Enough said...

What a waste of taxpayers money. I have a very uncommon name for a man but I'm not typing this from a jail or prison cell. I'm typing this from my home. I work in customer service and am in my late 40's and my customers trust me explicitly. I have many customers that have unusual names and are very successful. When will this crap stop. Oh wait, when "immigrants and blacks" start naming their children the proper "white" names. And yes I'm white. A persons name is their identify and government has no right to interfere.

Logically, one would think that if a small percentage of a population will become criminal, reguardless of other factors and only looking at their names, that more popular names will have a higher chance of being the names of criminals.

"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," according to a statement released by the journal's publisher. "Juveniles with unpopular names may also act out because they consciously or unconsciously dislike their names."

Being as my name is Ivan, apparently a name that should have destined me into the lowest of the dregs of criminal society, I find this hilarious. My name didn't drive me to a life of crime, and growing up, the rowdiest kids in my classes had names like Mike, Brian and Eric.

I also thin it is crazy to try and say that a Single parent house hold will name their children "incorrectly". I seriously wonder what sort of thinking went into this research, and agree with BadWolf that reading the study in whole might be enlightening.

What a complete waste of taxpayers money, I am sure that David E. Kalist and Daniel Y. Lee of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania think this is valuable infomation, but is it insulting to think that a name given at birth has the potential to be linked to criminality years later. This information could be used as a discriminating tool by many members of a community, being judged by your name is unconstitional and scary . I am sure the two individuals above have more important areas of research than this. Also MSNBC should be informing the general public of issues that effect them directly in these difficult times. BOOO to the article and MSNBC.

What a complete waste of taxpayers money, I am sure that David E. Kalist and Daniel Y. Lee of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania think this is valuable infomation, but is it insulting to think that a name given at birth has the potential to be linked to criminality years later, because two people say so. This information could be used as a discriminating tool by many members of a community, being judged by your name . I am sure the two individuals above have more important areas of research than this. Also MSNBC should be informing the general public of issues that effect them directly in these difficult times. BOOO to the article and MSNBC.

This is a load of crap in the extreme!

Wasnt Msnbc EXTREMELY biased during the elections? Why would anyone consider what they say credible? Just one more thing to get people to argue about.

There is so much diversity in the United States lately, hardly no one has a common name any longer. Also, from what I have noticed, many people try their hardest to name their kids unusual names purposely to not seem so common.

I dont give their findings anymore credence than I gave their biased opinions during the elections.

What a ridiculous article and a waste of funds.

I keep seeing the name JAILEY in our local newspaper. It's in the Blotter Briefs. Her parents must have been psychic!

The names make no difference, the test subjects are juvenile delinquents. Go to a debutante ball and then say names like Collingsworth, Ty, and Biff are more likely to be rich. Who approves these studies? This is a typical case of a theory being proved by making the study answer your theory questions the way you want them to. This will be torn apart upon peer review.

I recall reading that many serial killers have the middle name Wayne. Check out news of the weird, serial killers, middle name Wayne.

And we are back to looking at little 'Adolf Hitler Campbell' of new Jersey and his future fate. His nutty 'socially challenged' parents made him wear the ugly stigma of being associated with the most loathed villain of WWII.

Jailey would be a stigma, but Ivan...? The terrible? Who has any idea about history in America's trailer-parks?

What the study doesn't explain a difference between 'unpopular' names vs. those with 'negative connotation'. Usually pretty names like let's say Adam, Dakota, Adonis, River, or Elvis are more likely to make a child noticeable in a predictably named crowd of Michaels and Davids. A decent unique name is likely to be a slight bonus!

Overall the study sounds lame and is likely to cause more harm by implying some kind of 'inevitable fate'.

There is a web site called BABY'S GOT A BAD, BAD NAME. It's pretty funny, in a sad kind of way. What's with replacing any "I"'s with "Y"'s? (Gabryle, Chrystyana, Mykel, ...)

Of course, the "pretty" names of today will become passe in a couple generations. Whenever I hear of an odd name, I wonder how bad the labor was. How can a new mother look down at her baby and say, "Oh, little ETHEL....", or HERBERT, or FRED, or BERTHA.

Can't you just see Tiffany and Crystal as little old ladies in dirty housedresses, with their umpteen grandkids around them?

Read last week where some dimwits named their son Hitler ! What kind of a chance of a normal life do you think he is going to have ?

Judging from the news, a good number of criminals do have what I would call "creative names", or "creative spellings." Just today a couple of real dirt-bags were arrested for rape and robbery---Quintavius and Jhamail. I am sure that their names have a microscopic PNI (popularity-name index).

Certainly worked for a boy named Sue...

Just ask Johnny Cash

Come ooooooooon! Shame on MSNBC for covering such sluice and calling it news. Why doesn't some one ask OPRAH her opinion on such matters. Or better yet, ask some of the most famous murderers of our time: CHARLES Manson... TED Bundy... HENRY Lee Lucas...KENNETH Bianchi...PAMELA Smart & BILLY Flynn... if that doesnt satisfy your pathetic excuse for research try talking to RICHARD Allen Davis (who abducted from a slumber party and murdered 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993)... or other sexual predators like JAMES William Bell. Look at America's Most Wanted Dirty Dozen and you'll see that 6 of them have common names such as PAUL (2), MARK, JASON, ROBERT, and DAN, while the other 6 have uncommon names. WAIT!!!! How 'bout these luckily named researchers "David E. Kalist and Daniel Y. Lee of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania" do a follow up study and see if a preference for vanilla vs chocolate ice-cream "could help officials identify individuals at high risk of committing or recommitting crime, leading to more effective and targeted intervention programs." WHERE IS THE RECTIFIER WHEN WE NEED HIM ??? Wait...his real name was David...is that too weird?

I tend to think people with different names will be treated differently, at least initially by people who don't know them. A woman with the name of "Crystal" is more likely to be viewed as beautiful and sexy (or a wannabe), while a woman with the name "Kelly" would be viewed as strong. Though the name won't make them like that, their treatment due to people's perceptions of them may very well have an effect on them.

I do believe social circumstances are most likely to determine what a person becomes. Those same social circumstances affect name choices. In my area I can't help but notice that most of the violence I read about in the paper has characters with black and Hispanic names. Though I don't believe the name is the cause, I can't help but think that these people should have been named Tom, Mike, Sue, Mary rather than Darnell, Rayshawn, Sholanda, and Dyanne. It's SO often that when I just see one of these names I have a poor impression - though I know damn well that it isn't fair.

It seems to me that there have been numerous serial killers with the middle name of Wayne.

I had read a similar article in the past concerning the detrimental effects of having the middle name Wayne.

Whatever....

They forgot to lump in the name Wayne as a middle name.

In logic, that's called the Fallacy of Conversion - B follow A, therefore A caused B.

By that logic train, a lack of aspirin in your diet causes headaches!

Barack Hussein Obama...Pretty unusual, better watch out for those criminal tendencies.

I will probably get flamed on this site for that. A lot of slobbering love-fest types here.

this is very true for i have a name that is from a asian country. I hope they could help these youths. in school i would hate when the teacher mispronounce my name. I would turn red ashamed at my birth nam. that is why i hated to go to regular school. instead i haveto get in fights to defend my pride. in order to getmy respect. as i grew up i realized if i had stayed in school my my name didnt matter rather than my grades did.I am now tryng to get my life toghter by trying to get off parole.

Well, I guess I'm screwed, my name is Duke.