March 7, 2008...4:32 pm

Freakonomics Baby Name Predictions

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freakonomics.jpg

Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Steven Dunbar, is one of the most interesting books we’ve read in the past year.  Part of the book is about names and the impact they have on a person’s life.  For example, does having an ethnic sounding name hurt one’s chances for a job? (They were surprised to find it did not).  It also analyzes how names become popular.  They say names climb through the echelons of society.  Dunbar and Levitt included a list of names they predict will be very popular in 2015:

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9 Comments

  • i’m sorry…are these even real names? aviva? finnegan? mcgregor? waverly?

  • elizabethlaney
    March 7, 2008 at 4:49 pm

    I can’t believe Carter is on the list! How sad. Also Cooper and Oliver. I love those names. :( No Cricket though!

  • I wonder how they manage to predict what names will be popular in the future. Economists are very good at predicting numbers but predicting non-numerical stuff is kind of hard (if not impossible.)

  • elizabethlaney
    March 7, 2008 at 7:01 pm

    Leafless- interestingly, 80% of these names have increased in popularity each year since 05 when the book was written. It really is a fascinating book about appling economic principles to society if you are interested in that.

  • skinnylegsandall
    April 10, 2008 at 5:43 pm

    Where’s Slade?
    Tom Robbins books.Start with Skinnylegsandall.Are you a brace soul?

  • My Favorites:

    Maximillian, McGregor, Oliver
    Annika, Clementine, Sophie, Waverly

  • I like Annika and would have had a Maximilian back in 1991 but ended up with a Sophia instead.

    I also have a boy named Griffin and a girl named Truly. Any takers on those or will you allow my little ones to keep them all to themselves?

  • @ g-love

    A quick google would have given you the information you needed before asking such an asinine[1] question.

    [1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/asinine

  • Hmm… wonder which website you cut and pasted that table from, without giving any credit…

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