Most Common Middle-Income White Girl Names
1. Sarah
2. Emily
3. Jessica
4. Lauren
5. Ashley
6. Amanda
7. Megan
8. Samantha
9. Hannah
10. Rachel
11. Nicole
12. Taylor
13. Elizabeth
14. Katherine
15. Madison
16. Jennifer
17. Alexandra
18. Brittany
19. Danielle
20. Rebecca
Most Common Low-Income White Girl Names
1. Ashley
2. Jessica
3. Amanda
4. Samantha
5. Brittany
6. Sarah
7. Kayla
8. Amber
9. Megan
10. Taylor
11. Emily
12. Nicole
13. Elizabeth
14. Heather
15. Alyssa
16. Stephanie
17. Jennifer
18. Hannah
19. Courtney
20. Rebecca
There is considerable overlap, to be sure. But keep in mind that these are the most common names of all, and consider the size of the data set. The difference between consecutive positions on these lists may represent several hundred or even several thousand children. So if Brittany is number five on the low-income list and number eighteen on the middle-income list, you can be assured that Brittany is a decidedly low-end name. Other examples are even more pronounced. Five names in each category don’t appear at all in the other category’s top twenty. Here are the top five names among high-end and low-end families, in order of their relative disparity with the other category:
Most Common High-End White Girl Names
1. Alexandra
2. Lauren
3. Katherine
4. Madison
5. Rachel
Most Common Low-End White Girl Names
1. Amber
2. Heather
3. Kayla
4. Stephanie
5. Alyssa
And for the boys:
Most Common High-End White Boy Names
1. Benjamin
2. Samuel
3. Jonathan
4. Alexander
5. Andrew
Most Common Low-End White Boy Names
1. Cody
2. Brandon
3. Anthony
4. Justin
5. Robert
Considering the relationship between income and names, and given the fact that income and education are strongly correlated, it is not surprising to find a similarly strong link between the parents’ level of education and the name they give their baby. Once again drawing from the pool of most common names among white children, here are the top picks of highly educated parents versus those with the least education:
Most Common White Girl Names Among High-Education Parents
1. Katherine
2. Emma
3. Alexandra
4. Julia
5. Rachel
Most Common White Girl Names Among Low-Education Parents
1. Kayla
2. Amber
3. Heather
4. Brittany
5. Brianna
Most Common White Boy Names Among High-Education Parents
1. Benjamin
2. Samuel
3. Alexander
4. John
5. William
Most Common White Boy Names Among Low-Education Parents
1. Cody
2. Travis
3. Brandon
4. Justin
5. Tyler
The effect is even more pronounced when the sample is widened beyond the most common names. Drawing from the entire California database, here are the names that signify the most poorly educated white parents.
The Twenty White Girl Names
That Best Signify Low-Education Parents*
(Average number of years of mother’s education in parentheses)
1. Angel (11.38)
2. Heaven (11.46)
3. Misty (11.61)
4. Destiny (11.66)
5. Brenda (11.71)
6. Tabatha (11.81)
7. Bobbie (11.87)
8. Brandy (11.89)
9. Destinee (11.91)
10. Cindy (11.92)
11. Jazmine (11.94)
12. Shyanne (11.96)
13. Britany (12.05)
14. Mercedes (12.06)
15. Tiffanie (12.08)
16. Ashly (12.11)
17. Tonya (12.13)
18. Crystal (12.15)
19. Brandie (12.16)
20. Brandi (12.17)
If you or someone you love is named Cindy or Brenda and is over, say, forty, and feels that those names did not formerly connote a low-education family, you are right. These names, like many others, have shifted hard and fast of late. Some of the other low-education names are obviously misspellings, whether intentional or not, of more standard names. In most cases the standard spellings of the names—Tabitha, Cheyenne, Tiffany, Brittany, and Jasmine—also signify low education. But the various spellings of even one name can reveal a strong disparity:
Ten “Jasmines” in Ascending Order of Maternal Education
(Years of mother’s education in parentheses)
1. Jazmine (11.94)
2. Jazmyne (12.08)
3. Jazzmin (12.14)
4. Jazzmine (12.16)
5. Jasmyne (12.18)
6. Jasmina (12.50)
7. Jazmyn (12.77)
8. Jasmine (12.88)
9. Jasmin (13.12)
10. Jasmyn (13.23)
Here is the list of low-education white boy names. It includes the occasional misspelling (Micheal and Tylor), but more common is the nickname-as-proper-name trend.
The Twenty White Boy Names
That Best Signify Low-Education Parents*
(Years of mother’s education in parentheses)
1. Ricky (11.55)
2. Joey (11.65)
3. Jessie (11.66)
4. Jimmy (11.66)
5. Billy (11.69)
6. Bobby (11.74)
7. Johnny (11.75)
8. Larry (11.80)
9. Edgar (11.81)
10. Steve (11.84)
11. Tommy (11.89)
12. Tony (11.96)
13. Micheal (11.98)
14. Ronnie (12.03)
15. Randy (12.07)
16. Jerry (12.08)
17. Tylor (12.14)
18. Terry (12.15)
19. Danny (12.17)
20. Harley (12.22)
Now for the names that signify the highest level of parental education. These names don’t have much in common, phonetically or aesthetically, with the low-education names. The girls’ names are in most regards diverse, though with a fair share of literary and otherwise artful touches. A caution to prospective parents who are shopping for a “smart” name: remember that such a name won’t make your child smart; it will, however, give her the same name as other smart kids—at least for a while. (For a much longer and more varied list of girls’ and boys’ names, see Notes)
The Twenty White Girl Names
That Best Signify High-Education Parents*
(Years of mother’s education in parentheses)
1. Lucienne (16.60)
2. Marie-Claire (16.50)
3. Glynnis (16.40)
4. Adair (16.36)
5. Meira (16.27)
6. Beatrix (16.26)
7. Clementine (16.23)
8. Philippa (16.21)
9. Aviva (16.18)
10. Flannery (16.10)
11. Rotem (16.08)
12. Oona (16.00)
13. Atara (16.00)
14. Linden (15.94)
15. Waverly (15.93)
16. Zofia (15.88)
17. Pascale (15.82)
18. Eleanora (15.80)
19. Elika (15.80)
20. Neeka (15.77)
Now for the boys’ names that are turning up these days in high-education households. This list is particularly heavy on the Hebrew, with a noticeable trend toward Irish traditionalism.