CHAPTER 6 - WHAT MAKES A PERFECT PARENT? PART II

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  • Conventional wisdom suggests that naming is correlated with success, but the authors point out that this correlation extends much farther back than naming. In most cases, the names parents give their children reflect their social backgrounds and social classes. 
  •  The author recounts an incident involving a New York City man named Robert Lane who named his son "Winner" and his next son "Loser." Loser Lane succeeded in life, rising to the rank of a police officer in New York City, where he was nicknamed Lou by his colleagues. In contrast, Winner Lane has been arrested nearly 30 times.
  • The author recalls another incident where a mother named her daughter Temptress, intending to call her Tempestt, and the girl later brought many men into the house while her mother was at work. Levitt then poses the question: does a child's name influence his life, or does his name reflect the lives of his parents?
  • Giving a child a name is the first step in parents' belief that they can determine who the child will become.
  • As names often have cultural connections, different cultures have different associations with them.
  • According to economist Roland G. Fryer Jr., blacks and whites consume different media, smoke different cigarettes, and name their children differently.
  • Whether this distinctive black culture contributes to the economic disparity between blacks and whites was a question Fryer posed.
  • In a California study, Fryer discovered how white and black parents name their children differently.
  • In addition, the same data revealed that children with uniquely black names - which has been a recent phenomenon since the early 1970s - often have parents who also have a unique black name and come from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
  • The number of names given to babies by white parents is four times higher than that of black parents.
  • Several studies have found that resumes with traditional "white" names at the top are more likely to be called for an interview.
  • According to Fryer's study of California data, people with black names are more likely to have a lower income than those with white names.
  • As a result of socioeconomic backgrounds and opportunities, it is more likely that children with unique black names come from less advantaged families.
  • There is a clear relationship between income and names, even among the most popular white names.
  • There is a trend that once a name becomes popular among wealthy parents, it then gradually descends through the socioeconomic ladder.
  • According to the data, parents choose their children's names with the hope that their names will influence their child's personalities, but in the end, names don't seem to matter much.



Economics is a fascinating subject because it touches on almost every aspect of life. This makes it a very broad field, but also a very challenging one. If you want to get a good understanding of economics, then you'll need to spend some time reading about it. You can start by looking at these book summaries and recommendations.

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