What’s in a Name? (3)

“And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him Bill or George! Anything but Sue! I still hate that name!” (from “A Boy Named Sue” by Shel Silverstein)

Do children with uncommon names tend to be disruptive in school? If you believe that a name is a mere artificial and meaningless convention, you would say no. But research has shown otherwise. In a recent paper David E. Kalist and I coauthored, (“First Names and Crime: Does Unpopularity Spell Trouble?” ), we cite the research by David Figlio (2007) who found that boys who were given girls’ names were prone to be more disruptive in classrooms. In response to our research, many people reminded us that this was nothing new, as Shel Silverstein wrote about it years ago and Jonny Cash sang about it.

When my children were little, they really loved books written by Sheldon Alan "Shel" Silverstein (1930-1999), such as “A Light in the Attic,” “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” and “The Giving Tree.” I also enjoyed reading those books with my daughters. We liked his poems such as

I thought that I had wavy hair
Until I shaved. Instead,
I find that I have straight hair
And a very wavy head.

Only recently I learned that Silverstein wrote adult-themed books and poems. The song, “A Boy Named Sue,” is about a boy whose father left home when he was only three years old. The only things that his father left for his mom and him were his old guitar and an empty bottle of liquor. The boy blamed his dad for giving him a girl’s name (“the meanest thing that he ever did”). He was constantly teased by a lot of people for his name. Women would giggle when they heard his name and his face would get red. Guys would laugh and he would hit them back. His life was not easy. He had to grow up quickly.

Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean,
My fist got hard and my wits got keen,
I'd roam from town to town to hide my shame.
But I made a vow to the moon and stars
That I'd search the honky-tonks and bars
And kill that man who gave me that awful name.

One summer day, he walked into an old saloon and saw his dad sitting there, whom he recognized from a worn-out photo that his mom had.

Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad
From a worn-out picture that my mother'd had,
And I knew that scar on his cheek and his evil eye.
He was big and bent and gray and old,
And I looked at him and my blood ran cold
And I said: "My name is 'Sue!' How do you do!
Now you're gonna die!!"

So a fight broke out between the two men. It was an intense struggle, involving a knife, busted chair, blood, and even guns. As they stared at each other with guns in their hands, the father explained to him why he had given the name. He knew that the world is a rough place and he would not be around to help his son. He told his son, “I knew you'd have to get tough or die. And it's the name that helped to make you strong." Now he knew that his son grew up a tough man. He said, “And I know you hate me, and you got the right. To kill me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you do. But you ought to thank me, before I die.” This explanation helps the son understand his father a little better. Here is the conclusion:

I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
And I called him my pa, and he called me his son,
And I came away with a different point of view.
And I think about him, now and then,
Every time I try and every time I win,
And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him
Bill or George! Anything but Sue! I still hate that name!

Now, before you nod your head on the good intention of this father, consider this follow-up lyric by Silverstein for a song called “Father of a Boy Named Sue.” In its introduction, Silverstein said: “Okay now years ago I wrote a song called A Boy Named Sue and that was okay. And everything except then I started to think about it and I thought It is unfair I am looking at the whole thing from the poor kid's point of view. And as I get more older and more fatherly I begin to look at things from an old man's point of view. So I decided to give the old man equal time. okay here we go.”

Yeah I lef' home when the kid was three and it
sure felt good to be fancy free Tho I knew it
wasn't quite the fatherly thing to do But that
kid kept screamin' and throwin' up and
pissin' in his pants til I had enough So just
for revenge I went and named him Sue Yeah it was
Gatlinberg in mid July I was gettin' drunk but
gettin' by Gettin' old and goin' from bad to worse
When thru the door with an awful scream comes the
ugliest queen I've ever seen He says my name is
Sue how do you do then he hits me with his purse

I don’t think this is a song that the boy named Sue would love to hear. But it makes us stop to think about how and why we parents name our children the way we do. In response to our research, some readers expressed their skepticism about our research results, pointing out that some people with unusual names do very well (e.g., Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey) while some men with common names become criminals (e.g., Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer). Of course, our study found a statistical correlation between first names and crime based on tens of thousands names; the results may or may not apply to a particular name. In addition, we concluded, “Unpopular names are likely not the cause of crime but correlated with factors that increase the tendency toward juvenile delinquency, such as a disadvantaged home environment and residence in a county with low socioeconomic status.” Good parenting matters much more than giving a good name.

Bill Cosby, speaking about black culture at an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, said, “With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail.” This sounds controversial. But I don’t think he meant that names caused some people to turn to crime. He added: “When we give these kinds names to our children, we give them the strength and inspiration in the meaning of those names. What’s the point of giving them strong names if there is not parenting and values backing it up?” I couldn’t agree more.