American Baby Names Are Somehow Getting Even Worse
This piece on baby names by Drew Magary made me laugh out loud. I sent it to my wife, and she laughed so hard she cried.
View ArticleA Freakonomics Radio Bleg: What’s Your Name?
Want to be part of an episode of Freakonomics Radio? We’re working on a podcast about names and we want to hear from readers and listeners about their own names — common ones, unusual ones, everything...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An App for Names
Our latest Freakonomics Radio podcast is called “How Much Does Your Name Matter?” A listener named Mark Edmond wrote in to tell us about Nametrix, a names app he created: I’m a new dad who was...
View ArticleA Story About Names Never Fails to Get Our Attention
Our recent podcast “How Much Does Your Name Really Matter?” generated a lot of response. Here are a few interesting ones. First, from F.D. Stein of Tennessee: Loved this podcast; sorry you guys did not...
View ArticleJudge to Mom: “Thou Shalt Not Name Thy Child ‘Messiah’”
Just another false messiah, it seems. From the Associated Press: A judge in Tennessee changed a 7-month-old boy’s name to Martin from Messiah, saying the religious name was earned by one person and...
View ArticleA Baby Name That Really Tells You Something About the Parents
The underlying point of everything we’ve ever written about baby names is that the name is essentially the parents’ signal to the world of what they think of their kid — whether it’s a signal of...
View ArticleSure-Fire Baby Names
Abby Haglage reports in The Daily Beast of an apparent uptick in firearm-inspired baby names. In 2002, only 194 babies were named Colt, while in 2012 there were 955. Just 185 babies were given the name...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is It Time to Start a Strange Name Hall of Fame?
(Photo: Russ Morris) We should probably start a Strange Name Hall of Fame at some point to chronicle all the weird, wonderful, terrible names that readers have passed along to us since we first wrote...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Where Have All the Bobs Gone?
Last Bob in sports? (Photo: Bradjward) Jon Bois at SB Nation writes about the disappearance of Bobs in sports: Across the histories of Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, and NCAA...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bad News for People With Hard-to-Pronounce Names
(Photo: Fady Aziz) If you have one of those names that people are always struggling to pronounce, we have some bad news for you. A new paper (ungated version here) by Simon M. Laham, Peter Koval, and...
View ArticleThe FREAK-est Links
Man who “sold his soul” on e-Bay speaks out. (Earlier) Baby named “Wrigley Fields” by Cub fan parents. (Earlier) Low on pork, China opens its strategic pig reserves. Can 25 divided by 5 equal 14? Spot...
View ArticleFREAK-TV: Name Your Kid Fido If You Want
Video The latest FREAK-TV video features Levitt discussing the ever-interesting topic of naming your kid. We have had many people write to us since the book came out to say they chose their baby’s...
View ArticleThe FREAK-est Links
The key to good health? Eat more garbage. Technology meets baby naming. (HT: BoingBoing) New report says global warming kills more Europeans than car accidents. (Earlier) Which ten businesses will be...
View ArticleThe FREAK-est Links
New York’s most popular baby names in 2006. (Earlier) The science of four-letter words. Can immigration levels affect gas prices? College pharmacies jack up birth control prices, fewer women fill...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Indexed: Baby-Name Edition
Here’s the latest from Jessica Hagy, the creator of Indexed and our regular guest blogger: The post Indexed: Baby-Name Edition appeared first on Freakonomics.
View ArticleThe FREAK-est Links
Divorce is bad for the environment. Survey shows that doctors fail to report each others’ errors. (Earlier) A complete compilation of science fiction baby names. (Earlier) Researchers study zebra...
View ArticleThe FREAK-est Links
Professor invents book-writing machine. Are toddlers masters of data-mining? (Earlier) Study finds teenage fathers at greater risk of producing unhealthy babies. “Britney” plummets from list of most...
View ArticleThe FREAK-est Links
The baby names debate continues. (Earlier) Head of new NYC Office of Financial Empowerment answers questions. (Earlier) Is public peer review necessary in security? (Earlier) Dirty, dirty biofuel The...
View ArticleWhat's in a Name? Four Thousand and Fifty Dollars
It may be a gag, but from the looks of this eBay page, someone just sold the naming rights for her unborn baby — and two pairs of Nike Air baby booties — for $4,050. She doesn’t care what name the...
View ArticleThe World Wide Web Keeps it Local
Rather than create a “global village,” the Internet may have actually “shrunk people’s horizons,” reports an Economist article about a new study by Hebrew University researchers Jacob Goldenberg and...
View Article