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HelpRe: African American Names
in reply to a message by RB Constance
I am pretty suspicious of this list's accuracy; since they're in alphabetical rather than order of popularity, it makes me wonder what kind of actual research went into it.
I also see Isis listed. Seeing as how Isis fell very quickly off the top 1000 lists after about 2011, I doubt it could rank as a popular name in 2018.
Lots of those names are or were very popular across the board; others like Diamond and Imani were definitely "black names" but seem to have hit their peak and fallen out of popularity ten or twenty years ago.
I do wish there was an accurate list of popular baby names according to race or ethnicity, but of course gathering and proving people's ethnic background info, and accounting for everybody with multiple ethnic backgrounds, would make that pretty near impossible.
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you criticize him, you're a mile away and you have his shoes!
Steve Martin
I also see Isis listed. Seeing as how Isis fell very quickly off the top 1000 lists after about 2011, I doubt it could rank as a popular name in 2018.
Lots of those names are or were very popular across the board; others like Diamond and Imani were definitely "black names" but seem to have hit their peak and fallen out of popularity ten or twenty years ago.
I do wish there was an accurate list of popular baby names according to race or ethnicity, but of course gathering and proving people's ethnic background info, and accounting for everybody with multiple ethnic backgrounds, would make that pretty near impossible.
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you criticize him, you're a mile away and you have his shoes!
Steve Martin
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It comes from local government data, which might not be compiled as quickly as national - and probably includes more than one year's worth, would be my guess.
I think it is accurate, but it's not distinguishing "how black" or "how white" etc the usages are. Lots of popular usages are used by multiple groups. I was looking for that NYC data recently, and the newest available includes births '12-'17. It was broken down by ethnicity, and almost every name that charted for any group, charted for them all. Except for a few that were highly ethnically specific to Hispanic, white and/or Jewish, and black groups - virtually all of which, I think most Americans could guess the ethnicity of easily. There were many that were "more black / more white / more Hispanic" than others but not generally by huge margins.
I agree that categorizing people by race/ethnicity in this way, is a little sketchy though - and probably can't tease out "African-American" names specifically, without someone assuming things based on some experience.
Of the 11 Isises born 2011-13 in NYC, 4 were characterized as black non-Hispanic and the rest as Hispanic.
https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Health/Popular-Baby-Names/25th-nujf
Here's another thingy purporting to analyze the NYC data https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/What-Baby-Names-Tell-Us-About-Ethnic-and-Gender-Trends.pdf
I think it is accurate, but it's not distinguishing "how black" or "how white" etc the usages are. Lots of popular usages are used by multiple groups. I was looking for that NYC data recently, and the newest available includes births '12-'17. It was broken down by ethnicity, and almost every name that charted for any group, charted for them all. Except for a few that were highly ethnically specific to Hispanic, white and/or Jewish, and black groups - virtually all of which, I think most Americans could guess the ethnicity of easily. There were many that were "more black / more white / more Hispanic" than others but not generally by huge margins.
I agree that categorizing people by race/ethnicity in this way, is a little sketchy though - and probably can't tease out "African-American" names specifically, without someone assuming things based on some experience.
Of the 11 Isises born 2011-13 in NYC, 4 were characterized as black non-Hispanic and the rest as Hispanic.
https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Health/Popular-Baby-Names/25th-nujf
Here's another thingy purporting to analyze the NYC data https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/What-Baby-Names-Tell-Us-About-Ethnic-and-Gender-Trends.pdf
This message was edited 7/7/2021, 10:17 AM
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I would have liked it if they included more research on how they compiled the information too.
It would be interesting to see how naming trends vary with different ethnic backgrounds, but I would be wary if the government started sorting information based on ethnicity, and people would probably start lying because they wouldn't see the need to supply the government with even more infomation.
Imani does seem like a fairly common name among African Americans, and it is included as such on BtN. Diamond kind of surprised me because it doesn't strike me as African American; I do associate it with socio-economics though.
It would be interesting to see how naming trends vary with different ethnic backgrounds, but I would be wary if the government started sorting information based on ethnicity, and people would probably start lying because they wouldn't see the need to supply the government with even more infomation.
Imani does seem like a fairly common name among African Americans, and it is included as such on BtN. Diamond kind of surprised me because it doesn't strike me as African American; I do associate it with socio-economics though.
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