Re: Just talked to the NY Times about...
in reply to a message by Cleveland Kent Evans
Well, not being in the States I don't know ... but I'm going on some comments on the BabyCenter naming polls! "Our heavenly angel", etc, and the wish for a "biblical" name (!) that's also uncommon. Of course, that kind of stat is terminally flawed but it must be hard to get a sample population that isn't self-selecting for all naming stats work.
Replies
Well, believe it or not, neither the impulse to think of one's daughter as a "heavenly angel" or the desire to have a "Biblical" name are restricted to evangelical Christians. Stanley Lieberson, the sociologist at Harvard who does research on naming patterns, has found that in the USA people who are regular church-goers are somewhat LESS likely to give their children real Biblical names than non-church-goers are. The impulse to give one's child a "Biblical" name is often a desire for a sense of historical depth rather than a statement about one's spiritual beliefs. :)