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unenlightenedgoblin t1_ixqtwsb wrote

I assume anyone with a name like this is a Republican, or was at least raised by one

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beingsubmitted OP t1_ixqwz7b wrote

I disagree... On one hand, it is associated with the south, but on the other hand, I wouldn't expect name uniqueness to correlate with "reverence for tradition".

Conservatism is associated with a distaste for change and abhors anything "newfangled". I don't see how that goes hand in hand with inventing new names.

Being poor or lower class, on the other hand, likely correlates with a desire for uniqueness or any form of status, so I would entertain that hypothesis, and I imagine that's who you're picturing.

But the percentage of Republicans hasn't changed and so wouldn't explain the growth in popularity, which suggests any correlation would be indirect. I expect the growth in popularity is due to the internet and contrary to rural people. In my parents life, there were historical figures, some people on TV, and the people who lived in your town. No one else really existed. We meet and interact in social circles many orders of magnitude larger, which I think both increases the amount that we value uniqueness, and raises our threshold for what qualifies. The bigger your "world", the more unique a baby name you'll likely choose.

EDIT: not complaining, but the downvotes surprise me. I'm not sure if they're from members of the political left who don't like "eigh" or from members of the political right who feel I've taken a reductive stance on their beliefs. I just don't see a compelling hypothesis for linking republicans and "eigh" and I do find it compelling to believe more conservative people would tend to more conservative names. I don't see that the data are affected by the southern strategy, or anything other than southern states.

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unenlightenedgoblin t1_ixr0a22 wrote

The correlation I had in mind were rural whites without a college education. The map seems to back me up.

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beingsubmitted OP t1_ixrc5lw wrote

Again, I wouldn't see any reason to correlate it with education level or rural people. The map really only shows that it's a southern thing.

Sure the south could have more rural white without a college education, but it also has more fresh peaches and warmer weather. You can't connect all of those things.

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unenlightenedgoblin t1_ixrg6n2 wrote

California also has fresh peaches and warm weather.

Montana also has a lot of ‘eighs’

I’m sticking to my hypothesis

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guiltysnark t1_ixqyqhl wrote

Both fair points, but I would expect it to be associated with horses, and with numbers between seven and nine

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unenlightenedgoblin t1_ixt2mmj wrote

Responding to your edit: your data literally shows that there’s nothing unique about these names anymore. I also never explicitly mentioned income—I think that’s less predictive than race, education, and place of residence.

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beingsubmitted OP t1_ixt6siv wrote

Just because it's less unique doesn't mean it's not done for uniqueness. "Paisley" is already a word, "Paizleigh" is a strategy to be unique. It's certainly not traditional or closed minded.

It's also still really unique. At its peak, "eigh" appears in 1.5% of new baby names in Mississippi.

Finally, it obviously doesn't matter if income is less predictive of "eigh" than race, education, or place of residence. The question is whether it's more predictive than political affiliation.

If you had explicitly said something about income, then my statement "I imagine that's who you're picturing" would have instead been "I understand that's who you're picturing".

By what means would you hypothesize a causal link from education level to use of "eigh" in a name?

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unenlightenedgoblin t1_ixt8a82 wrote

I can’t prove causality, I could prove correlation, but frankly it isn’t worth the effort to gather and interpret all the necessary data. If you’re interested, I’d encourage you to test the correlation that I suggest.

If I were to string together an anecdotal argument for causality, however, it would be a sense of threatened white identity. The linkages between this belief and Republican political affiliation are well-documented. To extend this to the significant trend and spatial distribution in names your data shows (1.5% is significant from a possible sample of 000s of names), I would contend that this is a form of ‘defensive’ cultural consolidation of rural whites who feel threatened by national shifts in ethnic composition, share of college-educated adults, and economic growth heavily favoring metropolitan areas.

It’s a way of saying ‘we’re different, we’re not like them’

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beingsubmitted OP t1_ixu3b2b wrote

>1.5% is significant from a possible sample of 000s of names

A percentage is already "out of". It's already a ratio.

How would fearing a loss of identity lead to abandoning that identity and inventing a new one?

Fearing a loss of identity is not the same as trying to establish an identity. It's very much the opposite.

I see no compelling reason for the hypothesis you suggest.

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