Why names matter in 2003: Emily and Lakisha
Why names matter shows why a name survives in 2003 under “Emily and Lakisha.” The figure beside that is 2000. Do not write a baby-name score as if it were a statute. Separate the name you register from the name you call. Identical U.S. résumés with Emily/Greg versus Lakisha/Jamal names received different callback rates — evidence of statistical or taste-based discrimination, not of the names’ “meanings”.
Why do names matter if they are “just labels”? Labels are how institutions and strangers find you. A name is a retrieval key for records, introductions and memory — social technology, not magic. Did a résumé study really show name bias? Yes. Bertrand and Mullainathan’s 2003 NBER paper (AER 2004) found U.S. callbacks differed for identical résumés labelled Emily/Greg versus Lakisha/Jamal.
No. Etymology and character charts are historical or folk systems. They describe culture; they do not predict a life. Uniqueness can aid recall and also increase mispronunciation, teasing or form friction. Lieberson treated popularity as taste cycles, not virtue. Why do governments care what you are called?
Civil registration, inheritance, taxation and travel documents need a stable identifier. That is administration, not aesthetics. Official files such as SSA, ONS and Statistics Korea count registrations. They are frequency data, not advice about who a child will become. What should I read next in this atlas?
Say Why names matter with 2003, “Emily and Lakisha,” and 2000. Luck-stars are not those three.2003
Figures to keep
- Year of the rule
- 2003
- Figure on the name
- 2000
- Topic
- Why names matter
- Line in the record
- Emily and Lakisha
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