But among serial murderers, the tradition of naming a child after the father seems to be alive and well (excuse the terrible joke). At that time, 3% of the general population was named for a father, and that number has been supposedly decreasing over time. That's over 11% of them! This number seems particularly high, but the only article I found that listed data on the percentage of honorific names in the population referred to studies from the 1940's. Out of 201 names, 23 of these serial killers have Jr/III/IV at the end of their names. However, I'm going to use the term here to specifically refer to names directly taken from fathers and grandfathers, names that end in Jr., III, IV, etc. This could be anything from using Charlotte to honor Uncle Charlie, Ruby to honor Grandma's birthstone,ĭenali in honor of her parents' honeymoon site, etc. The name community uses the term 'honorific name' to refer to the practice of choosing a name for a child that celebrates a relative, friend, or place important to the parents. Which brings me to another interesting finding. The name has been decreasing in popularity since 1900, and since many of the killers listed were born in the twentieth century, it may indicate that their families had stronger-than-average ties to the South, or the tradition of using honorific names. Lee - many Southern parents chose the name Lee to honor him in the decades after the war. Lee's popularity over time is directly related to the Confederate Civil War general Robert E. I'm eager to access real data someday and follow this theory. Wayne! Based on my not-super-scientific data, there may be a correlation between criminals and use of the name. The other two names rank much lower for the general male population versus the serial killer summation: Lee and Wayne. Of the 13 names listed above, 11 fall into the 25 most popular names for men in the United States over the past century: Joseph, Edward, John, Richard, David, Robert, Michael, Charles, William, James, Anthony. * = One name would be added if nicknames were to be included
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