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[Opinions] Re: I have a question about bias in the naming process.
One of the ironies of life is that in social science research one can often say things about large groups with more accuracy than one can say them about a particular individual. So one can certainly see how classism, racism, and sexism affect what names are popular or unpopular with certain groups in specific times and places, but it is much more difficult to get firm evidence on how they affect a particular individual parent and their name choice.By the way, though the three you mention certainly influence perceptions of names, the "ism" that is most obvious in how people have chosen names for the last century is ageism. Very few young parents want to give their child a name which in their mind is associated with gray hair and wrinkles, especially for female names. Many names people will tell you "sound ugly" actually are "ugly" to them because they associate them with the elderly, not because their sound is actually inherently unpleasant.
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Thank you.
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