PRESCHOOL CHILDREN'S
SELECTION OF RACE-RELATED
PERSONAL NAMES
JERLEAN E.DANIEL,
JACK L.DANIEL
University ofPitubugh
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PERSONALNAMES
Personal names are connected to cultural phenomena such as
personal and collective identity, social class distinctions, religious
affiliations, positive and negative character traits, and practically
every human virtue. Regarding the process of naming, Lieberson
and Bell (1992) indicated,
The naming activity is ultimately a social process, and the resulting
pattern of name usage reflects the combined influence of the imagery associated with cach name, the notions parents have about the
future characteristics of their children, estimates of the response of
others to the name, the awareness and knowledge of names through
the mass media and other sources, parents' beliefs about what are
appropriate children's names for persons of their status, and institutionalized norms and pressures. (p. 5 14)
Commenting on the profound importance of naming, Mumford
(1956) wrote, "the act of naming was a godlike process, a second
creation; when one had gotten possession of a name, one seemed
to exercise command over the object it identified" (p. 17). BosmaAUI'I1ORS' NOTE: The auhors wish lo hank Cam1 E. Baker: Unlversiry of
Pittsburgh director of the OJice of Measurement and Evaluation of Teaching,and
her stqffor rltcir assistance with data analysis.
IOURNALOP B U C K STUDIES, Vol. 28 NO. 4, Mucb 1
M 471490
0 1998 S O P PubUcdonh InC.
47 I
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472
JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES I MARCH 1998
jian (1974) observed that, ‘The magic of words and names has
always been an integral part of both ‘primitive’ and ‘civilized’
societies” (p. 1). Quoting Hertzler, Bosmajian indicated that
“among both primitives and modems, an individual has no definition, no validity for himself, without a name. His name is his badge
of individuality, the means whereby he identifies himself and enters
upon a truly subjective existence” (p. 3).
Numerous studies have examined the effects of personal names
on various forms of attribution, includingperceived physical attnctiveness, intelligence, ethnicity, religion, and popularity. In his
assessment of the “destiny of a name,” Slovenko (1983) observed
that, “In a way similar to one’s physical appearance, skin color, or
other human characteristics, a new name affects the person-perception
process. It is an attribute variable” (p. 235). The effects of personal
names on perceived physical attractiveness has been demonstrated
by a number of researchers (Erwin, 1993; Hassebrauck, 1988;
Hensley & Spencer, 1985; Steele & Smithwrick, 1989). Willis,
Willis, and Gier (1982) studied the relationships between unusual
personal names, family income, and completion of professional
education.
Young, Kennedy, Newhouse, Browne, and Thiessen (1993) indicated that, in the absence of additional information, some personal names are judged to be less intelligent, less popular, or less
creative than other names @. 1783). Joubert (1993) reviewed
empirically based research on given names, and indicated that
“liking of one’s own names was related to some variables, including
self-esteem. Unusual names apparently do have some effect, often
a negative one. Personal names tend to have certain stereotypes
associated with age, intelligence, attractiveness, and other dimensions” (p. 1123). In concluding his review of the empirical literature,
Joubert indicated, “Sex, age, intelligence, ethnicity, and general
activity are among the dimensions that seem to be name-associated“
(p. I 140).
Personal and surnames also play significant roles in inducing
and responding to racial, religious, gender, and ethnic oppression,
As part of the strategy to reinforce the psychological dimensions
of American chattel slavery, Africans were denied their African
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Daniel, Daniel I RACERELATED PERSONAL NAMES
473
names and given the names of their masters by their masters. The
provision of slave names and the inculcation of negative stereotypes for things related to Africa were aspects of what Woodson
(1977) called the “miseducation of the Negro.” Over time, particularly since the civil rights movement of the 196Os, many African
Americans began a renaming process whereby they assumed
authentic African andor created names that signaled pride in their
African cultural heritage (Asante, 1991). Athletes such as Cassius
Clay and Lewis Alcindor changed their names to Muhammad Ali
and Kaneem Abdul Jabar, respectively. More recently, African Americans have developed somewhat unique names such as Shaquanda,
Shaquille, and Raheem.
Whereas some African Americans engaged in name changing to
signal an embracing of their African and African American cultural
heritage, a different phenomenon was observed for Jews between
1812 and 1933. For many Jews, changing to names not identified
as “Jewish” became a significant response to anti-Semitism (Bering, 1992).
Given the importance of personal names as cultural signals, and
given the continued presence of racism as a major American
problem, this study examined the extent to which children who
were enrolled in Head Start made behavioral and character attributions to White- and African American-related personal names.
In addition to racial prejudice being stimulated by factors such as
skin color and hair texture, one of our basic concerns is related to
the possibility of personal names serving as stimuli for young
children to make race-related stereotypical responses.
LANGUAGE (NAMES) AS
A SOCIALINTEGRATOR AND DIVIDER
For the purposes of this study, it is very important to keep in
mind “the dominant role which languageplays in shaping the social
and culturd identity of groups” and individuals (Stockman &
Vaughn-Cooke, 1991, p. 82). Moreover, “the child‘s acquisition of
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474
JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES /MARCH 1998
spoken language must be viewed as a prerequisite for full participation in a cultural group” (FanonJ967, p. 82).
As important as language is to the process of personal and
collective identification, the same identification processes simultaneously fragment members of society. According to Mumford
(1956),
Those who speak the language with the right tone and inflection,
using the familiar vocabulary, arc kinsmen, neighbors, fellows:
people to trust. Those who do not are outsiders and enemies. , , So
the deepest of bonds became in time one of the greatest of barriers
between the tribes and races of man; and man’s most universal
artifact, the spoken word, because it is so deeply steeped in the
individuality of experience, became an obstacle to the union of
mankind. (p. 1)
.
Language (names), as an integral part of the socialization process, provides young children with categories to impose on experiences. As Samples (1976) noted, “Ourbirth is our entry into the
world that cultures have built. With the acquisition of verbal labels,
the organization of the world begins” (p. 4). Moreover, Samples
argued that the child enters a holistic world that is provided logic,
order, sequence, and interdependent structure through the medium
of language (p. 24). In the case of Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, and
other cultures, S u z m (1994) noted that personal names “pointed
to a range of people and circumstances that were relevant at the
time of the child’s birth“ @. 253).
Chang and Sakai (1993) noted that young children learn from
their home culture ‘*asense of identity, an understanding of how to
relate to other people, and a sense of belonging” (p. 21). In the case
of the newborn child, one’s name becomes one of the earliest
semantic signifiers of one’s personal identity, one’s sense of recognition, one’s initial foray into the “separation-individuation process” (Mahler, 1968). With their personal names, young children
begin to learn that they are distinct individuals with specific chnracteristics. Names signify who is a member of the nuclear family,
the larger community, and, in general, the collective(s) with which
one identifies. However, as the child begins to leam to identify with
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Daniel, Daniel I RACEREUTED PERSONAL NAMES
47s
those who are members of his or her collective(s), the child also begins
to learn about those who are not members of the collective(s).
Some authors hold to the Vygotsky view that “language and
other representational means are products of the social history of a
cultural group, the result of members’ collective efforts to create a
social way of life (Berk & Winsler, 1995, p. 21). As such, through
the naming process children learn categories such as Christians,
Jews, Muslims, Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Native Americans, and
Asians. Of particular importanceto this study is the extent to which,
on the basis of personal names, African American and White Head
Start children associate positive and negative attributes to personal
names that are frequently given to African American and White
children. An additional concern is related to the extent to which
African American children might internalize negative racial attributions to African Americannames as they did with color in the classic
doll study (Clark& Clark, 1939) and some of its replications.
THE DOLL STUDIES
This study follows partially in the tradition of the research
stimulated by the historical 1939 Clark and Clark doll study in
which Black and White children indicated preferences for White
dolls, Years later, Moore (1978) found, among other things, that
“Black males with higher 1.Q.s tended to prefer the white model”
(p. 42). A 1984 replication by Fine and Bowers found that African
American children had an equal preference for Black and White
dolls, and that Black boys identified more with White dolls than
did Black girls (p. 136). A longitudinal replication by Branch and
Newcombe (1986) indicated that older children and boys were
more pro-Black and anti-White (p. 712). A 1988 study by PowellHopson and Hopson demonstrated that although the majority of
Black and White children chose White dolls during a pretest, a
significant number of children modified their selections after interventions involving modeling and reinforcement (p. 57).
Instead of using dolls as stimuli, this study used some of the
personal names given most frequently to White and African Amen-
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476
JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES I MARCH 1998
can children in Pennsylvaniabetween 1990and 1993.It is held here
that whereas skin color is an initial stimulus for a considerable
amount of racial stereotyping (Derman-Sparks, 1989), (a) personal
names can be a potent stimulus for racial stereotyping and (b) in
the absence of color information, personal names might be a
primary basis for racial stereotyping. Moreover, it is possible that
the process of associating personal names with race might have
begun by children 4 and 5 years of age. Accordingly, this study
sought to determine, absent skin color information, if African
American and White children (a) would systematically select an
African American- or White-rerated personal name as a person who
looked like them and (b) if African American and White children
would systematically make positive and negative behavioral and
character attributions to African American- and Whitc-related personal names.
I\IETIIODOLOCY
SAMPLE
All of the children were enrolled in the same large metropolitan
area Head Start program. Classroom teachers gave parents the
investigators' written requests to interview their children. Children's participation in the study was based on the parents' signed
permission slips and the availability of the children on the day of
the scheduled interviews. Between February 1 and April 30,1995,
we interviewed 182 4- and 5-year-old Head Start children. The
sample consisted of 52 African American males, 50 African American females, 42 White males, and 38 White females. All children
were interviewed by one or the other of the two African American
investigators.Atotal of 5 children refused to participate in the study,
Seven other children participated but were not used in the study
because they either (a) gave an answer equivalent to "I don't know"
in response to all questions or (b) either selected a11 of the first or
second answers to all questions.
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h i e l , Daniel / RACERELATED PERSONAL NAMES
477
SELECIlON OFAFRlCANAMERICAN
ANDWIIlTEAhfERJCANNAMES
The stimulus names used in this study were obtained from the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Division
of HeaIth Statistics and Research’s 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993
listings of first-name occurrences for White and African American
children born in each of those years. First, the most frequently given
“White” names were identified by picking those White names that
were not simultaneouslythe most frequentlygiven “African Amencan” names. For example, although Michael was the most frequently given White male name every year from 1990 through
1993, Michael was not used because it was also the most frequently
given name to African American males in 1990, 1992, and 1993.
On the other hand, Matthew was used because it was the second
most frequent name given to White males from 1990 through 1993
(e.g., 2,594 White males were named Matthew in 1990), but for
1990 through 1993, Matthew was between the 35th- and 65thranked name given to African American males (39 African American males WerenamedMatthew in 1990forarankof6Sth). Jasmine
was used in this study because it was the Number 1 name given to
African American females from 1990 through 1993, but Jasmine
ranked 111,131,133,and 133forWhitefemalesfrom 1990through
1993. The names used in this study were generated in this fashion,
and they are presented in Table 1.
TIIE GUESS WlIO STIMULUS CAhlE
All interviews were conducted within the respective Head Start
center’s primary clllssroom in a space away from other children,
Children were not permitted to listen to each others’ responses,
Interviews were conducted in one-on-one situations with the exception of two classrooms in which the teacher sat quietly with the
interviewer and the child being interviewed. In one of these rooms,
the children had learned recently about not trusting strangers. In the
other instance, 6 children needed the quiet presence of the teacher
to participate.
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478
JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIES /MARCH 1998
TABLE 1
Personal Names
Females
Males
~
African Amcricrn
Derine
JaEmine
Lrthonda
Monique
Shaniqua
shante
Tanisha
Tiam
WhiceAmcrican
Emily
Hannah
Lauren
A
Megan
Rachel
Rebcccr
samanha
Dylm
Ky Ie
Manhew
Nicholna
Ser;rh
lLkr
Victoria
Zachary
h
Benjamin
M Y
The Guess Who Game consisted of nine questions. Four questions related to two positive and two negative behavioral characteristics. Four questions related to two positive and two negative
character traits. The final item was “Guess who looks like you?”
The Guess Who Game’s questions and situations were used after
the children were asked to pretend that they had moved to a new
neighborhood. The children were also asked to pretend that they
did not know any people in their new neighborhood. They were
also told that, if they heard the name of someone they knew, the
interviewer was referring to someone else in the new pretend
neighborhood.
The questions used in the Guess Who Game were as follows:
1. In your new neighborhood, at lunch time, you went to the bath-
room.While you were in the bathroom, another child took a bite
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Daniel. Daniel / RACERELATED PERSONAL NAMES
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
479
out of your sandwich. Guess who bit the sandwich, (a) Adam or
(b) Jamal? If someone else bit the sandwich, guess who did it (a)
Emily or (b) Jasmine?
In your new neighborhood, guess who looks the nicest, (a) Desirec
or (b) Rachel? In your new neighborhood, guess who looks the
nicest, (a) 'Qrone or (b) 'Qler?
In your new neighborhood, someone punched someone. Guess
who did it, (a) Tiara or (b) Rebecca? In your new neighborhood,
guess who punched someone, (a) Andre or (b) Matthew?
In your new neighborhood, guess who is the smartest person in
school, (a) Kyle or (b) Malik?In your new neighborhood, guess
who is the smartest, (a) Sarah or (b) Shaniqua?
In your new neighborhood, with whom would you like to play, (a)
Tanisha or (b) Megan? In your new neighborhood, with whom
would you like to play, (a) Donte or (b) Zachary?
In your new neighborhood, guess who is lazy, (a) Lashonda or (b)
Victoria? In your new ncighborhood, guess who is lazy,(a) Jerome
or (b) Dylan?
In your new neighborhood, guess who always brushes their teeth,
(a) Lauren or (b) Ebony? In your new neighborhood, guess who
always brushes their teeth, (a) Nicholas or (b) Lamar?
In your new neighborhood, guess who is sneaky, (a) Benjamin or
(b) Jalcn? In your new neighborhood, guess who is sneaky, (a)
Hannah or (b) Monique?
In your new neighborhood, guess who looks the most like you (a)
Shante or (b) Samantha? (for males: (a) Maurice or (b) Cody?)
The eight two-part questions were asked of both boys and girls of
both races. Only the ninth question was asked in one part, depending on the gender of the child interviewed.
To control for order of presentation effects, the first eight questions were presented to the children in four different sequences, that
is, (a) 1-8, (b) 8-1, (c)7-8-5-6-3-4-1-2,
and (d) 2-1-4-3-6-5-8-7,
and
Question 9 (Guess who looks like you?) was always presented last.
Using the Guess Who Game as stimulus, the investigators sought
to ascertain 4- and 5-year-old Head Start White and African American boys' and girls' differential character and behavioral attributions to White and African American boys' and girls' names in
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480
JOURNAL OF BLACK S’CUDIES / MARCH 1998
positive and negative situations. The 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 design also
allowed the examination of the two-, three,and four-way interactions.
Symbolic play is an important part of children’s social and
cognitive development between the ages of 3 and 7. As their play
shifts from simple to complex, children actively organize and talk
about their pretend play (Giffn, 1984). Although the Guess Who
Game was at a high level of symbolic play (a game with rules)
(Rogers & Sawyer, 1988). the children’s choices were narrowly
restricted, and thus the game was clearly not beyond the skill level
of the average 4- and 5-year-old study participants. In addition, the
Guess W h o Game’s framework of pretending to have moved to a
new neighborhood was well within the range of common experiences
among study participants, Several participants reported spontaneously that they or family or friends had moved. Before conducting
the study, the questions were pretested with a sample of 25 children
of varying ages. None of the 4- and 5-yearsld pretest children had
difficulty playing the Guess W h o Game.
STATETICALANALYSIS
The mean number of times that African American names were
selected by the African American and White boys and girls under
the different conditions of this study are presented in Tables 2,3,
and 4. Table 2 presents data for situations describingbehaviors, and
Table 3 presents data for situations describing character traits.
African American names could have been selected 0 to 2 times in
each situation. Table 4 presents data for the item, “In your ncighborhood, guess who looks the most like you.”
To determine the significance of the differences due to the race
(African American and White) and gender of the children reacting
to positive and negative situations using boys and girls names as
the stimuli, four-way repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted
separately for questions referring to behavior and character traits.
Child, gender, and me are between factors, and situation and
stimulus gender are within factors. Table 5 summruizes the Fratios
for these two tests.
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Daniel, DPRiel I RACE-RELATED PERSONAL NAMES
481
TABLE 3
Means and (standard deviations) for Frequency of Selection
of African American Names for Behavior Situations
Positive Stiwlrrr
Race and Gender
of lqformant
African Amaicnn
BOY
Girl
WhileAmerican
BOY
Gi
Negative Stimulw
BOY
Girl
BOY
Girl
0.94(.64)
1.16 (.62)
1.15(.61)
1.32 (.65)
0.98(.61)
1.10 (.68)
I.Oa(57)
1.22 (.74)
0.40 (59)
0.50 (60)
0.97 (.68)
0.93(.a) 0.69 (.60)
0.71 (56)
1-07(31)
1.18 (56)
TABLE 3
Means and (standard deviations) for Frequency of Selection
of African American Names for Character Situations
Positive Stitnulcu
Negative Siimulcu
Race and Gender
qflnformant
BOY
AfnCM AIX~CM
BOY
Girl
White
BOY
Girl
Girl
BOY
Girl
1.22 (.74)
0.98 (.70)
1.18 (.69)
.75 (.a)
-68(.62)
1.04(.71)
1.30 (.58)
0.74 (J4)
0.50 (.63)
0.47 (.65)
0.83 (.GI 0.88 (64)
0.92 (59)
1.07 (59)
0.66 (58)
1.06(57)
TABLE 4
*
Proportion of Children Selecting Some-Race Names in Response
to Inquiry About Who Looks Like Them
Gender
Race
Girl
BOY
Margin01
.48
.87
.67
37
.86
.6 1
.86
__
Africm American
White
MPrginal
.42
-62
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JOURNALOF BLACK STUDIESI MARCH 1998
482
TABLE 5
Summary of ANOVAs for Behavior and Character Questiow
Behavior F
Sourrr
Child gcndu (A)
Child race (B)
AxB
Situation (0
5.72*
39.68***
1
.oo
2.83
AxC
BxC
AxBxC
Stimulus gendcr (D)
AxD
BXD
AxBxD
CxD
AxCxD
BxCxD
AxBxCxD
0.09
8.07**
0.06
41.65***
0.01
11.71***
0.02
0.84
0.47
0.01
0.02
Character F
4.w
21.86***
3.36
40.26***
5.57.
136
0.66
7.450.00
4.12.
0.13
14.95***
1.59
0.06
2.20
* p < M.**p < .01. ***p < .OOL
In Table 5, if we examine the effects significant at .01 or .001
for the questions that asked about behaviors, there were two significant
interactions: race by stimulus gender (B x D)(p < ,001). and race
by situation (B x C) (p c .01). In addition, the main effects of
stimulus gender (p c ,001) and race were significant (p < ,001). The
interactions were examined first and are plotted in Figures 1 and 2.
For the race by stimulus gender interaction (Figure l), it can be
seen that African American children selected African American
names about equally for the questions about boys and girls. However, the White children selected African American names more
often when the questions involved girls than boys,
The race by situation interaction (Figure 2) shows that African
American children selected African American names about equally
for questions describing positive and negative situations, but White
children selected African American names more often for negative
than for positive situations.
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Daniel, Daniel I RACEMELATW PERSONALNAMES
483
-M
...*..W
0.8
* 'oa
O
*0
GIRL
aoy
Flgurc 1: Race by Sllmulur Gcadcr Interaction for Bchavlor Tralts
1
-M
w
.
.
.
.
I
.
.
1
0.8
......*..-
....-.
..' ..........'*.
.a...*
0.8
a4
0.2
0
1
POS
NEO
Flgure 1: Race by Sltuallon Inleractlon lor Bchnvlor Traltr
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484
JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES I MARCH 1998
"i
0.2
0
I
QIRL
BOY
~
~~
Flgm 3: Sltuetlon by SUmulur Ccndcr IotcrrcU(lanlor Chrndcr
Because both the race by stimulus gender and the race by
situation interactions were ordinal in nature, it is also possible to
examine the main effects of race and stimulus gender. For race, the
overall mean number of times African American children selected
African American names was 1.12 as compared to 0.81 for White
children. The main effect of stimulus gender indicated that overall,
African American girls' names were selected more often (M= 1.11)
than African American boys' names (M = 0.81).
For the questions that asked about character traits, the two-way
interaction of situation by stimulus gender was significant at the
.001 level. In addition, the main effects of situation @ < .001),
stimulus gender @ c .Ol), and race (p c ,001) were significant. The
plot of the interaction is presented in Figure 3. As can be seen, for
negative situations African American names were selected about
equally for questions involving boys and girls. However, for positive situations African American names were selected more often
for questions involving boys than for those involving girls. The
main effect of situation indicates that overall, the mcan number of
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Daniel, Daniel I RACE-REUTEDPERSONAL NAMES
48s
African American names selected in negative situations was higher
(M= 1.05) than for positive situations (M= 0.75). The main effect
of stimulus gender indicates that regardless of the type of situation,
African American boys’ names were selected more often (M= .96)
than African American girls’ names (M = .84) by the children.
Consistent with the analysis for behavior, the main effect of race
was significant, with African American children selecting African
American names significantly more often (M= 1.02) than White
children selected African American names (M= 0.77).
With respect to the question posed to each child regarding which
of two names “looks like you” (Table 5), the data were analyzed in
several different ways.First, if the selection of names was random,
it would be expected that 50% of the choices would be African
American and 50% would be White names. The choice of African
American names by 42% of the African American children was not
significantly different from 50% ( z = -1.62, p > .05), whereas the
choice of White names by 86% of the White childrenwas significantly
greater than 50% (z = 6.42, p < .01). Thus, although the African
American children selected African American and White names with
about the same frequency, the White children selected White names
significantly more often than would be expected by chance.
The data were further examined to determine whether there were
differences by race or gender with respect to the selection of African
American names by the children. A two-factor ANOVA indicated
that the main effect of race was significant, F( 1, 178) = 19.09,
p < .OO 1,with African American children selectingAfrican American names 42% of the time as opposed to White children selecting
African American names 148 of the time. Neither the main effect
for gender, F( 1,178) = 0.63,~
> .05, nor the interaction of race and
gender, F( 1, 178) = 0.93, p > .05, was significant. It is interesting
that although the African American children did select African
American names more often than did White children, their overall
42% indicates that these African American children selected White
names 58% of the time. The group (African American and White
children) as a whole selected White names more frequently (70%
vs. 30%)than African American names.
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486
JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES I MARCH 1998
DISCUSSION
BEIIAVIORALA'ITlUBVIIONS
The statistical analysis indicated that although African American
children showed little difference in their selection of African
American names for positive and negative behavior attributions,
White children significantly selected African American names
more often for negative than positive behavior attributions, This
pattern was also evident with respect to the gender of the names
selected. African American children selected African American
boys' and girls' names to the same extent, but White children
significantly selected African American girls' names more often
than boys' names regardless of whether the situation was positive
ornegative. Although thedatadonot suggest that African American
children have begun to make differential behavior attributions to
race-related personal names, White children have begun to make
more negative behavior attributions (p < .01) based on race-related
personal names. Over time, these early categorizations by White
children may be reinforced by stereotypes generated from racist
books, movies, television, and individuals. In addition, given the
fact that White children selected African American names more
often when the questions involved girls than boys (p < .OOl), over
time the stereotyping might be greater for African American female
personal names.
CIIARACTER ATI'RIBVIIONS
Regardless of the children's race and gender, they chose African
American boys' and girls' personal names about equally for negativecharacter situations. However, for positive character situations,
the children, regardless of race and gender, selected African American girls' personal names significantly less often (p < ,001) than
boys' names. Again, we interpret the data as indicative of the
possibility that 4- and 5-year-old White children, and in this instance African American children too, are in the early stages of a
complex process by which stereotypes become associated with
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Daniel, Daniel J RACE-RELATEDPERSONAL NAMES
487
African American personal names. Moreover, it is of additional
concern that this possibility might be greater for African American
female names because many African American females are presently located in the lower socioeconomic strata.
Mi0 MOKS LIKE YOU?
One purpose of this study was to ascertain the extent to which
4-and 5-year-old African American and White Head Start children
would select an African American or White personal name as the
name of someone who most looked like them. Seventy percent of
the 182 children chose White personal names. Among African
American children, although they selected White personal names
58% of the time, this finding was not statistically significant. It was
statistically significant (p < .001) that 86% of the White children
chose White personal names, whereas 58% of the African American
children chose White personal names. This finding was consistent
for boys and girls across both races.
We took special note of the consistency with which the White
children selected White personal names as looking most like them,
given the fact that “Gordon Allport . . .once described a person’s
given name as the most important anchor point of the self-identity,
a view that research by Bugenthal and Zelen . confirmed”
(Joubcrt, 1993, p. 1123). We took equal note of the fact that 58%
of the time African American children chose White personal names
as looking most like them, given the fact that during the past two
decades, a significant segment of the African American community
has advocated African Americans giving their children African and
African-derived personal names for identity purposes.
. .
CONCLUSION
Compared with the 4- and 5-year-old African American Head
Start children used in this study, the White Head Start children
might not only have developed a sharper differentiationof “African
American” and “White” personal names, but also the White chil-
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488
JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES I MARCH 1998
dren might be further along in the process of category formation
whereby stereotypical information is associated with race-related
personal names. However, one should proceed cautiously with the
interpretation of our findings, because a plausible case could be
made for the White and African American children's responses
being based on personal name familiarity, divorced of stereotypical
information.
Based on the 1990through 1993 Pennsylvania Census data, it is
unlikely that many of the children in this study knew White children
with African American names, but the children were more likely to
know African American children with White names. For example,
Maurice occuned 73 times among the first 2,093African American
male names in 1993, but there were no Whites named Maurice
among the first 50,000 White male names in 1993. Similar patterns
existed for the other African American names in that they were
seldom given as names for White children. Michael was the Number 1name for African American and White males for each year of
the census data used in the study. Indeed, African Americans have
a long history of adopting both the personal and last names of
Whites in America, whereas the reverse naming process is much
less likely to be the case.
Dased on the selections of the children in this study, African
American children made personal name selections potentially undifferentiated by race. This appears to reflect the fact that African
American children commonly have names from both racial groups.
It may be that African American children simply know many
African American children who have the same names as their White
counterparts, but they also associate the African American stimulus
names with African Americans. A combined version of the Black
and White doll stimulus and a name stimulus could further examine
the African American children's positive and negative attributions.
Children as young as 2'/2 years of age "arc learning the appropriate use of gender labels (girl, boy) and learning color names,
which they begin to apply to skin color" (Demun-Sparks, 1989,p. 2).
Derman-Sparks (1989) also noted that 4- and 5-year-old children
have offered racial reasons for not interacting with children (p. 2).
Hence, we believe it is a reasonable expectation that the everyday
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Daniel, Daniel / RACE-REUTED PERSONALNAMES
489
stimuli of race-relatedpersonal names, along with the many sources
of racist information, constitute part of the integrative learning
process that children experience with regard to the development of
racial stereotyping, Our study indicates that this might be the case
for African American and White Children as young as 4- and
5-years of age.
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Jerkan E. Daniel Is M acsisfantpmjessorin the Pmgram In Child Development and
Child Corn, School of Social Work, at h e University of Pittsburgh Sht & a past
pmident of the National Assoclarion for Ih8 Education of Young Children Her
teaching includes child development (birth thmugh 8). administration and supervisfon. and p m j e s s i d Izsws. Her nsearch intrnstrfocw rn aspefls of quality In
rady childhoodpmgremr with M emphasis on ittjiants and toddlm.
Jack t Daniel & a vicapmost for academic flairs and an assoc&ue pmfessor In
communication at the Udversity of Pinsburgh Ile teaches AjricM Ameiiccoru and
themassmediaand~rican
American rhetoric. His nsearch intemsts includeAfrican
American cotnmunication and interracial comunicatioa
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