My 20th Harvard reunion book is in hand, offering a social snapshot of a certain educationally (and mostly financially) elite slice of the US population.
Here is what Harvard alums name their kids. These are chosen by alphabetical order of surname from one segment of the book. Most of these children are born between 2003 and the present. They are grouped by family.
Molly, Danielle
Zachary, Zoe, Alex
Elias, Ella, Irena
Sawyer, Luke
Peyton, Aiden
Richard, Sonya
Grayson, Parker, Saya
Yoomi, Dae-il
Io, Pico, Daphne
Lucine, Mayri
Matthew, Christopher
Richard, Annalise, Ryan
Jackson
Christopher, Sarah, Zachary, Claire
Shaiann, Zaccary
Alexandra, Victoria, Arianna, Madeline
Samara
Grace, Luke, Anna
William, Cecilia, Maya
Bode, Tyler
Daniel, Catherine
Alex, Gretchen
Nathan, Spencer, Benjamin
Ezekiel, Jesse
Matthew, Lauren, Ava, Nathan
Samuel, Katherine, Peter, Sophia
Ameri, Charles
Sebastian
Andrew, Zachary, Nathan
Alexander, Gabriella
Liam
Andrew, Nadia
Caroline, Elizabeth
Paul, Andrew
Shania, Tell, Delia
Saxon, Beatrix
Benjamin
Nathan, Lukas, Jacob
Noah, Haydn, Ellyson
Freddie
Leonidas, Cyrus
Isabelle, Emma
Joseph, Theodore
Asha, Sophie, Tejas
Gabriela, Carlos, Sebastian
Brendan, Katherine
Rayne
James, Seeger, Arden
Helena, Freya
Alexandra, Matthew
George
If you saw these names, would you be able to guess roughly what part of the culture they were drawn from? Are there ways in which the distribution is plainly different from “standard” US naming practice?
Quomodocumque 
A large percentage of these names are very traditional with no cute spelling variations. Had you not told us otherwise, I could have believed that this list of names came from my generation of the 1950s. Not many kids are named Richard now days.
Jordan, I enjoy reading these reunion books as much as you do. But I think they give a skewed sample of the graduating class, as many alums (myself included) become tongue-tied when asked to describe their life experience. But I suppose that most are able to list the names of their children! Given the fact that about a quarter of the Harvard class is Jewish, I was surprised to see so few names taken from the Old Testament. Maybe people are living longer, and babies can’t be named after their (living) grandparents.
What entry did you submit?
That’s pretty rich coming from a Jew named after a Pope!
Jordan: LOL.
I note that none of these are showing the recent and annoying habit of people using last names as first names.
To Dick Gross: I thought that “statistic” (originating, apparently, in Hillel) turned out to be doubtful? See Jordan’s earlier post on Unz’s work (#collapse) – apparently a weak point in it was to take those 20% or 25% claims at face value.
Reblogged this on ENGLISH LANGUAGE REVIEW 4U.
Jordan, my name is Baruch, which my family translated into English as Benedict. Perhaps
some of the early Popes had that Hebrew name too…
Valuevar, no one knows the exact figures, as Harvard doesn’t keep them (as opposed to ethnic and gender categories). But I think the population of Harvard College has been over 20% Jewish since the days that President Lowell proposed a quota (to get the number down).
I don’t doubt that it was once around 20% (under some broad, unspecified definition) or at least generally felt around 20%. However, Jordan earlier linked to a discussion that implied that such figures were outdated (and, if not, would show over-representation compared to current levels of achievement). Not my specialty – it’s just that non-rigorous statistics that stay in the popular consciousness long after they start losing their relation to current reality generally bug me, and this may be one of them.
For what it’s worth, 13% of 15th Reunion survey respondents (n=461) and 12% of 20th Reunion survey respondents (n=357) reported their religious affiliation as Jewish.
The kids’ names above that stick out to me are Shania and Delia. Anyone who read Freakonomics will know what I mean.
I haven’t read Freakonomics, so please explain!