What’s fascinating about this is the process by which trends rise and fall in society. The article correctly points out that trends usually start in groups of higher socio-economic status, with other groups mimicking them. Eventually when it reaches all groups in society, the trend begins to fall in popularity.
One example is spices in Europe. Used to be popular with the rich when it was expensive. When colonisation made spices cheap, everyone could afford it. That’s when the rich started a new trend of eschewing spices, which the masses copied. (NPR - How Snobbery Helped Take The Spice Out Of European Cooking https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/03/26/394339284/ho...).
The difficulties faced by Kevins and other names is precisely because they opted out of this process. By choosing an Anglophone name instead of copying a name popular with the upper classes, they’ve inadvertently created a marker for lower socioeconomic status. That wouldn’t be bad by itself, but lower socioeconomic status is correlated with lower test scores. That has clearly led to a cycle of (poor parents choose an anglophone name) -> (these kids struggle in school/drop out) -> (people associate these names with low intelligence) -> (these kids suffer discrimination) -> (low rates of achievement, perpetuating stereotypes).
We might feel an aversion to the first example. People copying their “social betters”, pretending to be higher on the socioeconomic scale might make us feel uncomfortable if we believe that all people are fundamentally equal. Why pretend to be someone else?
The second example with anglophone names in France points out why this behaviour is useful. That’s probably why we see the mimicking behaviour in all human societies. It’s to avoid this issue.
I think the process is a bit simpler: names like Kevin and Cindy were markers that the child was born in a family where TV was the predominant culture, by far. The "bad rap" described in the New Yorker is just "these names point to a working-class origin". For most people, it does not imply anything about their intelligence.
Since the French school system is very bad at correcting inequalities, a child born in an environment that does not favor school has very few chances of becoming a "bigwig" (deputy, doctor...). Where the TV is predominant, the chances are low that the parents read often or could help with homework. So these children have little chance of getting out of the working class.
As noted in the OP, in France having an "arab name" like Mohammed or Chérifa (nowadays these are called "muslim names") is much more painful. Some recruiters could frown upon a "Kevin" (even subconsciously), but many would simply reject any "Ahmed". According to a recurring poll, a majority of French people think that French muslims are not truly French citizens.
I think we said pretty much the same thing. I'd be interested to understand how you think we disagree.
For example, you said "these names point to a working-class origin". I said "they’ve inadvertently created a marker for lower socioeconomic status."
You said "Where the TV is predominant, the chances are low that the parents read often or could help with homework." I said "but lower socioeconomic status is correlated with lower test scores." You gave a mechanism that explained how my claim comes true.
I then go on to say how this discrimination becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and leads to a cycle where people with these names are less likely to succeed.
You went a different way, pointing out that it's not only anglophone names in France that indicate a working class background, it's also Arab/Muslim names.
Low class names are very recognisable in Belgium too. Names ending in "y" in particular. Kenny, Kelly, Lindsay, Jordy, ... I teach and try to go beyond the subconscious biases that come with those names. Not easy.
For those who understand Dutch, "De komomaan" [0][1], by De Neveneffecten is a wonderful BBC animal documentary parody on the life of the common man, with some strong references to these naming stereotypes.
As a teacher, you may be interested in the stand up comedy of Noah Gardenschwarz. He is a large Jewish man with an affinity for Black Culture and was a teacher in urban Atlanta, Georgia for a while. Specifically he does material about what our names “mean” or say about our background.
The UK too. When I was growing up Kevin or “Kev” was a (very classist) derogatory term, though it seems to have subsided. Roughly equivalent to “chav” I guess.
(Unlike the French or German versions, I don't believe this is about the importation of names from other places, though it could at least be partially rooted in anti-Irish prejudice)
It’s not per say about the importation in France. It’s just than Kevin, Dylan and Steven were made popular by foreign TV shows and pop stars and were thus mostly given by parents coming from the lower class. It is purely classist in France too.
I would bet such names have existed - I personally know (in Romania) someone named "Brusli Stanescu" (Brusli being a phonetic transcription of "Bruce Lee", Stanescu a common last name), and someone named "Ohara Scarlat" (which in traditional Romanian LastName FirstName introductions would have been Scarlat Ohara - based on "Scarlett O'Hara" in case that's not obvious).
In Cuba some people have the name Usnavi, which apparently comes from mispronouncing US Navy. It’s not used as a derogatory term but it doesn’t exactly scream “upper class” either, at least among Cuban Americans in Miami.
It’s a silly thing but there’s a cuban musician called Yotuel, and each time I hear it I can’t help remember the verb conjugation tables (yo-tú-el means I-you-he/she) and secretly hope that’s the origin haha.
I'd say today's Romanian for what the French have with Kevin is Mario. In our (Romania's) case is also the fact that this is a "racial" issue, on top of the classist one.
Before the whole GDPR thing came into effect and results became anonymised I was working on doing a "distribution" of kids' first names based on their "Evaluare Nationala" results, to see if there was any correlation between "good" schools and some first names and "bad" schools and some other first names.
In Germany there's similarly "Matt Eagle", which is quite meme-ish as it phonetically sounds like "Mettigel", a dish from the 60s/70s with minced raw pork and onions in the form of a hedgehog[1].
Kev / Chav makes me think about the difference betweeen the Scots word "kirk" versus English "church". Utterly unrelated, but one of those funny parallels.
On the contrary, kirk and church are very closely related. Both descend from Germanic kirikā, which was borrowed from the Greek κυριακόν (δῶμα) = the Lord’s (house).
In fact, you’re correct to pick up on the fact that English often has ch where other Germanic languages have k (e.g. cheese = Dutch kaas, German Käse). This is because the original k changed to ch in English, in certain contexts.
That's what I'm saying, the words are from the same Germanic route.
Contrast place names with "Kirk" prefixes or suffixes, with place names like Gleneagles - it's not from eagles like caw caw flap flap but from the ancient church nearby. Eaglais, in Gaelic, cognate with église in French.
Same thing here in Austria/Germany, the movies were even called "Kevin allein zu Haus" and "Kevin – Allein in New York" in german with the name right in the title. It was the most popular first name in germany in 1991:
Much like Karen in the US. Though the reasons behind Karen are not anti-intellectual but more anti-self entitlement.
Names are weird when you really think about it.
My father was a headmaster of schools (6 to 20 years olds). Not that he wouldn’t take Gregorys and Kevins, but he’d always open their file and find behavioral issues noted by previous teachers, confirmed through a discussion with the parents on what educative principle they used, ending up in justifying not taking the kid.
Yes it was a bias, but it’s also strange how this bias developed by itself too.
My mother was a headmistress in France, there were certain name that heavily correlated with behavioural problems: Dylan, Kevin, Ryan, Johnny (from the French singer
Johnny Hallyday). It's classist because those names tended to be from the lower classes but in general, it was also specifically the least intelligent parents from the lower classes that often chose those names.
Of course, it's a generalisation but it really was flagrant.
Come to think of it, I remember clearly french school teachers (male and female, but mostly female) being so condescending with kids being named Kevin, Dylan, Jennifer, etc. in the 90´s, like their names implied they were born stupid and they would stay that way for the rest of their lives.
Guess those experiences might have marked some kids that are now reproducing the same bullish behavior.
In Belgium, people from lower classes are often derogatorily called "barakis" (coming from stall holders living in caravans called "baraques"). The stereotypical baraki is called "Jason", "Brandon", "Kevin", "Jacky" or, for women, "Stacy", "Beverly" or "Cheyenne".
When talking with french friends, they told me their word for those was "Jacky". I felt bad for all the French whose name is really Jacky.
In Sweden, it is often said that men with names ending in -y have a significantly worse outlook in life than the average. Article from Swedish public-service radio (in Swedish, but Google Translate handles it nicely): https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/4743711 . TL;DR: such names were popular in disadvantaged socioeconomic groups.
That's called a "self-fulfilling prophecy." You can always find what you're looking for. That's the essence of the unfairness of bias, so it's not a surprise that minorities and poor people are in US prisons in large numbers or receive harsher school-to-prison pipeline treatment in education.
It's true there are stereotyped jokes about Kevins, especially in the IT word.
But it's nowhere near the the scale of what the article or the documentary suggests.
Kevin, working in IT, confirms that he hasn't heard the joke in years, and even in the 90, it was probably once a year. It never affected his life in any way. Honestly being a nerd in the 90' was the hard part.
It reminds me when we had a couple of cars burning in Paris and the US medias reported it as civil war. I had clients calling me, asking if I was OK.
At this stage, I'm assuming anything the medias are reporting is BS until proven otherwise. They destroyed the credibility of their own job.
There is no stigma for anglophones to be called Kevin. Only french "Kevins" carry the stigma mostly because, as stated in the article, it carries a strong signal of having a lower social-economic background.
Kevin carry that signal very strongly but it happens all the time, each time an "unusual" name gain popularity in a given period due to its appearance in popular culture.
For exemple, let's take the 2016 Disney movie "Moana" which was called Vaiana in France. In the years before the movie, there were about 4 or 5 Vaiana born per year. When the movie came out, it shot up to 60. On the scale of the country, it's not much but it's still an order of magnitude increase in a single year. You can bet that being called Vaiana and be born in 2017 will carry that same signal of having parents that name their children after the popular movie of the moment.
The only difference is that there were 14000 Kevins in 1991 and not 60, so it basically became a meme.
As someone with dual citizenship through marriage, and having lived 15 years in France (and speaking French at home despite English being my mother tongue), I'm amused and dismayed to discover than I'm the proverbial Karen of my adopted country ... and never had a clue before this article.
As a native anglophone, you have the required legitimacy, there should be no stigma. I'm not surprised you didn't even have a clue as there is no reason anybody would ever make fun of you.
As a long-time student of French and its numerous cultural outposts worldwide, it never fails to amuse me that Pierre means “rock” in French yet in the US it’s used as an emasculating pejorative type name.
In the spirit of “Kim Jong Il Looking At Things” and “Vin Diesel Loves Giving Thumbs Up” sites if I had the time I’d set up a meme site with Dwayne Johnson photos with a pencil moustache added on called “Scentez vous q’est que La Pierre cuisine?!” just because. He did play a wannabe Chef in The Rundown! I recommend it, quite fun. Christopher Walken as the bad guy…
Yeah I learned a lot of slang over the years and kind of gave up on formal or France French overall and just kind of piece it together with the words that people know but in a flexible grammar.
I mean technically it’s “oui” but as soon as I make a connection it’s “ouai” from there on out.
It wasn't a chavvy name in the UK, but back in the 70s an 80's it was part of a collection of names that became associated with a certain working class archetype. It was Gary, Wayne and Kevin for men and Sharon and Tracy for girls. It was considered the height of "naffness" to give your children those names.
It might have been true 20/30 years ago, as working class people used to give their kids anglo-saxon names because TV shows and movies, it's just not true now. Let's be honest, in some places, it's more damaging for kids in poor areas to be called "Pierre", "Jacques" or "Henry" or anything that sounds too french because of the deep hatred some people have toward anything french, in France itself.
I've known a Kévin who was a bully and a complete moron. As far as I know, today he's into drugs.
As a child, I was also in class with a Kévin who was the worst schooler I've ever seen. He didn't understand anything in class, nor did he listen anyway, and was just always fidgeting with his pencils. Even our teacher kinda gave up on him. Coincidentally, his family was quite poor. I would have thought he was a complete moron if I hadn't become his friend.
Out of school, it turned out he was kind, smart and pretty creative. Retroactively, I think he was just ADHD, but at the time this wasn't often diagnosed and those children were simply brushed off as being ill-mannered or outright stupid. If the condition had been known better at that time, and if teachers had been more aware of it, he would have fitted better.
I think today he's a mechanic or something like that, and I'm sure he's happy with his life. That's all I wish for him anyway. I should try to get in touch.
And, completely irrelevant but still - a Croatian former colleague blushed like hell when being introduced to another colleague of ours, named Peder.
Turned out in Croatian, a 'Peder' was someone with an unhealthy interest in kids.
Poor Peder immediately got ruled out as dating material - no way she'd be able to bring a guy back to her parents and introduce him as, well, a pederast.
(My name, too, is somewhat unfortunate in the anglo world - first name being 'Odd'. Oh well. There's a couple of Norwegians having it even worse. One of them is actually named just that. Even Worse. (Not to mention the brother of another former colleague, named Odd Male.)
Ah, thanks for setting me straight. Come to think of it, it is quite possible Mirta never actually said that 'Peder' equalled 'pederast' - just blushed and suggested (after Peder had left the room!) that the name was highly inappropriate because reasons, leaving me to connect the dots.
In French, an homosexual is colloquially called a "PD" or "pédé". It is offensive to some people and is usually used as an insult by homophobes. It directly comes from "pédéraste" and contributed a lot, 20 years ago, in the idea that homosexuals where deviant people.
In Ancient Greek the word (παιδεραστία) was typically ment in the specific sense of "(male) lover of boys", not "lover of children", although the latter meaning would syntactically been possible. Because in the singular παῖς means "boy" in contrast to κόρη "girl", but for "children" the plural of παῖς is used.
So we have an old specific meaning that combines a 1) male 2) adult targeting a 3) male 4) child. This allows for a whole range of possibilities and thus possible disambiguties, if one or several of the four components were relaxed.
There are some parallels with the history of the word "homosexuality", because "homo" in Latin can mean both: "male human" or "human in general". The word often excluted female homosexuality, when it was limited to the performance of a particular sexual practice, namly anal penetration.
A little quiz: Which famous philosopher do English speakers often shy away from pronouncing his name correctly because it reminds them of the equivalent female body part? (Please don't spoil the answer.)
Immanuel? What's fun about trying to rember every philosopher you know and seeing if they could be a dirty word? I spent so long trying to figure out if Aristotle has been mispronounced my entire life.
edit I say what fun is it, but that's basically the plot of a Seinfeld episode.
I was born in 1956 in Brittany and never heard about "Kevin" as a first name before the 1980'. My opinion is this is just because of the explosions of medias that occurred at that time (end of ORTF, massive invasion of US TV shows and series)
Don't you think in the 90s, Celtic first names in general came back? I knew a lot of 'guillian', 'kevin' (and alternative graphie like 'kevan'), and even Bleuen, Marwen ? I felt like my parents generation celtics name were Yann and Patrick, and in mine it was much more diverse.
I never heard of the expression 'kevin' to talk about annoying or oblivious kids until I left Brittany (then internet arrived and everything changed).
It might be because of the invasion of us tv shows, but don't you think there was regionalism also in the area?
One example is spices in Europe. Used to be popular with the rich when it was expensive. When colonisation made spices cheap, everyone could afford it. That’s when the rich started a new trend of eschewing spices, which the masses copied. (NPR - How Snobbery Helped Take The Spice Out Of European Cooking https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/03/26/394339284/ho...).
The difficulties faced by Kevins and other names is precisely because they opted out of this process. By choosing an Anglophone name instead of copying a name popular with the upper classes, they’ve inadvertently created a marker for lower socioeconomic status. That wouldn’t be bad by itself, but lower socioeconomic status is correlated with lower test scores. That has clearly led to a cycle of (poor parents choose an anglophone name) -> (these kids struggle in school/drop out) -> (people associate these names with low intelligence) -> (these kids suffer discrimination) -> (low rates of achievement, perpetuating stereotypes).
We might feel an aversion to the first example. People copying their “social betters”, pretending to be higher on the socioeconomic scale might make us feel uncomfortable if we believe that all people are fundamentally equal. Why pretend to be someone else?
The second example with anglophone names in France points out why this behaviour is useful. That’s probably why we see the mimicking behaviour in all human societies. It’s to avoid this issue.