Boys growing up with popular names such as Michael, Joshua and Christopher have a good chance of leading law-abiding lives - but those named Kareem, Walter or Ivan could find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
That's according to a United States study that claims the more unpopular, uncommon or feminine a boy's first name, the greater the chance he will end up behind bars.
Shippensburg University professor David Kalist's report in Social Science Quarterly shows that "unpopular names are likely not the cause of crime", but he explains that factors often associated with those names can "increase the tendency toward juvenile delinquency".
Boys with uncommon names are often ridiculed by peers, come from families of low socioeconomic status and face discrimination in the workforce, according to the study.
The top 10 bad-boy names in the United States - Alec, Ernest, Garland, Ivan, Kareem, Luke, Malcolm, Preston, Tyrell and Walter.
- AP
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