# Is Wayne an uncommonly common middle name for criminals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 5, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576 "2005-11-05T00:08:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/21 "2005-11-05T10:23:23Z")
The stats provided are just “big time criminals” if you will. I hear the middle name _Wayne_ a lot in run-of-the-mill criminal news as well. It’s uncanny. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/22 "2005-11-05T13:39:57Z")
We know all these names, I suppose: John Wilkes Booth Bruno Richard Hauptmann Lee Harvey Oswald James Earl Ray John Wayne Gacy Mark David Chapman But bear something in mind: many, probably most of the famous murderers of the past, NEVER used three names! The criminal justice system may identify a killer as John Jacob Jinglheimerschmidt, the media will refer to him exclusively as John Jacob Jingleheimerschmidt, he will become known solely as John Jacob Jingleheimerschmidt among the public at large… but his family would probably tell you “Nobody ever called him Jacob. He was Johnny to his family, friends, and everyone who knew him.” (In the case of Lindbergh kidnapper Hauptmann, oddly enough, NOBODY ever called him Bruno- he was just “Richard” to everyone to knew him. His defenders thought that he was put at a disadvantage in the press by being tagged with a foreign name that sounded sinister to many Americans.) I mean, do you think Lee Harvey Oswald used “Harvey” often? Or that Mark David Chapman went by “Mark David”? Presumably, he was just Mark to his friends and family. We don’t hear most people’s middle names at all. Notorious killers are among the few people who are almost always addressed by their first and middle names. Even so, just off the top of your head (no research, just stick to famous killers that almost everybody is familiar with): besides Gacy, how many killers can you name with the middle name “Wayne”? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/23 "2005-11-05T13:59:17Z")
The “using the middle name bit” is to distinguish serial killer John Jacob Jingleheimerschmidt from all the honest law abiding John Jingleheimerschmidt’s out there. Though why it wasn’t used for Jeffrey Dahmer is a mystery. The only other famous crime involving a person with the middle name Wayne is John Wayne Bobbit (snicker), and he was the victim. The movie “John & Yoko” had originally casted an actor called Mark Lyndsey to play John. He was dumped after it was discovered that his real name was Mark Lyndsey Chapman, which was too close to the name of Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman. Well, would you want an actor named Lee Lyndsey Oswald to play JFK? ---
**Author:** ![caligynephobia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7feea3/32.png) [@caligynephobia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligynephobia)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/24 "2005-11-05T15:34:11Z")
I temped with the Texas Commission for Law Enforcement Officers and (something that starts with S) one summer and had to retrieve and file records of cops all over the state. I was amazed at how many cops had Wayne as their middle name; seemed like damn-near every other one. Maybe it’s a Texas thing, not so much a criminal one. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/25 "2005-11-05T16:00:21Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > The stats provided are just “big time criminals” if you will. I hear the middle name _Wayne_ a lot in run-of-the-mill criminal news as well. Why would the statistics be any different? Can you provide some? ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/26 "2005-11-05T16:02:50Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Based on **Walloon’s** cite above, why would you think that “Wayne” was such a common middle name for a criminal? Because **Walloon’s** cite is for executed criminals, which are an itty bitty subset of all criminals, and one that may not necessarily match the social distribution of criminals as a whole? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/27 "2005-11-05T16:11:28Z")
All very nicely hypothesized. But this is the General Questions board, not the IMHO board. Impressions don’t cut it. The statistics I presented can be supplanted by better statistics — which you are welcome to post. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/28 "2005-11-05T16:22:15Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > All very nicely hypothesized. But this is the General Questions board, not the IMHO board. Impressions don’t cut it. The statistics I presented can be supplanted by better statistics — which you are welcome to post. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to a database of criminals that includes social and economic data. So I’ll stick with what I said: The list you gave may not necessarily be representative of all criminals, because it’s only a list of executed criminals. If you think that statement belongs in IMHO and not GQ, you’re free to, um, deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/29 "2005-11-05T16:30:35Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court re-allowed the death penalty, 991 people have been executed in the United States. Of those, 19 men (1.9%) had the middle name Wayne — 14 white, 3 black, 1 Native American. Most famous: serial killer John Wayne Gacy. From some stats on the web - in 1960, there were about 2.2 million males born. There were 7,198 Waynes, the 58th most popular first name. That’s about .3 % of the population. That’s a pretty small number compared to the 1.9% executed. I know that all the killers executed were not born in 1960 - a random year I selected. But, in years after 1960, Wayne’s popularity as a name was considerably lower, and before that, only slightly higher. Makes me think that, yes, it is an uncommon name for killers. I don’t know if Wayne is has been a more popular or less popular middle name, which throws this speculation into an area of even less certainty. Still and all… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/30 "2005-11-05T17:03:46Z")
Keep in mind that the 1.9% is a _cumulative_ total of all executions over the period 1977-2005. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/31 "2005-11-05T18:25:31Z")
caligynephophia writes: \> I temped with the Texas Commission for Law Enforcement Officers and \> (something that starts with S) one summer and had to retrieve and file records \> of cops all over the state. I was amazed at how many cops had Wayne as their \> middle name; seemed like damn-near every other one. Maybe it’s a Texas thing, \> not so much a criminal one. I have a hypothesis as to what’s going on here. I don’t have any proof of it, but it fits in with some other observations I’ve made. The hypothesis is this: Both policemen and criminals may tend to have the middle name of Wayne more than other American males. This is particularly true if you restrict yourself to white Southern males. Both policemen and criminals tend to come from backgrounds that are working-class or lower-middle-class in higher proportions than you would expect at random. I don’t mean this observation as an insult to policemen at all. In a working-class or lower-middle-class background, one would tend to see the effects of crime more than one would in an upper-middle-class community. (This doesn’t mean that there are no crimes committed by upper-middle-class people, but embezzlement or business fraud don’t tend to affect the communities where the perpetrators live.) There’s two obvious reactions to this: One could say, “Hey, this looks like easy money. I want some of this.” Or one could say, “This is really shameful. Somebody’s got to clean up this mess.” So let’s suppose that both policemen and criminals come from working-class and lower-middle-class backgrounds more often than one would expect at random. My guess is that people from these backgrounds tend to give their sons the middle name of Wayne more often than one would expect at random. My offhand observations are that, more specifically, this is particularly true if you restrict yourself to white Southern working-class to lower-middle-class families. I don’t know why the middle name “Wayne” became popular in this group. Perhaps, as people have mentioned, it has something to do with the popularity of John Wayne. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/32 "2005-11-06T00:50:24Z")
Leave us not forget John Wayne Bobbit. He didn’t dismember anybody, but, well, he… was dismembered himself! 🙂 Back to the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/33 "2005-11-07T16:40:12Z")
There have been a sting of break-in robberies on Long Island. One of the persons arrested for it on Saturday had the unforgettable name of: Efraim Zembalist Russell. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/34 "2005-11-07T18:07:55Z")
I was going to ask the same question, but instead regarding the name “Ray” rather than “Wayne.” For some reason, watching the news and hearing about murderers both regular and serial, it seems like a large number of them had “Ray” as their middle name. “Lee” is another one that also seems to come up a lot. Wasn’t there a thread somewhere that answered the question “Why are serial murderers and high-profile criminals always referred to with their first, middle and last names?” ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/35 "2005-11-07T19:06:36Z")
Anecdotal data point, backed up with amateur psychological diagnoisis: My father’s middle name is Wayne, and I’m pretty sure he’s a sociopath. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/36 "2005-11-07T19:50:20Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Notorious killers are among the few people who are almost always addressed by their first and middle names. Well, them, and Miss America contestants. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/37 "2005-11-07T23:39:47Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > My ex’s middle name is Wain (alternate spelling due to a family name, Wainwright). I may have asked you this before, but is it Wainwright as in Wainwright Hotel at Heritage Park? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/38 "2005-11-08T01:09:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by astorian > Notorious killers are among the few people who are almost always addressed by their first and middle names. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Well, them, and Miss America contestants. And Mom’s kids…“Zachary Robert, don’t make me slap you!” ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/39 "2005-11-08T02:16:46Z")
> [@shagnasty](#): > > A family that thinks it is cool to give its boys the middle name of “Wayne” is probably more likely to produce a criminal than others. > [@groman](#): > > if you name your kid hoping his name would be associated with John Wayne… you are most likely an idiot. I may be a bit dim this evening after a few beers, but I gotta say that the force of these arguments escapes me. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576/40 "2005-11-08T02:35:36Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > I may be a bit dim this evening after a few beers, but I gotta say that the force of these arguments escapes me. Thanks, guy. -C. Wayne [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wayne-an-uncommonly-common-middle-name-for-criminals/329576.md?page=3)