Funny thing about Cletus Spuckler from the Simpsons is that his children all have relatively trendy modern names: Tiffany, Heather (two of them), Cody, Dylan, Dermot, Jacob, Jordan, Taylor, Brittany, Wesley, Rumer, Scout, Cassidy, Zoe, Chloe, Max, Hunter, Kendall, Caitlin, Noah, Sasha, Morgan, Kyra, Ian, Lauren, Qbert, and Phil.
Wasn’t one named Dubya?
Don’t forget Mary!
I remember this name phenomenon being discussed in Freakanomics. It’s not random that they have such fancy-sounding names. The Spucklers all have “aspirational names”.
There is a clear pattern at play: Once a name catches on among high-income, highly educated parents, it starts working its way down the socioeconomic ladder. Amber, Heather, and Stephanie started out as high-end names. For every high-end baby given those names, however, another five lower-income girls received those names within 10 years.