Working with data:
–Try to find a newsworthy peg. When writing about the rise or fall of a particular name or category of names (gender-neutral names, non-English names, names based on sports figures, celebrities or fictional characters, etc.), tie that rise or fall to another phenomenon: a celebrity’s peak popularity, a blockbuster movie, decreasing number of Americans who identify as religious, a scandal involving someone with that name, etc.)
–But remember: Correlation is not causation! If you find that the proportion of babies who were named Franklin or Frank grew after the four terms (1933-1945) of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, you might be seeing the influence of a popular president on the choice of baby names. But there could be other explanations, such as media attention given to the 150th anniversary, in 1940, of the death of Benjamin Franklin. Your article could point out, with examples, that some presidents’ first names spike in popularity after the president’s term, but you cannot conclusively state that the popularity of those presidents actually caused the increase.
–You must write about at least three names that illustrate your central point. For instance, if your story centers on the name Kobe, include the names of at least two other. well-known athletes. If you want to focus on the names Beyonce and Taylor, bring in at least one more comparable female singer. You may certainly use more than three names.
–You may, or may not, find a trend. Either way, describe what you found and why it’s of interest. Using reliable sources to guide you, try to explain the WHY the best you can without overstating conclusions.
–Make sure you cover more than the “2020 and later” years that the database defaults to. For instance, looking for my name, I clicked on “1900 and later”:
–If you want to emphasize how many or how few babies were given a particular name, go beyond the Social Security database’s basic rankings. Most of what the database does is rank names in popularity. But after clicking on a specific name, it will show the actual number of babies receiving a particular name in a particular year. In the 2000s, for example, the name John was most popular in 2001. That year, the number of newborn Johns was 18,900,which represents 0.914 percent of total male births in 2001. So almost 1% of all male babies were named John that year, which is a statistic that most readers can understand. While “Elon” made the top 1,000 in 2018, at a rank of 940, the actual (a/k/a “absolute”) number of Elon newborns that year was 222, which represents just 0.011% of total male births in 2018.
Sources in addition to the Social Security data base:
You’ll need properly formatted quotes (direct or partial) from at least two sources. These will be sources you find through research (that is, you do not need to personally interview anyone for this assignment). As always, give credit to and LINK to any publications you quote or paraphrase.
You may quote from as many sources as you like, but at least one source should come from an expert on names, cultural history, or languages that you find in a published article on a news site or a research paper.Search for them on Google, Google Scholar, or the Rutgers libraries. If you quote someone from something previously published, use this format: “TK QUOTE,” Rutgers lingusitics professor Sally Speaknow LINKtold the New York Times. So, you will both attribute the quote and link to it, usually on the verb of attribution, like “told” or “said.”
Information or quotes may also come from a non-news site source, like Namerlogy, theBump.com or other baby-naming sites. For direct links to these sites, see this, from 2 Ideas for a piece on baby names:
Sources: The Social Security Administration’s baby names dataset, and for background on those names and more, check out TheBump.com/baby-namesLinks to an external site. (and its list of listsLinks to an external site. of names and origins of namesLinks to an external site., from African to Sanskrit to Vietnamese and more!) Scroll through Pampers baby namesLinks to an external site., sorted into gender-neutral, short, vintage, flower, international and many more categories of names. As if that’s not enough, there’s a wealth of name info on Nameberry.comLinks to an external site. andLinks to an external site.aband Namerology.comLinks to an external site..
The writing:
–5Ws: Whether you’re writing data journalism or a hard news story, you still need the 5Ws and How. WHAT (the name and rankings), WHEN (the years or decades), WHERE (the U.S. and possibly different states or countries). The WHY may be the most interesting: WHY Liam and Olivia now? WHY more gender-neutral or unisex names? WHY Luna but not Hermione? Because correlation isn’t causation, you can’t know the exact cause for any one name’s popularity, but you can entertain cultural or historical reasons and quote others who may speculate. You never want to say that A “proves” B, but you may use honest “hedge” words, like indicate, possible, might, may have contributed to, may have influenced, etc.
–Your story must be accurate and well organized, and use concise language. Remember: everything in the story should relate to your central point.
Your story must include these key elements:
1) A headline. A subhead is optional. Neither will be included in the word count.
2) A photo or a chart/graph at the top. You can use the snip tool to show the pertinent Social Security dataset page.
3) A lead:
You may use a summary lead, maybe on the light-hearted side. For instance:
How many people named Liam or Olivia do you know? You’re likely to meet many more over the next few decades. Liam has been the number-one boy’s name since 2017 and Olivia joined his ranks as the top girl’s name two years later, according to the Social Security Administration’s ranking of names given to babies born in 2023.
Or, you may use an anecdotal lead (I’m completely making this up):
Karen Thompson of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was 40 years old when she seriously considered legally changing her first name to Karine. She never did–changing names was “a legal hassle out of hell,” she said. But she isn’t the only Karen who’s wanted to scrub away her name ever since being “a Karen” became synonymous with an entitled, racist white lady.
4) After the lead, stick more or less to an inverted pyramid structure, starting with the most important facts and statistics from the Social Security database and continuing in reverse order of importance. Remember, you must credit and link to the Social Security database.
5) Use short paragraphs: one idea per paragraph and no more than one or two sentences per graf.
6) Write concisely: Your piece should be filled with info, data, and ideas–NOT with unnecessary words. That means: no filler; no redundancies; no repetitive words, phrases, or ideas; and virtually no passive-voice constructions. Apply everything you learned on concise writing in Chapter 3. The more you re-read your work, the more you’ll notice unnecessary words. Then you’ll have that much more fun getting rid of them! 😉
7) Use at least SEVEN statistics or data points, based on rankings: TK NAME rose (or fell) from TK RANK in TK YEAR to TK RANK in TK YEAR. When useful, you may use percentages (nearly 1% of all boys born in the U.S. in 2018 were named John) and/or absolute numbers. Since you’ll be covering at least three names, you will probably exceed the seven required data points.
7) Use proper AP style for grammar, punctuation, capitalization, numbers, dates, and spelling. When in doubt, check the AP Stylebook, Appendix B in the textbook, or Google: What is AP Style for TK?
