Blame Crime on Name? People with Bad Names Are More Likely to Commit Crime in Continental China

Bao, Han-Wu-Shuang, Jianxiong Wang, and Huajian Cai. 2020. “Blame Crime on Name? People with Bad Names Are More Likely to Commit Crime.” PsyArXiv. July 9. doi:10.31234/osf.io/txhqg

Abstract: Prior evidence has revealed the interpersonal and intrapersonal costs of bearing “bad” names. The current research examined whether bad names predicted a more serious social outcome: criminal behavior. We found name-crime links based on a large dataset of 981,289 Chinese criminals (as compared to the whole Chinese population and a national representative sample of 1,000,000 non-criminal controls). People whose names were unpopular, negative, or implied lower warmth/morality were more likely to commit property and violent crime, whereas people whose names implied higher competence/assertiveness were more likely to commit violent and economic crime. Critically, lower warmth/morality of name still robustly predicted crime when controlling for demographic confounds and addressing alternative explanations. Furthermore, possessing a less warm/moral name predicted the motive for intentionally committing crime. These findings demonstrate the ethical costs of bearing bad/immoral names and enrich the understanding of how social-cognitive dimensions (warmth–competence) are associated with human behavior.


          “As his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him.”
                            —Bible (1 Samuel 25:25)

Bad names may invite trouble. As the Bible says, people with a “bad” name may also possess a “bad” trait. Substantial evidence has revealed that bearing a bad (e.g., unpopular, undesirable) name predicted worse interpersonal outcomes (e.g., being unfavorably treated by others; Gebauer, Leary, & Neberich, 2012) and worse intrapersonal outcomes (e.g., poorer mental health; Twenge & Manis, 1998). Some preliminary evidence has even shown that juveniles with a less popular name have a higher tendency toward delinquent or problematic (Kalist & Lee, 2009). In this research, we focused on a possible link between bad names and criminal behavior—a more serious social outcome that hazards both other people and the whole society. Specifically, we investigated the name-crime links comprehensively across seven categories of crime and four dimensions of name. Examining the name-crime links will uncover the ethical costs of bearing bad names beyond its well-documented costs on interpersonal and intrapersonal outcomes.