Abstract

I conduct two survey experiments to examine whether demographic naming patterns predict individual perceptions about the social class of people who have those names. In the primary study, respondents are randomly presented with names and asked to state the social class they associate with each name. In total, 7,697 respondents provide 102,788 social class perceptions on 876 different combinations of first and last names. I use New York State demographic birth record data capturing information on mothers’ race/ethnicity and educational attainment for millions of births in the state over 18 years. I find that the percent of non-White mothers and percent of mothers with a college degree predict respondents’ social class perceptions of names. I find larger differences in social class perceptions among Black rather than White and Hispanic names. This research sheds light on how people perceive characteristics from names and has substantial implications for racial bias research.