What counts as an ‘American name’ in a changing nation

Few things signal the challenge America faces as it adapts to its evolving demographics more than a name.

Four in 10 Americans now identify as non-White, according to the latest census report, and they are transforming what counts as a common U.S. name.

So much so that when Katherine He analyzed census data of 348 million American baby names between 1880 to 2017, for the Linguistic Society of America, she found that boys are now four times as likely to have “unique” names, defined as “novel, non-conventional names” per 1,000 people. Girls are almost three times as likely to have a “unique” name.