Decryption. Kevin, Cindy, Jennifer, Bryan… Why are certain first names stigmatized?

"You must be mad at your parents", "Have you thought about changing it?", "It must be a heavy burden to bear"... Here is a selection of comments that some of you may have already heard when your first name is mentioned . Mocked, out of fashion or simply overused, certain first names concentrate a certain number of stereotypes, making their owners bear the weight of a stigma that they did not choose. You may have some in mind: Cindy, Priscilla, Kevin, Jordan, Jennifer, Mohamed, Bryan, Sofiane... Or going back further, Roger, Jean-Pierre, Henriette or even Monique.

"As soon as first names were chosen, they were automatically subject to a judgment of taste. While some like them, others don't," researcher Baptiste Coulmont, author of the Sociology of First Names (La Découverte, 2011), explains to us. In this work, this teacher at the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay shows the different mechanisms that will lead the first name to become "a symbolic good subject to the trends and fluctuations of fashion ." A legal category created in 1792 to ensure the civil existence of individuals, the first name will gradually be "detached from the family logic of inheritance or symbolic transmission in favor of a logic involving taste."

Since 1945, a trend towards the diversification of first names has been observed in France and Europe. From 20 dominant first names for the same age group at the end of the Second World War, there were some 140 in 2004.

This phenomenon was accompanied by a movement of emancipation of the working classes in their cultural habits. In this context, the first name will thus translate in an even more pronounced way a position in the social scale. An analysis that we owe to another sociologist: Pierre Bourdieu. In a resounding essay, La Distinction , published in 1979, the latter demonstrates that the tastes and dislikes of each person do not come from a personal judgment of aesthetics, but are indeed shaped by the social environment in which individuals evolve.

In this same development, the French sociologist states that taste "is the disgust of the taste of others." In other words, by negatively judging the habits of others, certain social groups distinguish themselves from the latter and thus impose a form of cultural hierarchy, thus defining what is "good" or "bad," of "good quality" or "bad quality." And obviously, the first name given to one's child does not escape social judgment.

"From the 1970s onwards, English-language first names or those from different immigration backgrounds (Spanish, Italian, Arab, West African) began to spread, which sparked criticism, particularly from the ruling classes," explains Baptiste Coulmont.

A typical example of this social outlook? Kevin. The most popular name for boys in France between 1989 and 1994, it was particularly popularized in France thanks in particular to audiovisual productions from across the Atlantic ( Home Alone, Beverly Hills , the actor Kevin Costner, etc.), before being linked to a whole host of clichés. "It's a name that has been particularly popular among the working classes. Due to its social trajectory - it didn't spread from the top to the bottom of society - it created a scandal among those who believed in good taste," analyzes the teacher-researcher.

Annoyed by the mockery, director Kevin Fafournoux wanted to dissect the causes of this disdain for his first name through a documentary called Save the Kevins . In addition to his personal research on the subject, this freelance motion designer distributed a questionnaire to Kevins so that they could share their experiences. With 490 responses, Kevin Fafournoux noted many similar stories, from playground mockery to romantic adventures interrupted by the mention of his first name, including difficulties integrating into the professional world.

"I noticed that the few Kevins who were spared the ridicule were those who still seemed to belong to a working-class background. It was when I arrived in Paris, to launch myself in the profession, that I experienced my first comments," he confided to us.

In his documentary, the director highlights the social contempt that has gradually grown around this name, to the point of becoming entrenched in popular culture. A mechanism that affects many names of the same ilk. Kevin Fafournoux is also in contact with parliamentarians to create a definition of discrimination based on first names, "because they evoke social origins."

Among this group of stigmatized first names, those with a foreign sound "are subject to much more visible discrimination," reports Baptiste Coulmont. Indeed, a 2021 study by the Institute of Public Policy (IPP) shows the persistent differences in treatment by recruiters between the CV of a candidate with a North African-sounding first name and that of a candidate whose identity suggests French origin. Similarly, another study by the SOS Racisme association highlights that one in two real estate agencies tolerates racial discrimination demanded by landlords, immediately dismissing applications where candidates have a first and last name of foreign origin.