It’s been a while since I regaled you with tales of Haitian onomastic nerdery, but wait no longer–I have a fine new source of names, rich and glowing with extraordinary detail. Today’s treat is courtesy of www.cephaiti.ht, the Haitian site for the body that oversees elections. They thoughtfully provided a list of every member of… the officials who oversee elections at the town level, I think? Three people per township–that amounts to roughly 25,000 names. I added in the names of the 300+ students who made the top scores per region in the two high school graduation exams, a small collection of names of candidates for election, and one list of government officials from Carrefour. All of these lists give first and last names, birthdate or a version of the personal identification number that includes the year of birth, and (except for the list from Carrefour) the person’s sex. The data has been clean apart from the usual typos, occasional switching of first and last names, and mystifying gender assignments.
The top 19 men’s names are:
| EMMANUEL |
179 |
| JUNIOR |
127 |
| FRANTZ |
103 |
| MACKENSON |
95 |
| PATRICK |
92 |
| DAVID |
84 |
| RONALD |
82 |
| EVENS |
82 |
| SAMUEL |
81 |
| JOHNNY |
80 |
| DANIEL |
80 |
| STANLEY |
76 |
| JAMES |
73 |
| WILSON |
67 |
| REGINALD |
61 |
| PETERSON |
61 |
| EDDY |
60 |
| JONAS |
57 |
| JACKSON |
51 |
I didn’t give men’s names in my analysis of the massive list of Haitian names because that file’s data is so messy that the results won’t be reliable without more work. However, the list above is similar to the results the massive file gives in its better moments.
The top 19 women’s names are:
| GUERLINE |
67 |
| MIRLENE |
51 |
| NADEGE |
50 |
| DARLINE |
47 |
| ROSELINE |
43 |
| WIDELINE |
41 |
| STEPHANIE |
38 |
| NATACHA |
38 |
| MIRLANDE |
38 |
| MANOUCHEKA |
37 |
| NADIA |
35 |
| ESTHER |
35 |
| EVELYNE |
33 |
| FABIOLA |
32 |
| SHERLINE |
31 |
| MICHELINE |
31 |
| EDELINE |
31 |
| JOHANNE |
29 |
| FABIENNE |
29 |
…Which roughly matches the results from the massive list of Haitian names. The numbers in both files are close, so it’s not surprising that names appear to leap or drop precipitously in popularity when you compare the two lists.
The eleven most common last names are:
| JOSEPH |
940 |
| PIERRE |
862 |
| JEAN |
578 |
| CHARLES |
436 |
| LOUIS |
426 |
| FRANCOIS |
307 |
| JEAN BAPTISTE |
295 |
| MICHEL |
190 |
| PAUL |
183 |
| JEAN LOUIS |
177 |
| ETIENNE |
176 |
The top nine names almost exactly match the results from the massive list.
Names by Decade
Because of the way my spreadsheet is laid out, it’s a pain in the ass to give the numbers for this data. As a general rule, the farther down the list you go, the closer the numbers get, so the names in the last half of the lists are essentially equal to one another.
Top Names of the 90’s
| PETERSON |
| STANLEY |
| JUNIOR |
| EMMANUEL |
| JAMES |
| MACKENSON |
| JOHNNY |
| DAVID |
| EVENS |
| RICARDO |
| MACKENDY |
| PATRICK |
| JAMESON |
| SAMUEL |
| JACKSON |
| GREGORY |
| STEPHANIE |
| WIDELINE |
| FABIENNE |
| KATIANA |
| DARLINE |
| DAPHNEE |
| VANESSA |
| LOVELY |
| FARAH |
| EDELINE |
| CHRISTELA |
| NADIA |
| FABIOLA |
| ALEXANDRA |
| ESTHER |
Top Names of the 80’s
| EMMANUEL |
| JUNIOR |
| MACKENSON |
| EVENS |
| FRANTZ |
| SAMUEL |
| DANIEL |
| JOHNNY |
| DAVID |
| JAMES |
| RONALD |
| REGINALD |
| PATRICK |
| ROBENSON |
| STANLEY |
| WILSON |
| JONAS |
| GUERLINE |
| MIRLENE |
| NADEGE |
| DARLINE |
| MANOUCHEKA |
| MIRLANDE |
| SHERLINE |
| ROSELINE |
| NATACHA |
| NADINE |
| NADIA |
| JOHANNE |
| FABIOLA |
| RUTH |
| ESTHER |
Top Names of the 70’s
| EMMANUEL |
| PATRICK |
| FRANTZ |
| RONALD |
| EDDY |
| DANIEL |
| PIERRE RICHARD |
| JONAS |
| WILSON |
| JEAN CLAUDE |
| DAVID |
| JOHNNY |
| JOEL |
| FRITZ |
| GUERLINE |
| JUDITH |
| NADEGE |
| NATACHA |
| ROSELINE |
| GUERDA |
| BEATRICE |
| EVELYNE |
| CARLINE |
| ADELINE |
Top Names of the 60’s
| RONALD |
| PATRICK |
| EMMANUEL |
| JEAN CLAUDE |
| FRANTZ |
| JACQUES |
| FRANCOIS |
| JEAN ROBERT |
| EDDY |
| WILNER |
| MARGARETTE |
| ISLANDE |
| ROSE |
| MARIE MICHELLE |
| NICOLE |
Top Names of the 50’s
| JEAN |
| GERARD |
| JOSEPH |
| DANIEL |
| ELIE |
There weren’t enough women in this age group to count–three Josettes, and one of every other name represented.
