Far Out Friday: What’s in a name? For some, a lot of crashes and thefts

Research from Erie Insurance reveals some names are more prone to crash and theft than others.

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When screening prospective clients for auto insurance, you might want to consider this:  research from one insurer has shown that some given names are more prone to crashes and thefts than others
Parents go to great lengths to decide on the right baby name – honouring a beloved relative or historical figure. But probably no one chooses their child’s name based on the likelihood of people with a particular name getting into a car crash or have their car stolen.

The Social Security Administration recently released its annual list of the most popular baby names, and Erie Insurance, tongue-in-cheek, compared the Administration’s list with its claims data, ranking which names have had the most car accident claims and which names had their cars stolen the most.

According to Erie, Michaels and Elizabeths, Daniels and Emilys could be dangerous on the road.

“Of course we don’t think parents should use this information when choosing a name because a person’s name has no bearing whatsoever on anything related to their insurance,” says Matt Myers, Erie Insurance's senior vice president of claims. “But people are fascinated by baby names, and as a car insurance provider we have claims data that can be correlated to names. We thought we’d share the information knowing that people will find it interesting.”

Erie Insurance calculated the number of theft and car accident claims filed by policyholders between January 1994 and March 2014, based on a list of the most popular names in 2014.

Erie Insurance's Top Names for Car Crashes
Boys
1.    Michael
2.    William
3.    Daniel
4.    Alexander
5.    Jacob
6.    Noah
7.    Ethan
8.    Mason
9.    Liam
10.    Jayden

Girls
1.    Elizabeth
2.    Emily
3.    Emma
4.    Abigail
5.    Olivia
6.    Sophia
7.    Mia
8.    Ava
9.    Isabella
10.    Madison

Erie Insurance’s Top Names for Car Theft
Boys
1.    Michael
2.    William
3.    Daniel
4.    Alexander
5.    Jacob
6.    Noah
7.    Ethan
8.    Liam
9.    Mason
10.    Jayden

Girls
1.    Elizabeth
2.    Emily
3.    Emma
4.    Olivia
5.    Sophia
6.    Abigail
7.    Ava
8.    Mia
9.    Isabella
10.    Madison

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