SIMON OR SIPHO - SOUTH-AFRICAN CHILDRENS GIVEN NAMES AND THEIR ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT IN GRADE ONE

The Grade One achievement of 2046 South African children bearing tradi tional African names was compared with that of 1019 children from the same schools who were enrolled under English names. Results suggest th at children bearing English names did significantly better in two of f our subjects (Home Language and Mathematics) regardless of whether the y were at school in an urban or rural context. For the remaining two s ubjects (Wealth and Religious Education), urban children bearing Engli sh names significantly outperformed urban children with traditional na mes. Consideration is given to the possibility that the marks teachers assign to children might in some way be influenced by the child's nam e type. Home and demographic variables are also explored but are of li ttle assistance in explaining the results; the only significant differ ence is that children bearing English names-i.e, those faring better i n Grade One-tend to have mothers with fewer years of schooling. Home a nd demographic variables do not, therefore, provide any obvious explan ation for the results.