Chris Crowder

Name: Christopher Anthony Crowder

Age: 20

Born: 1996, Michigan

Christopher was the 4th most popular male baby name in 1996, making up 1.5427% of newborn male babies in the US.

Do you like your name?

"Yeah. I like my name. I don't have any reasoning for it. It’s just what my parents named me, and I like it. I like Chris more than Christopher, though Christopher is fine now. But most of the time if professors ask, I’ll say Chris."

Have you had any experiences in which the popularity of your name has either bothered or helped you?

"Not that I can remember. I remember like there were kids who were also named Chris at my school, like there was a guy on my baseball team with the same name as me, but it didn't affect me in any way."

Do you have any experiences in which the popularity of your name has either bothered or helped you?

"Yeah for sure, especially with my creative side. I want to be a writer as a career, so I guess [I've felt] that definitely, wanting to stand out in that way and be my own person. So yeah, [I have] a desire to be unique and creative.

Do you ever feel like the popularity of your name threatens your uniqueness?

"No, I don’t think so."

Collective identity, or "sameness", has been shown to be felt as strongly and be equally as powerful as uniqueness. Do you agree that sameness can be powerful? Have you ever felt it as such?

"Yeah, I think it can be. Something that comes to mind is the Black Lives Matter movement, how within the Black community that’s like a big thing, recognizing that sameness and how we’ve gone through the same struggles. With my race, being both Black and White, sameness is kinda hard to find, because my race doesn’t match up with either side. The culture’s different ,too. I like it, being unique. I like having my own unique experiences, and being able to share those with other people is a really rewarding experience, to share about uniqueness instead of sameness."

Which to you think is more important, uniqueness or sameness?

"I think uniqueness is more powerful. I think the drive to be different promotes more creativity. I don’t know my exact rationale for it, but I think we’re able to see more out of people when they desire to be different from everyone else rather than the same. And it makes the world a more exciting and creative place, when people try to be different."