Mental Floss

Angela, Joshua, and the 18 Other Most Accident-Prone Names in America

Meet Joshua and his mean colleagues.
Meet Joshua and his mean colleagues. | sturti/iStock via Getty Images

As one or more of your grade-school science teachers likely mentioned, correlation does not equal causation. And being named Joshua doesn’t cause you to constantly trip over your own feet. But if you are named Joshua and you do seem to be more accident-prone than every Tom, Dick, and Harry in your friend group, it might reassure you to know that other Joshuas may feel the same way.

California-based personal injury law firm GJEL Accident Attorneys analyzed all their accidental personal injury claims from the past 12 months—including “falling, slipping, or tripping” at home, at work, or in a public place—and found that Joshuas submitted more claims than any other men of a certain name. Christopher and Noah rounded out the top three; Calvin, Brandon, Tim, and a few other common male names made up the top 10.

Meanwhile, Angela took the blue ribbon for women, followed by Karen—a name whose popularity is plummeting seemingly by the minute—and Daisy (which is more popular for dogs these days than people). Katies, Emmas, and Olivias all apparently have a clumsiness habit, too.

Before you cite this study to your friend Angela as some sort of proof that she is, in fact, a terrible driver, you should know that it didn’t include claims related to car accidents at all—and, again, that correlation doesn’t equal causation. It’s also worth noting that as GJEL Accident Attorneys’ data is California-centric, Angelas in other states may not have the same tendency to misstep.

The firm also found that men were 28 percent more likely to make a personal injury claim than women. While that isn’t exactly evidence that men are clumsier than women, it does at least suggest that they may report their falls more often than women do.

See if your name made the list below.

Clumsiest Male Names

  1. Joshua
  2. Christopher
  3. Noah
  4. Brian
  5. Eric
  6. Calvin
  7. David
  8. Brandon
  9. William/Bill
  10. Tim

Clumsiest Female Names

  1. Angela
  2. Karen
  3. Daisy
  4. Louisa
  5. Helen
  6. Tricia
  7. Emma
  8. Katie
  9. Olivia
  10. Sophie
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