| Sumario: | A commentary on S. Lieberson and E.O. Bell's “Children's First Names: An Empirical Study of Social Taste,” which appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, vol. 98, 1992, pp. 511-554. Lieberson and Bell's article raises two problems: It ignores previously published French-language studies that deal with exactly the same topic, and the findings presented in the article are limited. The two problems are linked, because if the findings of previous studies on the same topic had been presented, the weaknesses of Lieberson and Bell's findings would have been obvious. The French studies that were not discussed have demonstrated both the important influence of the vertical diffusion of tastes and the existence of class differences in tastes.
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