Winners and Losers
April 11th, 2005
My urban legend alarm has just exploded:
[Names] are seen to carry great aesthetic and even predictive powers.
This might explain why, in 1958, a New York City father named Robert Lane decided to call his baby son Winner. The Lanes, who lived in a housing project in Harlem, already had several children, each with a fairly typical name. But this boy—well, Robert Lane apparently had a special feeling about him. Winner Lane: How could he fail with a name like that?
Three years later, the Lanes had another baby boy, their seventh and last child. For reasons that no one can quite pin down today, Robert decided to name this boy Loser. Robert wasn't unhappy about the new baby; he just seemed to get a kick out of the name's bookend effect. First a Winner, now a Loser. But if Winner Lane could hardly be expected to fail, could Loser Lane possibly succeed?
Loser Lane did in fact succeed. He went to prep school on a scholarship, graduated from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, and joined the New York Police Department, where he made detective and, eventually, sergeant. Although he never hid his name, many people were uncomfortable using it. To his police colleagues today, he is known as Lou.
And what of his brother? The most noteworthy achievement of Winner Lane, now in his late 40s, is the sheer length of his criminal record: more than 30 arrests for burglary, domestic violence, trespassing, resisting arrest, and other mayhem.
These days, Loser and Winner barely speak. The father who named them is no longer alive. Though he got his boys mixed up, did he have the right idea—is naming destiny? What kind of signal does a child's name send to the world? [...]
Bizarre introduction notwithstanding, the article is quite interesting.
April 14th, 2005 at 00:05
My urban legend alarm has just exploded
Same here. However, I found an alt.folklore.urban thread on this. Dave Wilton, who runs Word Origins – reliable source, writes for the OUP – says he knew Loser Lane at Lafayette College.
April 15th, 2005 at 07:10
That's interesting. (I checked Snopes but for some reason I didn't think to google a.f.u.)
I'd love to know what Loser's mother said when her husband came up with the idea for that name. Was she persuaded that "everyone will just call him Lou," or what?
December 30th, 2005 at 20:42
I remember Detective Loser Lane, very nice guy, good detective. One of his colleagues told me his brother was named "Winner Lane." Anytime anyone mentioned odd names, I brought that up and nobody believed me. I wasn't even sure if it was true. But it's mentioned in Levitt's Freakonomics book as well.
January 25th, 2006 at 10:36
I knew Loser at the Prep School, Pomfret Prep School, he was a good guy. Although I was a few years younger than him, he was someone that you respected. I heard that he had a brother named winner, and also have told people about the names only to get some doubtful looks.
August 25th, 2006 at 23:18
the only one who can name a child with a sense of destiny isGOD . THE REST WE JUST SPECULATE. GO D.therest ;we ' ;THE RE S T WE JUST SPECULA TE.
August 26th, 2006 at 09:54
Does anyone else find it ironic that that last comment was made by someone posting as Anonymous?
August 24th, 2009 at 04:37
Yeah… and their puncuation's screwed up.
And I also heard that if Robert had another kid, he would call him Lover. I wonder how that would turn out.