[unit91]

Agreed. It seems like this particular idea could have been abandoned, without aborting the entire endeavor (or quitting the company). The words "feasibility study" come to mind...

As an aside, I ran the names Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Morgan Freeman, Ben Carson, and Charlie Rangel against one the tools the author mentioned [1] and also got no correct answers.

1. http://www.textmap.com/ethnicity/

[Lerc]

I ran a few. I wouldn't rate it highly.

    George Washington	GreaterEuropean, British
    John Smith	GreaterEuropean, British
    Barack Obama	GreaterAfrican, Africans
    Mike Brown	GreaterEuropean, British
    Tamir Rice	GreaterEuropean, Jewish
    Eric Garner	GreaterEuropean, British
    John Crawford	GreaterEuropean, British
    Akai Gurley	GreaterEuropean, British
    Ezell Ford	GreaterEuropean, British
    Cynical Oogaboogoo	Asian, IndianSubContinent

[mazerackham]

Ya, the idea sounds terrible if you just think about it for a split second:

Most Black Americans are descended from slaves. And their slave owners forced their family name on them. Slave owners were white. So these names will register as white names.

Completely destroys any accuracy concerning Black people.