How Does Our Name End Up Affecting Our Lives?
 

I happened upon these two book excerpts that I thought were really interesting. They discuss naming trends among the social classes and and how one's name affects the way he/she is perceived by others.

"Trading Up: Where Do Baby Names Come From?"

"A Roshanda by Any Other Name"

Anyone care to discuss?

I'm all excited. I have a High-End White Boy name. (it sounds so cheap too. White boy, like i'm at some prom in the hood or something, lol.)

Now wheres that damned promised trust fund check???

There was an article in the Washington Post about this not too long ago. It said that teachers tend to expect less of students that have "trendy" names and strange spellings (like Brytni or something to that effect). I can't find the article right now but I think it said something like it gives the perception of lesser educated parents, and so they expect the student to be less intelligent and not have as much support at home. I'm going to see if I can find it, but I think it was about a month back, so it's buried on their site.

ETA: The Baby Name Wizard is neat too, it's a javascript graph that tells you how popular names are, dating back to the 1900s. So if you put in Madison, you can see that there's a HUGE spike in the early 1980s, right after "Splash" came out.

My name rhymes with an opear. I'm all about high class.

I didn't realize my name is as popular as it appears to be per that site. As of 2003 my name ranked 134 for most popular names. There must be a lot more Irish babies lately.

Timberland?!

Re: How Does Our Name End Up Affecting Our Lives?
 

I know Steven Levitt. Really smart guy. I would really, really like to meet Roland Fryer...maybe one day if I go to HBS.

Anyway, it's an absolute given that the more ethnic your name, the more screwed you are.

-Rudey

Interesting! This is a fun site too:

www.namepower101.com

Some things that have been proven to screw you in the name department:
- as Lil Hannah said, having a trendy name that makes them think your parents were stupid
- having a name that sounds "foreign"
- having a name that sounds "black"
- having a name that sounds ugly (they did a beauty pageant where they told judges that some of the girls had names like Ethel, Gertrude, etc. -- then they re-staged the event and told the judges their names were Christie, Vanessa, etc. They received higher scores the second time.)
- if you are female, having a name that sounds ditzy -- if you're applying for an important job, grad school, things like that, they take you less seriously if your name is something like Tiffany or Amber or anything that sounds like a porn star

Honestly, our names affect people's perceptions of us far more than most people think.

Oh, that is a hoot. She's a "nameologist" who does "name therapy"? To quote:

Consider these examples of a potential ill fit:

• An emotionally reactive, unassertive procrastinator using "Mike" instead of the much stronger option, "Michael."
• The child struggling in school with hyperactivity and a lack of focus using "Kevin," rather than the more grounded spelling of "Kevan."
• The woman passed over for promotion after promotion when using "Liz" as a first name, instead of the power options found in "Eliza" or "Beth."
• The teenager dealing with seemingly insurmountable substance abuse problems and depression as "Carolyn" when "Carolynne" would encourage more expression and confidence.

ETA: Not that I should rag on her site too much. She gave my name an "A" for charm and sex appeal.

HAHA look at the names some of people with "success stories"

Jullie
Jhoane
Jilean
Tobie
Ambree
Kaytey
Braden

I firmly believe that names influence a person. When I was growing up, my name was pretty uncommon - not weird, just uncommon. Now, every third little girl has the same name, and it makes me crazy!! Having such a name as a child and knowing that it was an old family name made me feel somewhat special.

My roomie married a guy with an uber Irish surname, and her kids all have Irish names: Kelly, Kevin, Katie, Molly, and Ryan. As much as they're so Irish, it DOES sound better than say, Stanlislaw O'Toole!

My name is one of the most popular of the 80's so it's definitely a trendy name. I have several friends with my name. The problem with trendy names is that I feel like it ages you. As soon as you hear my name, you know that I was born in the early 80's. When you hear the names Ruth, Judy, Donna, Susan, Barbara, you can usually tell the age of the person since those names were once some of the most popular names of their time.
My name did exactly what the first article said. The number of girls that had my name spiked in the 80's and early 90's and now has really dropped from the charts.

This sounds very similar to my name! do we have the same one?

Not necessarily - my name dates my parents, not me, since it was one of the most popular names of the time my parents had their "first round" of kids (remember, my brother is 20 years older than me, my other brother is 16 yrs older, and my sister is 14 yrs older). So, they have names that were popular during the 60's, and so do I. :p

Definitely - it's all part of the first impression, which when you're going on interviews and applying to schools can end up as the last impression.

I thought it was interesting how the one article touched on how favored names filter down from the upper classes to the lower classes. Names like Lindsay and Courtney and Whitney for example. It doesn't address where the upper class initially gets the names, though.

As for my name, it was super popular the year I was born and it seems to be making a comeback lately among Black males. Apparently, it started out as a boys' name, then a girls' name and now it's back to being a boys' name. I'm gonna get a complex at this rate! :D

Yes! I can't get used to guys being named Tracy or Stacy.

Ugh! Me, neither!! I really don't care for unisex names, unless they're (really) family names, such as Whitney, or Hunter or such. I've known male & females Kims, Danas, and Leslies, and I just shudder at that!

Regarding the black name issue, some other posts..

From SGRho
Baby Names

From Delta Ave

Can a Black-Sounding Name Hurt Your Career Prospects?

What's in a Name?


Future Children's names


Hi, My name is ...

from AKA

What's In a Name?

Baby Names

from Zeta Phi Beta
"Interesting" Baby Names Revisited

Name your Daughter and Son

My name has never been "super" popular. My parents went through a name book and chose my name because they liked the meaning of it. My name means friend, so I guess in a way they were naming me after something they hoped for me, just not as directly as naming me "Harvard" or "Yale" or some such. My freshman year my roommates were "Star" and "Bambi" I kid you not, people definitely made the "porn dorm" joke.

One book that's really interesting if you're into this stuff is "Beyond Jennifer and Jason" and its second edition "Beyond Jennifer and Jason, Madison and Montana." They're baby name books, but unlike traditional baby name books, they don't list the meanings and origins of names. Instead, they track how different names are perceived, how trends in naming start, alternatives to names that are too popular, etc. They've tracked naming trends across the country, and they're pretty good at predicting what's going to be popular in years to come -- the first edition of the book, which was published in the 80s (I think), correctly predicted the growth of place names like Madison, Dakota, Chelsea, Savannah, etc., as well as a return to traditional names like Emma. One thing the authors did notice is that naming trends -- like most other trends in this country -- start on the coasts and gradually work their way inwards. They've been pretty successful at catching onto naming trends by studying birth registers in NYC and California, because the names those kids have will be the names kids in North Dakota have in ten years. ;)


Anyway, my name basically followed the same trend as ZTAngel's and mu_agd's . . . I agree that it can "date" you really fast. Anyone who hears my name will pretty much be able to tell that I was born in the 80s -- any time I hear the names Heather, Nicole, Michelle, or Kimberly I automatically think "80s!"

After a few years in the work-force, I have realized that people will do anything to stand out and literally play branding games with their names...

-Rudey
--You hear someone's strange last name and you absolutely, positively will know he was the one guy who worked on some deal 3 years ago

And there you have my first and middle name all in that last sentence!

That's a good thing about my name - people remember it. Even if they've heard the first name before, they most likely haven't heard my last name.

The problem, of course, is that there are few people who could pronounce both of the names correctly. I've learned how to tactfully correct people over the years.

My name [Dana] started out as a boys' name, too. It was funny meeting one of my friends' dads and finding out we have the same name. :p

A lot of people like to use my middle name along with my first name, though...they say "Dana Rae" makes me sound like a sweet Southern girl. ;)

You know, I've met several male Danas and they've all been great guys. I like the name but I don't think I'd want my son to have to have a name that is now associated with girls.

Hilarious - for "Rob":

The Organized, Responsible, Productive Leader

Take a look at how Maryanna "grades" this name, but do keep in mind that your Full Name also plays an important role in overall influence, thus this component of your name does not alone offer a complete picture of your moniker's effect on your life.

Health: A
Financial Potential: A+
Professional/Job Success: A+
Relationship/Compatibility: A
Charisma/Sex Appeal: A
Communication Ability: A
The influence is nice blend of masculine and feminine influences.

Others who share this first name frequency include Colin Powell, Rob Reiner and Scarlett O'Hara.

Apparently I'm the total shit.

I'm surprised it didn't give you very low scores in an attempt to sucker you into doing her name therapy. I bet she'd rename you Rhob.

aparently my name (katherine) is at it's peak. that's sad.

and the predicted popular names of 2015 scare me...

For my name, it said that the influence for my name was primarily feminine, and I shared that frequency with people like Tony Robbins, Rock Hudson, John Goodman and Doris Day.


Ummm....ok.

I got "Others who share this first name frequency include Princess Diana, Heather Locklear, Dana Carvey, and Cinderella."


I love how Dana Carvey is just thrown in there.

There are too many places I could go with this.

Kolynnn?

I got "You share the same first name vibration with the likes of Christopher Reeve, Nicole Simpson, Chandra Levy and all the Honeys of the world!"

I feel like I'm destiend to die or something.

Well basically I'm screwed according to that website. :*(

I like how Maryanna Korvitz somehow rocks every category even though she has an ugly name.

-Rudey

Is "honey" a code name for dead people?

My scores are pretty mediocre but then it says "Others who share this first name frequency include Matthew Perry, Reese Witherspoon and Ringo Starr." and they're pretty successful so I guess I'll take my chances.

That's the rumor i heard.

Wow, cool site! And just think, I camethisclose to being named Scarlett! My name:

Health: A
Financial Potential: A+
Professional/Job Success: A
Relationship/Compatibility: A
Charisma/Sex Appeal: B+
Communication Ability: B+
The influence is a balanced blend of masculine and feminine energy, whether this name is used for a female or male.

Others who share this first name vibration include Michael Jordan, Winston Churchill, Diane Sawyer and Andre Agassi.


I Like Mike!

My name has a B average. Several of my co-workers call me Imelda in reference to my shoe collection. Incidentally, Imelda rates straight A's. Maybe I should encorage more people to start calling me that? (You'd think that Mrs. Marcos' infamy would have tainted the name.)

Nicole gives the same "meaning". *shudder*

I'm glad that Honey is my nickname!