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