What’s in a name?

A fascinating article in The Digerati Life examines the many ways names are perceived by people. For instance, the writer presents charts showing the positive and negative stereotypes people have in mind when they hear a particular name.

Positive Names

People Thought They Were…	Female	Male
Intelligent	Abigail, Eleanor, Lisa, Meredith and Rebecca	Clifford, David, Edward, John, Samuel, Ned and Tim
Leaders	Ruth	Alexander, Dwight and Lance
Hardworking	Ada, Ingrid, Marie and Margaret	Jake, Manuel, Ron and Todd
Entrepreneurial and Professional	Lorraine and Sylvia	Gregory and Ted
Talented	Tina	Neil
Wealthy	Audrey, Paige and Victoria	Lucius, Edmond and Claude
Blue-Collar	Roxy	Arnie
Refined	Indira, Calista and Grace	Nigel, Alistair, Vaughn
Ambitious	Leigh	Cedric
Organized	Julianne
Outgoing	Bernadette, Christy, Elaine, Gwen, Joy, Kathy, Kim, Patricia, Nancy and Wendy	Allen, Cole, Danny, Ed, Gary, Jim, Russ and Rob
Accountants (Nerdy)	Minerva and Ingrid	Myron and Reynold
Teachers	Trudy	Thomas
Wealthy Lawyers		Drew

Negative Names

People Thought They Were…	Name
Deceitful	Oswald
Awkward	Angus
Show-Off	Don
Bratty	Dennis
A Jerk	Ace
Stubborn	Rolf
Two-faced	Vera
Bossy	Joyce and Myrna
Opinionated	Rhea and Maud
Old and Overweight	Dolores
Dumb	Candy, Kiki and Vanna

Source: CareerBuilder.com and Behind The Name

The most stunning piece of information is from a study of twins that the writer cites. A Professor Figlio created a feminity index for women’s names.

The study then examined the effect of naming girls very “girlie” names and found the following:

Girls who are given very feminine names, such as Anna, Emma or Elizabeth, are less likely to study maths or physics after the age of 16. The effect is so strong that parents can set twin daughters off on completely different career paths simply by calling them Isabella and Alex, names at either end of the spectrum. A study of 1,000 pairs of sisters in the US found that Alex was twice as likely as her twin to take maths or science at a higher level.