Baby Name Statistics, Part 3

The power of a name should not be underestimated. It is closely related to both an individual's self-image and the image that others have of the individual. It is also something that can be completely controlled by parents-to-be, and it is something that is the subject of research that is limited in quantity but substantial in impact. So--what kind of a name should you give your child?

Bagley & Evan-Wong (1970) collate several studies that demonstrate a higher risk of "psychiatric disturbance" and psychosis in populations of uniquely-named individuals than commonly-named individuals. Twenge and Manis (1998) add that adult males were more likely to have these problems than females.

Mehrabian (1992) shows that unique names are rated as less desirable among peers. He further shows that desirable names are associated with perceived pleasant and dominant emotional temperaments (which "increase popularity and attractiveness to others"), and that pleasant temperament in individuals is associated with perceived pleasant temperament in names. In effect, people have an internalized positive image of names like "Elizabeth," "Michael," et cetera--and the name projects its positive qualities onto the person who bears it.

This does not only encompass the other; people who like their names have a much better positive image of themselves: more self-esteem, life satisfaction, better mood, more time spent happy, and less time spent unhappy (Twenge & Manis, 1998). Twenge and Manis go on to conclude that "given names may indeed play a part in personal adjustment, with undesirable names exacting a price on an individual's well-being" (1998).

Busse & Seraydarian (1979) show that children with unpopular names are less popular among their peers. Conversely, elementary school girls' popularity "is significantly related to the desirability of their first names". There is also a slight effect on the popularity of boys with girls (Busse & Seraydarian, 1979).

Along those lines, Garwood, Cox, Kaplan, Wasserman & Sulzer (1980) showed a significant effect on perceived attractiveness of college-aged females by college students. Pictures of females were selected and rank-ordered on attractiveness by college students in order to select a set of equivalently attractive females. Three desirable names and three undesirable names were selected from a list of names obtained from the same population of students and then arbitrarily assigned to the six pictures; the "desirable" (Kathy, Jennifer, and Christine) names unambiguously and resoundingly wiped the floor with the "undesirable" (Ethel, Harriet, and Gertrude) names.

In another paper (Hassebrauck, 1988), pictures of females of varying levels of attractiveness were assigned desirable, neutral, or undesirable names, with a similar selection and rating methodology to the previous paper. An experimental group and a control group rated pictures of the females; an ANOVA showed there were not any significant effects on either perceived attractiveness or social desirability due to the desirability of the name.

Physical attractiveness, however, did have significant effects for most of the ratings. Hassebrauck concludes that first names would only have a significant effect when a picture or visual information about the person is unavailable--which I will address in Part 4.

Busse & Seraydarian (1978) further show that children with names rated as undesirable by other children had demonstrably lower performance on various readiness, IQ, and achievement tests. Significant effects in girls were still observed after accounting for effects due to parental education and ethnicity/race. The same effects in girls were observed after adjusting the sample for name frequency rather than desirability.

(to be continued in Part 4)

WORKS CITED

Bagley, C., & Evan-Wong, L. (1970). Psychiatric disorder and adult and peer group rejection of the child's name. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 11, 19-27.

Busse, T., & Seraydarian, L. (1978). The Relationships between first name desirability and school readiness, iq, and school achievement. Psychology in the Schools, 15(2), 297-302.

Busse, T., & Seraydarian, L. (1979). First names and popularity in grade school children. Psychology in the Schools, 16(1), 149-153.

Garwood, S., Cox, L., Kaplan, V., Wasserman, N., & Sulzer, J. (1980). Beauty is only "name" deep: the effect of first-name on ratings of physical attraction. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 10(5), 431-435.

Hassebrauck, M. (1988). Beauty is more than "name" deep: the effect of women's first names on ratings of physical attractiveness and personality attributes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 18(9), 721-726.

Mehrabian, A. (1992). Interrelationships among name desirability, name uniqueness, emotion characteristics connoted by names, and temperament. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 22(23), 1797-1808.

Twenge, J., & Manis, M. (1998). First-name desirability and adjustment: self-satisfaction, others' ratings, and family background. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28(1), 41-51.