Does your name influence your life?

I know a guy with a name when directly translated is "trouble"

[Habtom]

Do you have a special name, or your child?

There is this person too whom after meeting 5 or more times I can hardly say his name correctly, too many Vs and Ws :)

[edited by: Habtom at 7:26 am (utc) on Jan. 27, 2008]

[Essex_boy]

The reminds me, years ago I worked with someone who called me Simon constantly (maybe im simple?) anyway I never bothered correcting him after a while, so for 3 years until he left I was known as Simon.....

All very annoying

[jatar_k]

that's the type of thing I have always thought about when naming my kids, I don't want to mess them up because I called them after the first thing I saw, like 'apple' ;)

I also don't want them to hate their name because it always causes people issues, rhymes with something bad or gives them obvious awful nicknames

[rocknbil]

Oh, I got a special name all right. A common object, one that brought me never ending negative attention in any grade in school. I still have to tell checkout clerks to take their best shot, come on, tell me something I haven't heard in high school, pleeeeeaaaase . . . .

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and gives you insights to humanity most people aren't shown. Growing up it was a curse. Looking back, it was a lesson. See "A Boy Named Sue." :-)

Of course, that was "then." Today it would be blamed for years of therapy, and would probably show up in the news like, "Surname is root of mass murders in Boring, Indiana . . . " and everyone would blame my parents. :-)

[digitalghost]

Nominative Determinism? Coopers making barrels, Chandlers making candles or someone named Rose becoming a Florist?

The reason I think nominative determinism seems plausible is because some people make a conscious decision to take up a profession related to their name. But what about Doctor Head in Nashville, he's a podiatrist? Is that nominative anti-determinism?

Most of the studies I've seen look at Coopers and Smiths and Wrights and the analysts say wow, look at all those people that are in professions related to their name. But the influx of immigrants into the U.S., coupled with the prejudice against unfamiliar names ensured that many immigrants were given last names that matched their profession instead of having their name anglicized.

As for influence, do Jonathan Smiths feel 'common' or do they feel like part of a large group? Do kids named Albert feel compelled to be smart?

I'm sure that kids that have unfortunate names develop defense mechanisms, but personally, I think that's about as far as nominative determinism goes. The guy named Richard Head or the girl named Ima Hogg probably grew up with thick skin.

Dick Trickle ended up racing cars, Peter LaCock played pro baseball, so did Dick Pole...

[Habtom]

My name is more or less tied to being rich, you know how I feel. . .

[timster]

when naming my kids

When we were picking names for our kids, we made sure they sound good after the words "Supreme Court Justice."

But we also tried to pick names with lots of "short forms" to case law school wasn't for them.

[ronin]

Nominative Determinism

Doesn't exist.

But it looks like it does because of the File Drawer Effect.

When someone has a name which reflects their profession, you sit up and pay attention and remark to yourself: "How funny!"

But all the tens of thousands of times you encounter or read about people whose names do not reflect their professions the thought does not even cross your mind.

[ergophobe]

I just read an article that showed that showed names affected performance. I forget the details, but they decided to look at baseball players and see if players with names beginning in S struck out more often and, statistically, they did.

[walkman]

absolutely: being named Jeffrey Dahmer does tend to make people wonder about you ;)