The Name can Affect the Child in Life

The scientists have reached to the conclusion that the names which the parents offer to their babies have a deeper meaning than it was previously believed. They have found out that in most of the cases, the names of the babies offer lots of social information about the parents.

They have reached to the conclusion that unlike the previous period of times, the names of the babies now provide information about the background of the parents, and about their preferences from various domains. In the past 25 years the diversity of the baby names has increased a lot, and it is believed that it will increase even more. Laura Wattenberg, who is the author of the book “The Baby Name Wizard”, and who runs the website BabyNameWizard.com, believes that we are currently going through a naming revolution. She said that nowadays the parents are more interested in the originality of the names of their babies, which was not popular in the previous periods of time. Wattenberg said that in the 1950s, 50 percent of the babies had the name of the top 25 most popular baby names. A similar situation was seen amongst the female toddlers, as 50 percent of their names came from the top 50 most popular female baby names.

She said that nowadays the situation has changed a lot, as most of the parents stay away from those names, as they want their children to have a unique name. She said that more than 100 years ago, guessing one’s name would have been a very easy task, as there were very few names to choose from. The situation has changed a lot since then, as one has numerous names to choose from. Wattenberg said that the changing of the name has some implications, as the parents could be analyzed through them. She analyzed the baby name statistics in order to find out the Shannon entropy, which is a measure that can present the information from a hidden message, in this case, the message being represented by the name of the child. The Shannon entropy describes how much information is contained in a message, and the relationship between how much uncertainty is linked with a certain variable. The information from the message is related to the uncertainty of the field from which the message comes.

She has reached to the conclusion that the diversity of the names has grown a lot in the last 25 years, and that it has grown in the period prior to those years as well. She said that because of this, you can find out more about the parents of a baby boy called John, through the name of the boy, than you could have found 100 years ago. The situation is the same when it comes to the newer and stranger names. She said that in most of the cases the names are related to some aspects from the lives of the parents. For example they might represent a passion, or they might represent an ambition, a hobby, and so on. Wattenberg said that sociology is one of the best fields because it is one of the fewest fields which have not been affected by money. She said that this field will not try to convince one to name their baby with a certain name, as other fields try to convince people to do certain things. She said that the situation of the names can be compared to a school where all the children have the same uniform.

If all of them have the same uniform, it is impossible to fond out about their personality based on their clothes. She said that the situation is different in a school where the children can work whatever they like. When they can wear the clothes which they want to wear, it is very likely that the clothes will represent their personality. The same thing happened with the names of the babies, as in the past, most of the babies had the same names, and thus the personality of the parents could not be detected through their names. The situation has changed in the last period of time, as now since the parents do not have to follow the strict “dressing code”, they can give their babies whatever names they want. Jean Twenge, who is a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, said that the research conducted by Wattenberg is very impressive, as she might be right. She said that the reason why parents started to offer unique names to their children was because during those times, when these changes started, everyone wanted to become individual, to feel that they are unique. She said that this struggle for individualization did not occur only in the case of the names of the babies, but in the majority of the areas as well. Twenge said that nowadays people want to offer their children names which will make them stand out, and because of that, finding a name for the child might be more difficult than in the past.

She said that the reason why the change in names has occurred is related to the development of the technology. For example thanks to the internet, people from various corners of the world could communicate with each other, and thus in many of the cases, the names are influenced by the ones of the foreigners. Wattenberg said that this situation is unique, as in the past people did not have this desire to be unique. There were rare occasions when a child had a unique name in his neighborhood, but now the situation has spread, and now the parents want their child to have a unique name in the country, or in the world. Twenge has stated that the internet is not responsible for this change, as the change started in 1960s, when the people became interested in individuality.

The psychologists have stated that the name of the child can have a huge impact on his life, and the impact is greater when the name is unique. They stated that the parents should think for a long period of time before they choose the name of their child, because the impact of the name might be felt up to the adulthood. David Figlio of Northwestern University in Illinois, said that the name of the children are very important, because the name is the first identity of the person. When we meet someone new we get introduced to their names, and we often make an opinion about that person based on the name, even if we do not realize it. The psychologists have reached to the conclusion that the name of a person can influence the way in which the bearer of the name thinks about himself and the way in which the other people think about him. Numerous researches have been done in the domain, and all of them have reached to the same conclusion: a person can be influenced by the name he/she has.

For example if a boy has a girly name has higher chances of being affected by the name. It is very likely that he will be picked on in school because of it, and because of this, he might be affected from a psychological point of view. Think about it as a possible butterfly effect. A study on baby names has been done in the Great Britain last year, and it revealed the fact that more than 30 percent of the parents who participated to the study regret the fact that they named their children with that name. There were some who regret the fact that they did not choose the name which they initially wanted to choose, even though they do not regret the name they eventually chose. The research has also revealed the fact that the boys who have girly names are more likely to behave in a bad manner than the boys who have a more masculine name. They realized that the change in the behavior is not present from the beginning, and that it starts only when the children reach a certain age.

The researchers said that the problems usually start when the children reach the sixth grade, and they said that the problems increase if they have a female colleague who has the same name. Figlio said that it must be very difficult for a boy to being picked on, on a daily basis because he has the same name as a girl from the same class. He said that it is very likely that the self-consciousness of the boy to be affected because of it, and to have a lower self-esteem as a result, which might make him act in a more violent behavior. It has been discovered that the girls who have boyish names will be affected in the same manner. Figlio conducted a study in 2005 through which he reached to the conclusion that there are certain names who are 100 percent likely to belong to a boy or to a girl. He realized that the femininity or the masculinity of the name can influence the bearers in a strange manner. For example he said that the girls who had very feminine names were mere likely to attend coursework in humanities, whereas the girls who had more masculine names were more likely to attend science and math classes.

It is unknown what the parents thought when they chose these names, and it is unknown if the parents treat a child who has a strange name differently. He suggested that the parents might treat their boy who has a feminine name in a different manner than the other boy who has a more masculine name.  The name of a person can provide information about that person, especially when it comes to the origins of the bearer. However, Figlio said that in the more recent periods of time, the name does not reflect the accurate origins of the bearer. He said that in the latest period of time, some choose to give their children a certain name just because the name sounds “cool”, even of their family history is not related to the place where the name comes from. He analyzed more than one thousand names, and he reached to the conclusion that the social class of the family can be identified through the name of the children. He said that in the majority of the cases the children who have very strange names which are very difficult to pronounce come from a poor family, and that it is very likely that they will do poorly in school as well.

He has also discovered that we tend to associate personalities with the names. For example if when we were children we were bullied by John, for example, then it is very likely that we will see all the persons who have the name John in a poorly manner; we will initially consider them to be up to no good, and so on. He said that the success of the child might be influence by the name he/she has. For example a child who has a name that might suggest a low socioeconomic status, might be affected by it, as he might be convinced that he can not succeed in life. On the same time, the name of the child might encourage him to achieve more things, and thus to become successful in life. Figlio said that when we meet someone we instantly analyze that person, even if we do not realize it. He said that we instantly analyze the way in which that person speaks, moves, and so on. He said that we also judge the people based on their names, and that happens especially in schools. When the teachers see that a child has a strange name they do not know what to expect from that child, and that there might be occasions when they expect the worst.

It has been discovered that the self-esteem of the bearer can be affected by the name he has, even when the name is not strange. If we do not like our names, it is very likely that we will have a lower self-esteem. The psychologists said that the reason why the two are related is because the name is our identity, and if we do not like our identity, it is very likely to have a low self-esteem. They have also stated that in most of the cases that the parents, who give their parents a unique name, have a unique lifestyle as well. They say that a more common name is better for the children as they will not face too many difficulties because of it.