Names. Everyone has one, most people have a vague idea what their own means, but few give them much more thought. The study of names is called onomastics, a field which touches on linguistics, history, anthropology, pyschology, sociology, philology and much more.
When people refer to the "meaning of a name", they are most likely referring to the etymology, which is the original literal meaning.
Know Yourself through your Name
The following is an extract from the "Life Positive" of August 1998.
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Sigmund Freud, often began his sessions by asking about a person's name. You can know more about yourself through your names by these queries
Imagine your parents discussing what name to give you a week before you were born. Did they want a boy or a girl?
Some babies are named after other people-either relatives or friends or famous personalities. Were you named after anybody? If so, who and why? Has it had any effect on your personality.
Many children are named after legendary heroes. Later in childhood their stories are retold to them. Can you remember any such stories you have heard as a child.
Nearly all names have meanings. Were your parents aware of the meaning of your name ? Who chose your name ? Was it chosen for its meaning ?
Do you have a nickname ? Do you remember when and why you started using it?
How and by whom were your parents named. Have you noticed any relation between their names and personalities.
Do people make jokes about your name ? Do You like it
There is definate Karmic reason behind your name. You are what you are called. So you are what you are called.
Did you know that there is a Greek Saint named after every day of the year !!
Adolph Hitler's real name was actually sopose to be "Heidler." He lived with his uncle and his uncle told him that he could change his name to Heidler (his uncle's last name). So Adolph went to change his last name to his uncle's last name and they mis spelled it "Hitler." That's how he got his name.
The following is a News item which appeared in the Indian Express of 29th Sept 1998.
"Lets face it. If your surname happens to be Hitler and your parenst christen you as Adolf, life is not going to easy.
But a retired Austrian truck driver quoted in a German Newspaper on Sunday as saying he never changed his name out of Respect for his mother and Father.
I often thought my life would be lot easier if I had another name, 60 year old Adolf Hitler told Welt Am Sonntag newspaper.
No one ever believed him that his name was Adolf Hitler.. I get anonymous calls in the middle of the night from people who say 'Heil Hitler' or 'we have someone here for the gas chamber', he said. But I never chaged it because I am proud of my parents.
Hitler was attending a conference for people with infamous names" in Braunau, an Austrian town just across border from Germany.
He said his name once cost him a construction job at a dam project in Austria. An engineer asked the workers their names. "The first one answered 'Tony Sailer', the same as the famous skier. And when he got to me I said'I am Adolf Hitler' and he threw us all out.'
Names have Great Significance
The Ramayana of Valmiki is hailed as the "Adikavya", the foremost among spiritual works, in poetic form. The manner in which the sage composed it has an interesting aside to it, which is significant in the spiritual tradition. Valmiki was a hunter by birth and was taught just the syllables "Ma" and "Ra" in the Ram Mantra, which proved to be the turning point in his life.
He chanted it with sincerity oblivious to his surroundings and a anthill grew around him during his penance because of which he came to be known as Valmiki. His spiritual transformation can be gauged from the fact that he became the chosen one to transcribe the life of the Lord. His life is the standing testimony to the efficacy of chanting the Divine name and his immortal work is a source of perennial inspiration.
In his discourse on the Ramayana, Sri Kalayanarama Bhattachrair said, the names chosen by Vasita for the sons of Dasaratha had great significance. The name Rama was chosen after great deliberation, as the sage knew that the Supreme Being had manifested in human form. This divine name is unique in that it is also a mantra capable of delivering man from bondage.
The choice of the name Bharatha indicated that he would be one would shoulder responsibility. It was a harbinger of the role he played subsequently when he foiled his mother Kaikeyi's plans by refusing to accept the kingdom of Ayodhya and instead took good care of it for Rama till he returned from his Exile. Lakshmana means one who is blessed by the grace of Goddess of Wealth, Lakshmi.
Shatrugana indicates one who has total control over himself.
What to Consider when selecting a Name
Start by Thinking about your name
Would you give yourself the same name you already have? Go down the memory name and see weather you were ever teased because of your name. Did you ever like to have a different name? Do you feel let down because of your name? If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then analyze your ?whys,? before naming your child.
Then think about your last name
If its short and simple then you can pair it with a large first name. But if it?s to long and ethnic then you might consider giving your child a short and simple first name.
A Middle Name
Four fifths of people in Who?s Who have middle names. It will be easier to identify your child if he has a meaningful middle name. There may be many John Crains out there, but the number decreases dramatically by adding a distinctive middle name?such as John Schuyler Crains.
Initials
Ah, superstition! It is said that people whose initials spell out a word will be wealthy. If you believe the superstition, then rig it so that your child?s name will spell out a word. But be kind. Make sure the word is one with which your child will want to be associated. Its great when initials spell out TEN, FUN, WOW. Be sure to stay clear of initials like BAD, PIG or DUD.
Nicknames
A Hungarian Proverb says, ?A child that is loved has many names? And most nicknames are a sign affection. Studies have shown that people with nicknames tend to be better adjusted. Plus, nicknames seem to promote a certain intimacy and indicate friendship.
Spelling
Our first inclination was to say, keep the spelling conventional so that your child doesn?t have to go through life correcting everybody.
A tough Act To follow
It might be traditional in some western countries to give a boy his father?s name, tacking on a ?Junior? or ?II? or ?III? but we think you could do better than that. ?Give your child his own name.?
The Meaning of It all
The meanings of names go way back to the beginning of Recorded History and it all depends on which historical record you go by. A meaning is the most distinct and important identity of the name.
Sound It out.
Lastly just say the name aloud, which you have chosen. Does it sound good. Be sure to see that when the last name begins from the same letter the first name ends, its hard to tell where the first name ends and the last name begins.
Lastly
The rules which were given above were just in General. There are hundreds of names which have defied every consideration. So ultimately the choice is yours
7 Tips to Keep a Name
Avoid keeping names which are unpronouncable
Let the name have distinct meaning
When naming Twins. Do not keep Similar Names or Names signifing Twins like Luv and Kush. Keep names which are different so thatthe two twins can have distinct identities.
Do not keep a name which is a combination of two words meaning a different God and Goddess. Stick to a single identity
Do not name somebody after great personalities as the person might loose his true identity as he shall be compared with the famous personality.
If a person from one community or religion keeps a name associated with an other community or a religion then his identity will always keep him unique.
Avoid names which are kept both by Girls and Boys
There are many names in the English language that exclude or are offensive to females. Take a look at this list of exclusionary words and their alternatives.
Exclusionary Nonexclusionary
Adman Ad writer
Brotherhood of man Humankind, human family
Caveman Cave dweller
Chairman Chair, chairperson
Cleaning lady House cleaner
Common man Human, common citizen
Cover girl Cover model
Fatherland Homeland
Fireman Firefighter
Fisherman Fisher
Forefather Ancestor
Foreman Supervisor
Founding fathers Founders
Leading lady Lead
Mailman Mail carrier, postal worker
Man about town Worldly person
Man in the street Average person
Mankind Humankind, humanity
Man-made Artificial
Manned Staffed, piloted
Manpower Work force, employees
Manpowered Human powered, people powered
Old wives' tale Superstition, folktale
Policeman Police officer
Showgirl Performer, dancer
Stewardess Flight attendant
Waterboy Water carrier
Weatherman Weather forecaster, meteorologist
Gender-Specific Language
In 1984 the Minnesota State Legislature ordered that all gender-specific language, which only refers to one gender, usually males, be removed from the state laws. After two years of work, the rewritten laws were adopted. Only 301 of 20,000 pronouns were feminine. “His” was changed 10,000 times and “he” was changed 6,000 times.
Name Power
Some Native Americans have two names, one of which is never made public because of the power it would give another person over them.
It is common in parts of West Africa for people to name their children for the day on which they were born. Sunday is Awushie, Monday is Adojoa, Tuesday is Abla, Wednesday is Aku, Thursday is Awo, Friday is Afua, and Saturday is Ama.
In seventeenth-century Europe people made anagrams from names and believed these words formed from rearranging the letters would give a clue to a person's characteristics. Teresa is a teaser, Pat is apt, Greta is great, Mona likes to moan, and Dora travels on the road.
Names that are palindromes (spelled the same backwards and forwards) include Ava, Asa, Anna, and Hannah.
There were tribes in the mountains of northwest Africa known as anonymi, or people without names. These small, isolated groups of people were described by Pliny, an ancient Roman historian.
The Ojibway Indians of North America once considered it dangerous to speak the names of their own husbands and wives.
Some Inuits take on a new name when they become old, hoping the name will give them renewed strength.
The people of Indonesia may change their names after they have suffered some misfortune or have had a serious illness. They believe a new name will confuse the evil spirits that brought them grief.
Names for Santa Around the World
Country Name
Belgium Pere Noel
Brazil Papai Noel
Chile Viejo Pascuero (“Old Man Christmas”)
China Dun Che Lao Ren (“Christmas Old Man”)
Netherlands Kerstman
Finland Joulupukki
France Pere Noel
Germany Weihnachtsmann (“Christmas Man”)
Hawaii Kanakaloka
Hungary Mikulas (St. Nicholas)
Italy Babbo Natale
Japan Hoteiosho (a god or priest who bears gifts)
Norway Julenissen (“Christmas gnome”)
Poland Swiety Mikolaj (St. Nicholas)
Russia Ded Moroz (“Grandfather Frost”)
Sweden Jultomten (“Christmas brownie”)
United Kingdom Father Christmas
Most Popular Given Names U.S.A, TILL 2005
Boys
1880: John, William, Charles, George, James, Joseph, Frank, Henry, Thomas, Harry
1890: John, William, James, George, Charles, Joseph, Frank, Harry, Henry, Edward
1900: John, William, James, George, Charles, Joseph, Frank, Henry, Robert, Harry
1910: John, William, James, Robert, Joseph, Charles/George (tie), Edward, Frank, Henry
1920: John, William, James, Robert, Joseph, Charles, George, Edward, Thomas, Frank
1930: Robert, James, John, William, Richard, Charles, Donald, George, Joseph, Edward
1940: James, Robert, John, William, Richard, Charles, David, Thomas, Donald, Ronald
1950: John, James, Robert, William, Michael, David, Richard, Thomas, Charles, Gary
1960: David, Michael, John, James, Robert, Mark, William, Richard, Thomas, Steven
1970: Michael, David, John, James, Robert, Christopher, William, Mark, Richard, Brian
1980: Michael, Jason, Christopher, David, James, Matthew, John, Joshua, Robert, Daniel
1990: Michael, Christopher, Joshua, Matthew, David, Daniel, Andrew, Joseph, Justin, James
2000: Jacob, Michael, Matthew, Joshua, Christopher, Nicholas, Andrew, Joseph, Daniel, Tyler
2002: Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Matthew, Ethan, Joseph, Andrew, Christopher, Daniel, Nicholas
2003: Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Matthew, Andrew, Joseph, Ethan, Daniel, Christopher, Anthony
2004: Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Matthew, Ethan, Andrew, Daniel, William, Joseph, Christopher
2005: Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Matthew, Ethan, Andrew, Daniel, Anthony, Christopher, Joseph
Girls
1880: Mary, Anna, Elizabeth, Margaret, Minnie, Emma, Martha, Alice, Marie, Annie/Sarah (tie)
1890: Mary, Anna, Elizabeth, Emma, Margaret, Rose, Ethel, Florence, Ida, Bertha/Helen (tie)
1900: Mary, Helen, Anna, Margaret, Ruth, Elizabeth, Marie, Rose, Florence, Bertha
1910: Mary, Helen, Margaret, Dorothy, Ruth, Anna, Mildred, Elizabeth, Alice, Ethel
1920: Mary, Dorothy, Helen, Margaret, Ruth, Virginia, Elizabeth, Anna, Mildred, Betty
1930: Mary, Betty, Dorothy, Helen, Barbara, Margaret, Maria, Patricia, Doris, Joan/Ruth (tie)
1940: Mary, Barbara, Patricia, Carol, Judith, Betty, Nancy, Maria, Margaret, Linda
1950: Linda, Mary, Patricia, Barbara, Susan, Maria, Sandra, Nancy, Deborah, Kathleen
1960: Mary, Susan, Maria, Karen, Lisa, Linda, Donna, Patricia, Debra, Deborah
1970: Jennifer, Lisa, Kimberly, Michelle, Angela, Maria, Amy, Melissa, Mary, Tracy
1980: Jennifer, Jessica, Amanda, Melissa, Sarah, Nicole, Heather, Amy, Michelle, Elizabeth
1990: Jessica, Ashley, Brittany, Amanda, Stephanie, Jennifer, Samantha, Sarah, Megan, Lauren
2000: Emily, Hannah, Madison, Ashley, Sarah, Alexis, Samantha, Jessica, Taylor, Elizabeth
2002: Emily, Madison, Hannah, Emma, Alexis, Ashley, Abigail, Sarah, Samantha, Olivia
2003: Emily, Emma, Madison, Hannah, Olivia, Abigail, Alexis, Ashley, Elizabeth, Samantha
2004: Emily, Emma, Madison, Olivia, Hannah, Abigail, Isabella, Ashley, Samantha, Elizabeth
2005: Emily, Emma, Madison, Abigail, Olivia, Isabella, Hannah, Samantha, Ava, Ashley
INDIAN
The 5 most common names among boys
Anand
Anil
Ajay
Pramod
Abhishek
The 5 most common names among girls
Lakshmi
Aparna
Parvati
Sindhu
Lata
The name, Surabhi was a very uncommon name. But thanks to the TV Programme on Doordarshan. It turned out to be one of the Common Names
You may know that the three most common lists of religious hindu names are
The Vishnu Sahasranamam
The Lalitha Sahasranamam and
the less well know Shiva Sahasranamam.
Each has 1008 names of the particular deity, of which many are names commonly given, especially within the Brahmin community, who memorized these ancient hymns.
Less well known is the fact that each of these long hymns is itself merely one of several hymns with names. For instance the Lalitha Sahasranamam is merely one of 10 lists of Goddess names !
North Indian vs. South Indian
1. In Tamil, and sometimes other southern languages, names end in '-an' when a person is named after a god, such as Ramnath, Badrinath, Narayan etc. These become Ramanathan, Badrinathan, Narayanan etc. the '-an' denotes that the person named is a mere mortal and not a God. An individual is not to be called Ramnath, Badrinath etc. because those are the names of the Gods, exclusively.
2. The Gods themselves are referred to Ramanath-ar, Badrinath-ar etc. the '-ar' being similar to '-ji' in Hindi, as in Badrinath-ji etc.
3. And when people pray in South India and address God directly, it becomes Narayan-a, Ramanath-a etc. the '-a' being a direct form of address, as in Sanskrit.
4. Under influence of North Indian culture, some of these conventions are easing, as you do sometimes see younger people with North Indian style religious names.
For example, Narayanan is shortened to Narayan, Ramanathan to Ramanath, etc. They are usually not aware that doing so usually offends the person affected, as the South Indian usually feels that the North Indian in question is being regionalistic and dismissive of other Indian's names, preferring the equivalents in their own (Hindi or Punjabi) language.
Here are some definitions of a Rare Name...
"A Rare Name is like a Coat made out of the finest material. Envied by those who don't have it. Worn with pride and confidence by those who do. A Rare Name surprises you. Makes you exclaim that I have never heard this name before! What does it mean?" -By Gauresh Mehra
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A rare name is a size 11 Italian leather shoe to an infant. To the child they are useless, chunky and regrettable. As the infant grows into the shoes and is able to stride confidently, the now adult can respect the uniqueness of the valuable shoes; besides they make him stand out. -By Kijuana Wilks
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A rare name is a sound you hear and will never forget -By Toolsforubyjose@aol.com
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A rare name is finding a poppy in the middle of a field of white daisies. It comes as a shock, a surprise, and is most often welcomed as a pleasant change from the mundane. -By Meghan Ferguson
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Rare Name is the precious pearl got from the deep sea. -By Kanchan
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A rare name is the best gift a mother and father can give their child, it gives some one the confidence to say "I AM DIFFERENT, AND SPECIAL".
Sent by monica_carroll@yahoo.com
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To have the utmost satisfaction and pride to say that I am over 30 years old, and I have yet to meet or hear of an actual person with MY name. -By Ada Bucholtz
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What is a name? Is it what defines who you are on a first impression? How can you be the same as all the other people who might share your name? How diconcerting to hear, "Oh yes, I know people with that name too, they're just like you." I am my own person. Rarity in a name, is a burst of the unexpected in a crowded concert of people all screaming the same name. Scream something different, and see how many people turn their heads to look at you. -By Kerri Afira Cordle
Names of Allah
The Names below are listed alphabetically.
Alaleem: He who knows all Things
Awwal: The First
Bari: The Evolver
Fattah: The Opener
Hassib: The Reckoner
Khaleel: A Friend
Mani: The Preventor. A name for Allah
Mudabbir:A Name of Allah, The Almighty. It means that HE created the Whole Working System of the Universe
Musawwir: The Fashioner
Muta Ali: The Most Exalted
Mutakabbir: The Majestic
Qabid: The Constrictor
Qahhar: The Subduer
Raqib: The Watchful
Shakorun: A Name for Allah, The Almighty. He is one who can hear Everything
Taqdees
Biblical Names
Abigail: Fathers Source of Joy. Beautiful wife of Nabal, later, wife of King David.
Eden: Pleasure. The residence of the first couple, Adam and Eve, before they were cast out.
Zoe: Life. Egyptian translation of the name Eve.
Samaria: A watch Mountain
Tamar: Flower of the Desert. Daughter of King David
Alexander: Helper of Men. Brave
Asa: Healer. Grandson of David.
Elazar: The one whom God has helped
Enos: Mortal Man. Grandson of Adam And Eve.
Hiram: Noble. King of Tyre who helped Solomon build his temple and David his palace.
Rufus: Red. Son of Simon the Cyrenian.
Zared: A Brook running into the dead sea.
Jessi: Father Of David. A Biblical Name
Caleb: In Hebrew it mens faithful. In Arabic it mens brave.
Rhesa: A Biblical Name found in the Luke 3:27 of the Bible
Aloysius: Name of a Saint
Esther: A Biblical Name meaning Star. It was given to the named person by the Persian King
Emeric: Name of a Saint
Cana: The City where Jesus performed his first miracle.
Anah: To Sing
Avia: Hezekiah's Mother
Ania: Grace. Polish Version of the Name Anna
Havah: Life. The Hebrew name for Eve
Hadassah: Myrtle Tree
Ezra
Dalia: Branch
Gania: Garden of God
Haviva: Beloved
Jezria
Josiah
Bethany
Jerusha
Baltazar: One of the three Kings who visited Jesus, when he was born.
Jacinta: A Biblical Name
Talitha: A Young Maiden in the Bible whom Jesus brings to Life.
Kiriath:The Son of Noah
Names of Saints
Basil: One of the 4 doctors of the Greek orthodox church.
Raphaela: Devoted to educating Children
Sava: A Trainer of Young monks.
Timothy: A Bishop
Hyacintha: Helped many poor people. The name means the flower Hyacinth.
Modan: An Austere Monk
Fulbert: A bishop and a Poet
Gemma
Vashisht: A Rishi in Indian Mythology
Vishwamitra: A Rishi in Indian Mythology
Kindam: A Rishi in Indian Mythology
Saptarishi: The 7 Great Rishis of Indian Mythology
Narad: The Indian Saint who is the Devotee of Narayan
Gargi: A Women saint from the Vedic Era
Maitreyi: A Women saint from the Vedic Era
Maroun: A Name of a Lebanese Saint
Jahnu: A Rishi after whom Ganga River has been named Jahanvi.
Names of Lord Rama
Satyavache: Speaker of Truth
Dhanvine: Of the Solar Race
Paresha: Lord of The Lords
Paratpara: Greatest of The Greats
Parasme: Most Superior
Shashvata: Eternal
Rajeevalochana: Lotus-Eyed
Shrimate: Revered By All
Jitamitra: Vanquisher of Foes
Danta: Unperturbed
Vatradhara: Practising Penance
Vedatmane: Spirit of the Vedas
Trivikrama: Lord of 3 Worlds
Adipurush: Primordial Being
Mahapurush: Great Being
Parasme: Most Superior
Saketharaman: A Name for Lord Rama
Ramoji
Names of Hanuman
Manojavaya: Speed Like Wind -
Mahakaya: Gigantic
Prabhave: Popular Lord
Pragnya: Scholar
Ramadhuta: Ambassador of Rama
Vajrakaya: Sturdy Like Metal
Panchavaktra: Five Faced
Shrimate: Revered
Shoora: Bold
Danta: Calm
Yogine: Saint
Lokapujya: Worshipped by the Universe
Names of Sai Baba
Shirdi Prasad: A Name for Sai Baba
Sai Kalateeta: Beyond Time Limitations
Sai Kalakala: Lord of Eternity
Sai Amartya: Immortal
Sai Jeevadhara: Support of All Living Beings
Sai Gunateeta: Virtuous and Attributelesss
Sai Jayani: Personification of Victory
Sai Satpurusha: Virtuous, Pious, Venerable One
Sainath: Supreme and Powerful Lord
Sai Deep
LORD SHIV'S
Gauresh: Lord of Gauri
Akshayaguna: Of Limitless Attributes
Anagha: Faultless
Bhalanetra: With eye on the Forehead
Dayakara: Compassionate
Lokakriti: Creator of The World
Mahanidhi: Great Storehouse
Pribhakta: Favourite Of The Devotees
Sanatana: Eternel
Sarveshvara: Lord Of all
Suprita: Well Pleased
Tripurari: Enemy of a Demon named Tripura
Varada: Granter of Boons
Yogiraj: Great Ascetic
Gangesha: Lord of Ganga. A
Name for Shiva
Hara: The Remover of Sins. A Name of Lord Shiva
Hrishikesha: The Lord of the Senses
Raibat:A Name for Lord Shiva
Praneel: A Name for Lord Shiva. A Combination of 2 names of Lord Shiva namely Prasannanjeneya and Neelakantha.
Aniket: Lord Shiva
Sokanathan: Lord Shiva
Soham
What's in a Name ?
The following article appeared in the Sunday Review of Times of India on Sunday, October 18th. It is written by Ms.Shabnam Minwalla.
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In the old, most parents took the easy way out. The moment their bundle of joy was placed in their arms, they dipped rather randomly into the pool of acceptable names and came up with Rajesh or Geeta, Sanjay or Archana.
Today, however, parents spend months mulling over possible names. They draw up shortlists, conduct spot polls and consult innumerable tomes. Not surprisingly, then, dozens of sites on the Internet are devoted to this all-consuming issue. The ?Name Popularity Finder?, ?Ancient and beautiful baby bible' names-both bizarre and conventional seem to attract enormous traffic. Unfortunately, most of these sites are America centric. But pop in and take a look. May be you could provide the Indian Element.
Here, from the Internet, are some helpful hints for naming baby:
The name should have positive connotations for you.
The first name should complement the last.
The initials should not spell anything undesirable.
Check the pronunciation and spelling of the baby?s name. If you use an unusual pronunciation, your child will have to constantly correct people.
You could honor a family member or literary character with the name. In order to this you could check with your parents and grandparents and collect as many family names as possible.
You could combine names of the mum and dad to come up with a unique name and unusual name. The middle name provides a unique opportunity to honor a family member.
Be conscious of possible nicknames and variations that can emerge from the name.
HUMOUR
CAN'T STOP FIGHTING OVER BABY NAMES By Melvin Durai
My wife, Malathi, and I have spent several weeks discussing names for our baby and we've finally agreed on something: We hate each other's choices.
At this rate, giving birth to the baby will be a lot easier than naming it. Only one person gives birth (thank goodness!), whereas, in some families, naming a baby can involve as many as 50, with suggestions pouring in from parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, co-workers, and even the idiot next door. The one who named his sons Laxman and Taxman. If he has a third son, he's already thought of a good name: Relaxman.
Luckily for us, no one else is suggesting names. But there are certainly enough names being tossed around. I never realized that name-selecting could produce so much name-calling. I don't know how many times I've had to defend my honor: "Hey! My name is Melvin. It starts with an 'm' and ends with an 'n' but I wish you'd stop confusing it with MORON."
If we don't decide on a name soon, we'll be forced to follow the tradition of some cultures: naming the baby after the loudest sound the mother makes in labor. How else do you think Oprah got her name? Her mother obviously meant to scream, "Oh pray!"
Among my wife's favorite names for girls is Tarangini. She considers it rather melodious, I consider it just odious. Tarangini. We might as well name the baby Tarantula. That sounds a lot better.
If your name happens to be Tarangini, please don't get angry with me. Get angry with your parents. They're the ones who named you.
Perhaps they weren't thinking straight. I'm not suggesting they were drinking, but that could explain why the word "gin" appears in your name.
Among my wife's favorite names for boys is Kashyap, a name that's almost as melodious as Tarangini. I can't help imagining the teasing he'd get at an American school cafeteria: "Hey, Kashyap! Please pass the ketchup." Not to mention the ribbing during running competitions: "Hey, Kashyap! Please catch up!"
Malathi has a theory why her "unenlightened" husband can't appreciate these beautiful names -- he didn't grow up reading literature in Tamil, Sanskrit and Bengali. "Just because you didn't learn to appreciate sounds in these languages doesn't mean these names aren't beautiful to the ears." She makes a good point. Now all she needs is a good name.
She believes that her favorite names may one day become universal, just as Indian names are gracing westerners such as Canadian humorist Chandra Clarke and Hollywood actress Uma Thurman. Malathi may be right, but I'll be absolutely stunned the day I meet a non-Indian named Tarangini.
Of course, I have no right to make fun of names, because my name is not only old-fashioned, it doesn't reflect my rich Indian heritage. But it's too late to change my name. I've been a Melvin for so many years, I don't want to suddenly turn into a Melvinder or Melvinathaman.
Malathi has convinced me that it's important to give our baby an Indian name. Though she likes some western names such as Olivia, she says, "I don't believe it's our role to propagate them." As far as I'm concerned, if we end up naming our baby Tarangini, we'll be done propagating!
Don?t know about you but we find the name Nachiketa ek dum fascinating and we simply had to search for its origin. Look what we found!
The Kathoponishad narrates a story, the protagonist of which is a young Brahmin boy named Nachiketa.
On seeing a king perform a false sacrifice by giving away his useless belongings, Nachiketa experiences a kind of awakening. He realizes that all this is pretence and what one needs to possess is shradhha towards what one must do. Immediately, he realizes he is different from the ordinary people around him. The boy tells himself: "I am superior to many, inferior to a few, but nowhere am I the last, I can do something worthwhile." And as his boldness increases, he becomes determined to solve a problem that has been persisting in his mind for long, that of death.
He pesters his father for the answer and an irritated father tells him that the answer could be given only by going to the house of Death. And to the house of Death, the young boy goes. Yama, The Lord of Death, first amused, then He gets angry, then He offers Nachiketa any wealth the latter desires to possess if he desists from asking that one question- What is death?
But the young boy's shradhha is intense. He persists in his quest for the Truth, he waits for three days at the entrance of the kingdom of Death, without food and sleep. Yama relents and teaches the boy the unknowable Truth- a question to which only He knows the answer. And the boy returned from where no man had returned before.
Here and now, we have another Nachiketa. He is Flight Lieutenant, and he flew to the skies, too , to solve his, and the Nation's Problem.-that of the Death and the destruction of Pakistani backed Mercenaries who had infiltrated into India. This Nachiketa too went to the kingdom of death. And this Nachiketa too had returned from Death. Who doubts that he has seen death from such close quarters? Thanks for Living up to your name, Fl. Lt. Nachiketa.
Names and Personality
By H. Edward Deluzain
A number of years ago, the newspapers ran a story about a young man who re-enlisted in the Navy during the time he was hospitalized for tonsillitis. Ordinarily, an event like this wouldn't attract public notice. What gave this story its appeal, though, was the fact that the man's name was Tonsillitis Jackson, who, along with his brother Meningitis, had helped his parents care for his sisters Laryngitis, Appendicitis, and Peritonitis (Smith).
It is difficult to imagine how Tonsillitis Jackson's name could have been anything more than coincidentally related to his disease. Yet, coincidences of this type do happen, and they appeal to our basic feeling that names somehow have an influence over the people who bear them. Our Puritan ancestors certainly believed this. They chose names for their children like Flie-fornication, Steadfast-on-high, and Obedience (Smith) in the hope that the children would learn from their names and grow up to be perfect examples of virtue. One Puritan preacher made this point explicitly to his congregation when he told them, "A good name is a thread tyed about the finger, to make us mindful of the errand we came into the world to do for our Master" (qtd. in Feldman).
In our own time, a name like Flie-fornication has, for a variety of reasons, lost much of the appeal it must have once had, but the idea that names can affect the way people behave and how they feel about themselves has not disappeared. In fact, it has caught the attention of scientific researchers. During the last half-century, tentatively at first and later with a greater sense of the importance of their work, psychologists and others who study human behavior have explored the feeling that names influence their bearers, and the researchers have discovered some amazing psychological aspects of names.
Returning to the case of Tonsillitis Jackson, even the most ingenious researcher would be hard pressed to find a link between the man's name and his medical condition. However, other coincidences involving names do have rather serious effects on the psychological health of some people. One such case was described by William F. Murphy, M.D., a psychiatrist in Boston.
Murphy told of a man who was troubled by guilt that grew out of his adolescent habit of masturbation. As a boy, the patient had worn an athletic supporter to bed to try to prevent erections. This technique failed, but it had the effect of causing his erect penis to bend downward. The unfortunate coincidence involved in all of this was that the man's last name was Bent, which, coupled with his nickname "Dinkey," reminded him constantly of the early sexual activity he had struggled so hard to avoid. In the military the man's anxiety caused mild psychosexual impotence, which helped reinforce his guilt feelings when he got older (Murphy).
Case histories of this sort are excellent sources of insight into the relationship between names and personality. When supplemented by the more objective and scientific evidence from experiments in psychology, these naturalistic observations help explain the important effect names can have on the psychological development of individuals.
The most important aspect of personality affected by names is self-concept. Self-concept develops as children develop, and it is "learned" from the verbal and non-verbal messages significant people in children's lives send them. Parents are the most important message-senders, but, as children mature and become more and more independent, the messages of teachers, classmates, and other people all contribute to their developing concepts of self. In a sense, self-concept works as a kind of script for the way people act. If a boy has an image of himself as bad or as not capable of doing well in school, his behavior will probably reflect that image. He will tend to behave the way he thinks a "bad boy" is supposed to behave, or he will fail to learn as he should even though he might be quite intelligent.
A person't name has an impact on the process of building a self-concept because the name helps determine the messages other people send the child. It has been well established through research that certain names are generally considered desirable in our culture and have positive feelings associated with them. It is also well established that other names are looked upon as being undesirable and carry negative associations. For example, Curt, David, Diane, Jeff, Judy, and Linda are all considered desirable and positive, and Agatha, Edgar, Francis, Mabel, Marvin, and Phoebe all provoke the opposite reaction (See Chapter 10 of Anderson). Because of this, people unconsciously, but nevertheless effectively, send positive and negative messages in keeping with positive and negative images.
Most of the time these messages are very subtle, but sometimes they take the form of jokes, teasing, and even ridicule, especially within the child's peer group. At best, the joking and teasing can make children self-conscious about their names and reluctant to have any contact with other children out of fear of being ridiculed. At worst, especially when insensitive adults think the jokes and nicknames are funny and actually use them too, it can undermine what might otherwise be healthy personalities.
Another of Murphy's psychiatric case histories provides a good example of this in action. Murphy wrote of a young college man whose chief complaint at the beginning of psychoanalysis was that his excessive underarm perspiration, and the accompanying odor, were responsible for his inability to make friends. The man's last name happened to be Stankey, and, in the course of analysis, he revealed that in elementary school the other students gave him the nickname "Stinky." His classmates held their noses when they were around him, and he reacted by withdrawing from the group and becoming aloof. He also let it be known during treatment that his mother belittled the family name and that both parents were compulsive about odors of any kind. At first the young man denied any problem with his name; later, he came to realize that he had unconsciously blamed his father for his social problems by making the father bear responsibility for both his name and his unpleasant odor. Eventually, he learned that the real difficulty lay in his concept of self. In effect, the patient had come to see himself as "stinky," and this, in turn, made him act the way he thought a stinky person was supposed to act (Murphy).
This example is dramatic and powerful enough to stand on its own without the added support of elaborate scientific research. However, support for the relationship between names and self-concept is available from the results of several scientific experiments. One of these was conducted by S. Gary Garwood of Tulane University (Garwood). Garwood asked a group of teachers to rate names as desirable or undesirable. He then gave a battery of psychological tests of personality and self-concept to a group of elementary school students and compared scores of the group with desirable names to the group with undesirable names. He found that members of the desirable-name group showed "a considerably higher level of adjustment" than the undesirable-name group. Furthermore, the students who had desirable names showed less conflict about how they felt about themselves.
Garwood's findings were basically the same as those of Orlo Strunk, Jr., of West Virginia Wesleyan College, who compared personal liking for one's first name with self-concept. Strunk concluded that "there appears to be a persistent tendency for individuals who dislike their first name to have less affirmative attitudes toward themselves than do those who like their first name" (Strunk). This seems to be a world-wide phenomenon, because D.J.W. Strumpfer of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, reported research results that "generally supported those of Strunk . . ." (Strumpfer).
In light of the important link between names and self-concept, it's not surprising that investigators have found relationships between names and the tendency toward mental illness. In four separate studies conducted over a twenty-year period, researchers found decided tendencies toward psychosis and neurosis among people with unusual and uncommon first names (Hartman, et al.; Ellis and Beechley; Houston and Sumner; and Savage and Wells). Interestingly, the tendency seemed stronger among boys and men than among girls and women. One pair of researchers who noticed this tendency attributed it to the fact that our culture permits greater flexibility and freedom in the names of females than of males (Ellis and Beechley). Girls are given unusual names much more often than boys are. Therefore, these names do not attract as much attention and are less likely to cause embarrassment for the girls who have them. As a result, these names do less damage to the self-concepts of the girls as they develop during childhood and adolescence.
Even though research data consistently show a relationship between names and personality difficulties, bizarre and highly unusual names of children may be, in themselves, no more than indicators of the psychological states of parents. Earlier I made the point that parents are the most important message-senders in the development of a child's self-concept and personality. It may well be that peculiar names, which are likely to cause other children to poke fun, are actually unconscious messages from the parents that the children are peculiar and deserving of ridicule. If this is the case, then the name is probably only the first of many such messages these children get from their parents during the time their self-concepts are developing. Then it becomes a question of whether the name is the cause of the child's later psychological problems or whether the child's name is only a symptom of deeper problems within the family.
Myron Brender, writing for the journal of the American Name Society, offered several hypotheses about the psychological significance for the parents of the names they choose for their children. According to Brender, family tradition is an important factor in the names many children receive. Sometimes traditional names express the hope that a rich relative will remember the namesake generously in a will. Other times, though, a traditional family name may be an attempt by the child's parents to appease their own parents because of feelings of guilt or fear of rejection (Brender).
Apart from any problems a child might have with a name that is an expression of parental guilt or fear, traditional names can work to a person's disadvantage in other ways. Dr. Murphy told of a case from his psychiatric practice of a college student who sought psychiatric help because he couldn't concentrate on his school work and because he had developed a facial tic. The young man had been given his mother's maiden name as a middle name, and he used it habitually in combination with his last name. The family of the man's father was undistinguished; but the mother had descended from old and important New England stock, and her last name carried prestige in the area where the man lived. Without realizing it, he had come to depend on his middle name, rather than on personal hard work, to assure his success in life, and he often became angry and frustrated when his middle name failed to work its magic. As he improved during treatment, but before he became conscious of the importance of his middle name to his problem, he stopped using the middle name as a way of identifying himself (Murphy).
One of the most common uses of traditional names is to name a son after the father and to use "Jr." as part of the son's name. Although there sometimes practical problems in differentiating between father and son, especially if both happen to be prominent, the real difficulty lies in the son's feeling of sharing an identity with someone else or of having to compete with his father for recognition as an individual. This, apparently, was the experience of the well-known American novelist, Henry James, as Leon Edel relates in his biography of the writer.
According to Edel, "throughout his life, Henry volubly protested against the parental failure to let him have a distinctive name and (by the same token) an identity of his own." James and his father were both well known and occasionally even wrote for the same issue of The Atlantic Monthly. As a young man, James used "Jr." as a prominent part of his signature, sometimes even spelling out the word rather than using the abbreviation. As his own career progressed and his fame increased, the "Jr." became less and less legible and was finally spelled with a lower-case "j" (Edel). In effect, he asserted his own identity by gradually, and probably unconsciously, deemphasizing the part of his name that signified his "lesser" status.
According to Brender, another naming pattern which reflects the personalities of the parents is the use of names that are highly fashionable and popular at any given time--or, in other words, fad names. Parents who select fad names may be giving in to subtle social pressure to conform to what they think the general culture says is acceptable, and this, in turn, may result from a lack of confidence in their own judgment, fear of being conspicuous by going against the prevailing tide, or simply a lack of originality.
The list of fad names changes often, and it varies quite a bit from one part of the country to another. Girls seem to receive fad names more often than boys, and the reason goes back to the earlier point that there is greater flexibility in the names we tolerate for females than for males. This greater toleration may be a kind of deep-seated, unconscious sexism that says, in effect, men need serious, traditional names to suit their serious concerns, but women, who won't be engaged in serious pursuits, don't. The same may be true of the greater latitude women are afforded in what is considered acceptable dress, even in professional situations. If a female colleague of mine arrives at school wearing slacks, a dress shirt, a necktie, and a jacket--traditional men's clothes, in other words--she's complimented as looking chic. If I showed up in a dress, I'd be arrested or taken for psychiatric treatment. Thus, as with names, public attitudes about clothing may well be endemic sexism.
The possibility of sexism aside, a fad name almost always becomes faddish because some famous person has it. Shirley Temple was at the height of her childhood career in the late 1930's and early 1940's, so we find a much higher number of Shirleys among 45- to 55-year-old women than any other group. Judy Garland left her mark on women's names a few years later, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis did the same thing to the names of girls born in the early Sixties (Smith).
Whatever the fad name or the reasons for giving it, though, there are two distinct problems which the bearers of fad names must endure. First, fad names tend to lose their popular appeal after only a few years and then more or less drop out of sight as names given to babies. As a result, in later years it's possible to "date" people on the basis of when their names were in vogue. This may not be a problem for everyone with a fad name, but people who would like to keep their age a mystery are at a definite disadvantage if they have a name that had great popularity for only a brief time.
The second problem with fad names occurs much earlier in the lives of people than the first one does, and it has the potential for some fairly serious consequences. This problem occurs at school, and it results from the fact that more than one child in a classroom is likely to have the same fad name. This happens with all names that are reasonably common, but it happens much more often with names that go through periods of great popularity.
The difficulty with the multiple occurrence of a name in a classroom is that children with the same first name have to be called by something other than just their first name in order to avoid confusion. Usually this means using both the first and last names of these children, instead of simply their first names, like everyone else. This has the effect of singling these children out from all the others and making them different from their peers. This is no problem at all for many children, but to a child who is trying hard to be accepted by a peer group by not being different, this can become a source of embarrassment and frustration. The analogy in the adult world might be a situation in, say, an auto repair shop where the workers are on a first-name basis but where everyone insists on calling one of the workers Mr. Johnson instead of his first name. Imagine how twenty-five-year-old Johnson would feel when a new worker comes to work and is introduced to the others in the shop. "Guys," the supervisor might say, "this is our new man, Jack. Jack, this is Mike, Jerry, Mr. Johnson, and Fred." The situation in a classroom may be the same or worse for a six-year-old: "Boys and girls," the teacher might say, "I would like for Timmy, Billy, Shane Miller, and Eddie to come to the reading circle now."
A third category that Brender gives as revealing something about the personalities of parents consists of a fairly small group of names that are bizarre and fanciful. Names like Last Chance, Boy, Truck Stop (a name once given to a boy because he was born in one), and the like may indicate whimsical, highly individualistic, and exhibitionistic personalities. On the other hand, names of this type may well result from a lack of education, imagination, intelligence, or all three. In some cases, these names may even be expressions of hostility toward the unwanted economic burden the child represents to the parents.
Even though parents are the ones responsible for the names people bear throughout life, there is a great deal of latitude available to individuals in the way they choose to use their names. As name authority Elsdon C. Smith points out, often the style of name we choose for ourselves can reveal a great deal about our personalities and about how we see ourselves (Smith).
Smith identifies six common and distinctive styles for names, and he offers opinions about what they suggest about the people who use each style.
John Baker
Simplest and least formal; reflects a "no frills" attitude; has "plain folks" appeal
John William Baker
Says the person wants to be noticed; suggests seriousness; suggests having nothing to hide; enables a prominent middle name to be displayed
John W. Baker
Shows maturity and a solid, conservative personality; middle initial implies a fullness and completeness without the flamboyance of using the middle name in full; creates a sense of mystery, especially in women; style used by almost half of the men in the United States and many women; works well in writing but is slightly ludicrous when used in speech ("Hi, I'm Matthew M. Parker."); computer forms tend to demand this style
J. W. Baker
A favorite of the British; appears reserved and standoffish; creates a sense of mystery; offer no hints about gender, which frustrates letter-writers
J. William Baker
Suggests high self-opinion and vanity, especially when the middle name is uncommon; sometimes a happy solution for "juniors"
J. Baker
Implies a feeling of insignificance; creates confusion and gender ambiguity of J. W. Baker, but none of the mystery
The ideas of Brender on the clues names offer about the personalities of parents and the observations of Smith on what name styles say about the ways people see themselves are theories that were developed through years of reflection on people and names. Even though these theories haven't been thoroughly tested through research, they tend to ring true to personal experience, and they give good insight into the importance of names in everyday life.
All of the case histories, research findings, and theories support the feeling that names help shape our personalities. Names are certainly not the only force in our lives that causes us to develop in a certain way and become the kinds of people we become. However, when we look at the evidence, we can't help wondering how we would have turned out if our names had been different.
Names and Behavior
By H. Edward Deluzain
In the article "Names and Personality," the point was made that our self-concepts function much like scripts that we act out in our day-to-day contact with other people. To put this idea another way, the way we see ourselves behaving is more or less the way we do behave in any given situation. According to this line of thinking, because names can have an effect on self-concept, names can indirectly influence how we act. However, research into the ways names affect people has uncovered a link that shows that our names--or at least other people's reactions to our names--influence the way we behave even more directly.
One of the classic pieces of research on the relationship between names and behavior was conducted in Africa by G. Johoda of University College of the Gold Coast. In discussions with teachers and social workers on the formation of character in young people, Jahoda discovered that the people he was working with--all of whom were Ashanti--sincerely believed that the day of the week on which a person was born has a lot to do with the kind of character traits and behavior the person will show throughout life. Specifically, Jahoda learned that the Ashanti believe that boys (but apparently not girls) who are born on Monday will be mild mannered and peace loving, but those born on Wednesday will be violent and aggressive.
By itself, the superstition that the day of the week of a person's birth has some sort of magical power over the person is not all that uncommon around the world. In fact, as Christopher Anderson points out in The Name Game, we have a popular nursery rhyme in our own culture that expresses more or less the same idea:
Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace;
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go;
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living;
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day,
Is bonny, and blithe, and good, and gay.
Even though this superstition may be widespread, the point that aroused Jahoda's curiosity about the ashanti version of it was the fact that some of the best educated and most sophisticated members of the Ashanti community were so convinced that it was true that they were willing to use the idea in serious academic discussion to explain how character develops. Apparently they had seen enough evidence of how people born on Monday and Wednesday behaved to convince them that the superstition was fact.
When he looked into the matter further, Jahoda learned that the Ashanti were keenly aware of the day of the week they were born on because one of their customs dictated that the day name be included in the person's name, along with any other names given at birth. Thus, Ashanti boys born on Monday or Wednesday knew they were born on one of those days because the Ashanti equivalent of Monday or Wednesday was part of their names. Unlike most Americans, who are either unaware of the day of the week of their birth or unconcerned about it, the Ashanti had the information constantly called to their attention.
Jahoda's research took the form of reviewing the records of the local juvenile court to see if any pattern emerged that would confirm the local belief. The results were rather striking. In the five-year period that the court records covered, 13.5f the boys referred to the juvenile authorities had Wednesday as part of their names. When the offenses were analyzed, it turned out that these boys were responsible for almost 22f all the violent acts recorded by the court. The number of violent acts committed by the boys born on Wednesday was significantly higher than would be expected through mere chance, and it showed that Wednesdays tended to live up to the reputation. As for the boys born on Monday, they made up on 6.9f all the juvenile delinquents. When this figure was compared to the number of Mondays in the population (about 13¦ it bore out the superstition that boys born on that day would lead more peaceful and law-abiding lives.
Jahoda concluded from all this that there was nothing magical about the day of the week the boys were born on. Instead, the behavior of the boys named Monday or Wednesday was the result of the expectations the culture had for them, expectations that were reinforced and brought to mind by parents, teachers, school friends, and others every time their names were mentioned. Mondays were expected to be good and were; Wednesdays were expected to be bad and were, also (Jahoda).
At the time this experiment was conducted, the results had some important implications for psychology because, until then, there was very little support for the idea that people, especially children, tend to live up to what is expected of them. However, the study has ever greater significance for an understanding of how names affect human behavior because names played such an important part among the Ashanti in communicating expectations to the individual. Had the Ashanti boys born on Wednesday not been named Wednesday, it is doubtful that the belief about how they were supposed to behave would have had any more effect on them than the "Monday's child" nursery rhyme has on us. But they were named Wednesday, and every time they heard the superstition they knew it was supposed to apply to them. Furthermore, every time a person named Wednesday got into a fight, the rest of the community was reinforced in thinking that the superstition about people named Wednesday was correct.
The process at work among the Ashanti is part of the psychological phenomenon of stereotyping, in which names often play an important part. Stereotyping is certainly not limited to the Ashanti, of course; in fact, we engage in it constantly, both as perpetrator and victim. Nor does stereotyping always cause negative or socially undesirable behavior--after all, the Ashanti boys born on Monday were stereotyped just as much as those born on Wednesday. Nevertheless, stereotyping on the basis of a name does mean that our names have direct influence over how we act.
The process that gives names their influence is the so-called self-fulfilling prophecy. Briefly explained, the self-fulfilling prophecy works this way. A man introduces himself to us as Percy. Immediately, our unconscious mind goes to work dredging up all the images and associations we have with that name. Without realizing it, we develop a mental picture--a set of expectations--of what a Percy is like. This mental picture causes changes in our own behavior that are so subtle that we are not aware of them. However, Percy picks up on the messages we are sending by our actions, and he makes unconscious changes in his own way of acting to satisfy what he thinks we expect of him. In other words, we set up a situation which forces Percy to behave the way we think Percys are supposed to behave.
This process does not necessarily occur in every chance encounter or casual meeting, although it very well can happen under these circumstances. However, it does occur sometimes in long-term relationships, especially those involving people on different status levels, such as a foreman-worker or teacher-student relationship. A major research study conducted in schools pointed this out.
The study in question was conducted by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson in the late 1960's. The researchers told a group of teachers that their classes contained a number of children who had the ability to do well in their studies if they were given a little extra encouragement. The classes were made up of ordinary groups of students assigned at random, but the teachers were led to set high expectations for them on the basis of what they had been told. At the end of the term, the results of tests indicated that a significant number of students learned more that year than would ordinarily be expected during a single school term. In effect, the prophecy of high achievement fulfilled itself (Rosenthal and Jacobson).
The point at issue in Rosenthal and Jacobson's experiment was not names, but the same principle applied in their research as applied to the Ashanti, where names did play a part. The insight into the self-fulfilling prophecy has been used in research on the effects of names on the way children perform in school, with some rather startling results.
Two investigators who made use of this insight were Herbert Harari and John W. McDavid. They were aware from previous studies that the "more common names are regarded as generally more attractive, and they connote more favorable stereotypes. In contrast, the rare and unusual names are deemed less socially attractive and they connote negative stereotypes" (Harari and McDavid). They decided to test out the effects these facts would have on how teachers grade students' essays by giving a group of eighty experienced teachers eight essays--four written by girls and four by boys--and asking the teachers to mark them. The essays were all of roughly the same quality, and the only identification on them was a first name and a bogus last initial. The boys' names used were David, Elmer, Hubert, and Michael, and the girls' names were Adelle, Bertha, Karen, and Lisa. The eight essays were all on different subjects, so Harari and McDavid took the precaution of mixing up the names and essays. In other words, in one teacher's packet the essay about Tarzan had the name David on it, while in another packet the name David was on the essay about kites.
Before starting their work, the researchers predicted that papers attributed to children with common, popular names would get the higher scores, and among the boys, at least, their prediction was correct. Papers "written" by David got the highest marks, those by Michael the second highest, those by Elmer the third highest, and those by Hubert the lowest. The girls' papers were ranked somewhat differently than Harari and McDavid had predicted: those by Adelle got the highest marks, followed by papers by Lisa, Karen, and Bertha, in that order. If the prediction had been perfectly accurate, Adelle would have followed Lisa and Karen. However, Harari and McDavid pointed out that the name Adelle has a strong stereotype of "scholarly" associated with it, and this stereotype may have been too strong for teachers to resis as they graded the essays.
In order to make sure that their conclusion about names influencing the teachers' grading was correct, Harari and McDavid repeated the experiment using eighty undergraduate psychology students as graders. The data from this group showed no pattern whatsoever, and this confirmed the original idea that there was nothing about the essays themselves or the way in which the experiment was conducted that biased the results. Instead, the experienced teachers had developed definite positive attitudes toward children with more popular names over the years, and they unconsciously favored these children as they graded their papers (Harari and McDavid).
Harari and McDavid were followed by others who confirmed their findings and added details to the information they had gathered. In a sense, Harari and McDavid's work was done under "laboratory" conditions--the teachers were real enough, of course, but the students were fictitious and the experiment was set up with a particular end-product in mind. The question of whether similar results could be found among "real" students in "real" schools remained open. The first answer came from Gary Garwood in the experiment described in the essay "Names and Personality."
Garwood had a group of seventy-nine teachers rate boys' names as desirable or undesirable. Then he compared academic achievement scores for a group of boys with desirable names to a group with undesirable names, and he discovered that the average score for the group with desirable names was almost twice as high as the average for the group with undesirable names. Garwood concluded, with considerable understatement, that, "Teachers, for the most part, are the arbitrators of what is success and what is failure in our schools. Most teachers probably believe that their interactions with students are fair and unbiased and that their evaluations of students are based only on merit. This is perhaps as idealistic stance . . ." (Garwood).
Garwood's research was followed by a study by Thomas Busse and Louisa Seraydarian of Temple University. They found the same kind of relationship between desirable names and school achievement that Garwood found, but they went a step further and discovered a positive relationship between desirability of names and IQ (Busse and Seraydarian).
The combined impact of the findings of Harari, McDavid, Garwood, Busse, and Seraydarian is as startling as the implications are frightening. To be sure, names are only one of a host of personal attributes which are subject to stereotyped reactions, and the extent of the importance of names, as compared to such personal factors as hair color, body shape, physical attractiveness, etc., has not yet been fully explored. However, one thing is clear: names, or at least teachers' reactions to name stereotypes, do have an influence on how children perform in school.
Given this information about teachers' reactions to names, we can logically assume that the same type of reactions occur in people in other professions and in similar supervisory relationships. Teachers and students happen to be relatively easy groups to study, and the relevant dependent variables (e.g., IQ scores, achievement test scores, etc.) are easy for researchers to access. As a result, these groups tend to be investigated more than others. However, as the example of the Ashanti illustrated, stereotyping and the self-fulfilling prophecy are by no means limited to the academic world. So, unti
