When dad and mom spend hours poring over child name books, they will believe that their preference can have a prime effect on their kid’s life.
But do names make a difference? Two latest books positioned this concept below the microscope.
What is the meaning of your Baby name?
In her book, What Your Name Says About You (2001, Random House Canada), Joanna Cole explores how parents’ use of a baby name reveals things about themselves.
While many parents base their choice on family history or a long-held desire, Cole believes that the choice of a name reveals far more about the parent’s values.
In the first chapter, “The Origins of Your Name,” Cole lists a string of possible origins of the name Dominic: Dominic is derived from the Hebrew word for “defender.”
However, this name was often given to warriors rather than men of faith or valor. is derived from the Hebrew word for “defender.” However, this name was often given to warriors rather than men of faith or valor. One suggestion for the name could be “the warrior prince.
What does this say about their personality?
For adults, names are often linked with childhood memories, so psychologists often research how specific words or names affect emotional development.
For example, one of the psychologists who studied the link between names and personalities is Wendy Dungier. She has also studied names in animals. For this project, she conducted experiments in which she gave babies the same toy.
In some experiments, the researchers asked the parents to fill out a personality survey on the toy beforehand, while in others they didn’t. She found that the ones who did not fill out the personality survey tended to name the toy something softer, like “Lucy,” than the ones who did.
What does this say about our society?
When it comes to baby names, there are two types of people: those who follow the normal path and those who choose something “out there.”
But what does this say about our society? Those who make names “out there” get more attention from the public, and from other parents, in general.
Whether or not this is a good thing seems to depend on where your views lie on the scale of personal liberty and parental duty. Isn’t society already filled with odd names? Many parents agonize over their baby’s name.
These new parents are forever monitoring new names and looking up other people’s babies’ names on social media. This would not be surprising if the names were genuinely bad. In reality, there are many extraordinary names that you’ll never hear.
The Final Words
According to the results of our analysis, every name we’ve considered has an impact on your child’s self-esteem. But the impact is surprisingly small — about half as big as we expected — and lasts less than three years.
But not all names have the same impact. If your child was named Bucky, he’d have a far better self-image than someone named Flutter.
And we’ve discovered that parents who were named Dolly have been particularly kind to their children, lowering the kids’ self-esteem by only 10 percentage points.
In contrast, many parents who named their kids Grumpy have harmed their kids’ self-esteem, lowering the kids’ self-esteem by over 60 points.