Name Style and Conservatism

Summary

Numerous name styles (e.g., John Smith, J. D. Smith) are used in Western society. It was suggested that name style may be a useful cue for predicting aspects of personality; in particular high scorers on the modified Wilson and Patterson (18) Conservatism scale were expected to prefer “conservative” rather than “liberal” name styles.

Across nine situations “J. D. Smith” was the most frequently preferred name style. Persons who most frequently used “John Smith” (i.e., their first and last name, rather than initials and their last name) were more liberal than persons using other name styles. Separate analyses of name style behavior in each of nine situations revealed that whilst “J. D. Smith” was preferred, respondents tended to vary their style to suit situations. Nevertheless in each situation adult education students, the most liberal of the three groups studied, were more inclined than members of the other two groups to employ “John Smith” as their name style. However, respondents who did not adapt their name style across situations (i.e., they used one name style in all situations) were significantly more conservative than persons who employed two name styles across the nine situations.

It was suggested that name style behavior of conservative persons indicates a lack of self-disclosure. Results were compatible with previous findings which show low self-esteem, sexual repression, superstition, race prejudice, and the need to remain anonymous to be concomitants of conservatism.