The Other Side of Unusual First Names

Summary

Although a number of studies have indicated that having an unusual first name has a deleterious effect on the individual, it was hypothesized that under certain conditions this would not be the case. Three studies were performed which support this hypothesis. In the first, it was found that unusual named members of the upper class were more, not less, likely to be found in Who's Who. The second study, performed on data that had been gathered on 11,246 North Carolina high school students, demonstrated the importance of considering the socioeconomic class, race, and sex of the individual before generalizing about the impact of an unusual first name. Though the patterns differed, none of the four subgroups studied–white males, white females, black males, and black females–showed consistent negative effects from having unusual names. In the third study, 154 undergraduates were asked to rate a set of potential first names that a hypothetical couple (black or white, high or low occupational status) were considering for their forthcoming child. The socioeconomic status of the parents was an important variable in their evaluations. In addition, the various unusual first names were given widely different evaluations from one another; one unusual name was given very positive ratings.