North West. Moon Unit. Diva Muffin. Moxie Crimefighter. These are my top picks for most bizarre celebrity baby names. Some runner-ups: Daisy Boo Pamela, Sparrow James Midnight, Moonblood, and Jermajesty. (Feel free to temporarily stop reading this so you can call your parents and thank them for giving you a normal name.) While your name might not be quite as outrageous, it can still affect you in surprising ways.
1. Names signal information
Names convey important background information about race, social class, and religion. Referring to his middle name "Hussein," Barack Obama once joked, “I got my middle name from somebody who obviously didn’t think that I’d run for president.” The psychologist James Bruning of Ohio University says that names play a major role in how people expect to see us. People with Asian sounding names, for example, are thought to be better at math and are more likely to be hired for computer programming jobs.
Studies also show that people with white sounding names are 50% more likely to receive a callback for a job than people with African-American sounding names (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2003). One group of researchers even calculated that the advantage of having a white sounding name is equivalent to eight years of additional work experience.
2. Having a common name may improve your job prospects
A study at Marquette University found that people with common names were more likely to be hired for jobs than people with unique names. And in 2011, researchers at NYU discovered that people with more pronounceable names had higher status positions at work. The researchers hypothesized that this name pronunciation effect is because people like information that can be easily processed, which is also why businesses with simpler names tend to be more successful in the stock market.
3. Your name can influence your career choice
Research shows that people tend to choose careers that are similar to their names. For example, one of the world’s fastest sprinters is named Usain Bolt, and people with the name Dennis or Denise are more likely to become dentists. (Fun fact: My uncle Lawrence is a lawyer — coincidence?)
Researchers attribute these findings to a concept known as implicit egotism. We are unconsciously attracted to things that remind us of ourselves. The psychologist Dr. Brett Pelham says that when you notice even part of your name, it catches your attention and creates a positive association in your mind.
4. Change your name, change your future?
In many cultures, changing one’s name is considered to be an ideal way to change one’s destiny. For example, in Judaism, if someone is very sick, an additional name like Chaim (which means “life”) or Rafael (which means “G-d has healed”) is added. Similarly, in Thailand, one of the first things people do to escape misfortune, bring good luck, or improve their economic prospects is to change their name.
The name-changing industry in Thailand is so popular that many companies have even created algorithms that generate lucky names based on different letters of the alphabet. 46-year-old Teerapol Lilitjirawat says that his business was failing before he changed his name to Baramee Thammabanden, which means charisma. Sine he changed his name, business has been booming. Thammabanden says, “People are like cars, and changing names is like changing a flat tire. It can take you further, and give you a smoother ride." Of course, many psychologists attribute the positive effects of name changing to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
5. How you feel about your name is what matters most
In the book Bad Baby Names, Matthew Rayback and Michael Sherrod interviewed adults with unusual names like Mary Christmas, Happy Day, Rasp Berry, and Candy Stohr. They found that most people were proud of their unusual names, and liked that they made them stand out.
Having an unusual name doesn’t have to ruin your life. Take this example: In the 1950’s, New Yorker Robert Lane decided to name his older son Winner and his younger son Loser. Loser Lane received a scholarship to an exclusive prep school, graduated from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, and later joined the NYPD. His brother Winner, on the other hand, has a lengthy criminal record that includes almost 30 arrests for trespassing, burglary, and domestic abuse, among other charges.
So while your name does signal information about you, it probably does not affect your life that drastically. The developmental psychologist Dr. Martin Ford says that a name only has a significant effect when it’s the one piece of information we know about a person. Once we get to know his or her personality and characteristics, the impact of the name is minimal. Looks like there’s still hope out there for Moon Unit.
