What's in a name? It's just a word, a tag we use to talk about people so everyone knows wo we are talking about, isn't it? Or at least that is how it should be, don't you think?
But it is not, as anthropologists (and now psychologists as well) have been telling us for a long time. There is a reason why names run in families (with the addition of Jr., II, III, ...). There is a reason why there is a big market for Baby Names books. Names have subtle power over people.
Now, Sheril discusses a recent study from the University of Florida about the subtle effect of female names on their prospects in science and math.
As a kid, I never thought of this. You meet people and learn their names and never think of names as being weird, or macho or feminine or whatever. This only starts happening as you are growing up and accumulating your own life's name-list. And your name-list will be deeply affected by people you personally know. It took me a while to shed the notion that every Sofia is superficial and shallow because the first Sofia I have ever known (a girl I sat with in 2nd grade) was such a person.
I was most struck with the entire notion of the importance of names once we started picking names for our own babies. And those were names in Engish language. For my wife, the names were colored mainly by her own childhood experiences. For me, the first encounters with most of those names were in movies, TV shows and books. We disagreed on almost every name as to what it denotes!
What bothers me most about the study (and Sheril touches on that somewhat) is the definition of 'feminine'. What is it? Who's asking? Does 'feminine' mean pale, thin, silent wallflower? Or chick with a nice sat of T&As?
And this is where, I think, the study reveals not so much sexist thinking as classist! The names that are considered "soft" are also names considered to be "aristocratic", names you find in the lineage of the British Monarchy, for instance. The "hard" names are considered to be more masculine because they are also considered to be more proletarian - names of people you can encounter actually doing hard work.
It has already been documented in the past how names that obviously belong to African American women are a handicap in getting a job or getting accepted at a University (refs, anyone?). As for the names that are not currently popular - if you know someone of that name, it is probably an older lady, who may behave in an old-fashioned way (from your perspective), so you get your prejudices from that.
Anyway, as you are growing up, it is not the other kids that judge you by your name (or even by your looks), it is the adults. And that can certainly influence your self-esteem and your choice of career. So, I am not surprised by the finding of the study, as much as concerned as to how to counter it in practice.
Update: I wrote the above in a 15-minute rush. May come back later to add some more in the comments. Here is the original Observer article (does anyone have an actual published paper of this?)
Also see good discussions on Thus Spake Zuska, Omni Brain, I am ... unhindered by talent, Gene Expression Classic, Joanne Jacobs and Pharyngula.
Update: More interesting takes on The Island of Doubt, The Scientific Indian and Adventures in Ethics and Science.
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I've noticed a lot of bloggers trying to wriggle out of the conclusions of this study, but it strikes me as aligning with common sense. Why do movie stars put so much effort into their stage names? Why do corporations pay so much to consultants to help them come up with product names that suggest positive qualities? Because names matter. They create an impression.
I think plain old sexism is largely responsible for the effect found in this study. And of course classism too, because some names are far more common in economic underclass subculture. Hopefully greater cultural diversity in society will lessen this effect. The jet airplane may accomplish what philosophy could not.
The fortunes of a name can change over time, too. For instance, the name "Arnold" once suggested an innocuous individual, and was popularly applied to a pig and the proprietor of a diner. All it took was one person with big muscles and an Austrian accent and now the name has completely different connotations.
I have two words for you Angelina Jolie, beautiful messenger.
I don't remember any studies showing that African-American women have been rejected from admission to college because of having a "Black-identified" name, and the studies on employment have shown that African-Americans with names like Tamika and Jamal are less likely to be called in for a job interview than those named Angela or James, but it's been difficult to show that Tamika and Jamal actually have any less INCOME based on the name, so it may be that the same employers who won't call in Tamika for an interview still won't hire Angela when she shows up and is visibly Black.
Most of the research in this area shows that names are only an important factor by themselves when they show up "ahead of" the person as on a written application. When meeting someone in the flesh for the first time, the information about their appearance, language skills, smiles, etc. overwhelm the effect of the name.
I think more work needs to be done on the supposed "feminine sounding names" lead to lower math grades myself, but I really don't think the different between "feminine" and "less feminine" names is directly correlated with being "proletarian". In fact, I think working class people in the USA are generally more likely to give their daughters extremely "feminine" stereotyped names than the middle class is, though the names that are both "feminine" and "working class", such as Desiree and Destiny, are probably more likely to get those "nice set of T&A" images than are those favored by the college-educated, such as Isabella and Amelia.
What about "foreign" names? My son's name means "'The Sun God" in Sanskrit and most Indian languages - a very masculine connotation in vernacular. But it ends in the letter "a," making it appear feminine to most western ears. Never had any effect on his math or science grades. Not that I am dismissing the study out of hand. Nor am I disputing the fact that a name can affect the perception of a person's personality and/or capabilities in the minds of others. We still judge a book by its cover sometimes. Remember Johnny Cash's unforgettable song, "A Boy Named Sue?"
Coincidentally, I wrote this post today about names on my own blog.
Well, my name ends with "a", yet it is very strong and considered masculine where I come from, due to etymology as well (it has something to do with battle or pine-trees, depends who you ask).
Oh, and in your post...I'd call Obama "Weathervane" or "Deep Purple"...
Hmmm, seems related to whatever mental machinery is at work in this post from Chris:
http://scienceblogs.com/mixingmemory/2007/04/the_nameletter_effect_or_w…
Yes! That is why Bora is a Biologist (in a field that could have been about Biorhythms if the name was not already taken) and a Blogger (and a Bellicose Bastard!).