How our names shape our identity

Sometimes we try to live up to our names. Sometimes we try to run away from them. But either way — and for all the options in between — your name is a crucial factor in developing your sense of self, and thus helps propel you forward on various paths of life and career.

The term nominative determinism was coined in a 1994 issue of New Scientist to describe this phenomenon. The magazine's editors noticed two instances of scientists gravitating toward subjects that were strangely linked to their last names. "We recently came across a new book," they wrote: "Pole Positions — The Polar Regions and the Future of the Planet, by Daniel Snowman. Then, a couple of weeks later, we received a copy of London Under London — A Subterranean Guide, one of the authors of which is Richard Trench."

Maybe it's just a coincidence. Or maybe these scientists' names really did influence their career paths.

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Research on the influence of names appears to stretch back at least a half century. A 1996 article called "Name and Behavior" by H. Edward Deluzain and describes a famous 1954 study published in the British Journal of Psychology:

As a result, the Ashanti community has a long-held custom of including the day a person was born in the person's name. After discovering the Ashanti's custom, Jahoda then took his research to the records of the local juvenile court to see if males born on Wednesday committed more crimes.

"The number of violent acts committed by the boys born on Wednesday was significantly higher than would be expected through mere chance, and it showed that Wednesdays tended to live up to the reputation," wrote Deluzain. "When this figure was compared to the number of Mondays in the population… it bore out the superstition that boys born on that day would lead more peaceful and law-abiding lives."

Though stereotyping can't definitively dictate future behavior, it does provide a spring-board for making assumptions about a person. When a new person introduces himself to you (let's call him "Spencer"), your first instinct is to assemble a rough mental sketch of everyone you have ever known named Spencer. Maybe someone named Spencer bullied you in second grade. Maybe Spencer was the name of your first kiss. Perhaps Spencer is the name of your father. You subconsciously judge this new Spencer, at least a little, based on all the other Spencers you have ever known.

Gender dynamics, socio-economic status, and unusual spelling can also play a role in determining the behavior of a child. That's why it's perfectly fine for parents to spend a few months fretting over the potential drawbacks of choosing a child's name. Sometimes, parents desire strong names for boys, and more feminine names for girls. Most parents, it would seem, take it a step further and ask if the name they choose could be interpreted a certain way, or rhymed with a certain word that get their child teased in school.

Research psychologist David Figlio of Northwestern University in Illinois showed how a baby's name can have leave a long-lasting imprint on their lives — for better or worse, reports LiveScience. Figlio started by studying millions of birth certificates. He then further broke each name down into thousands of phonemic components, and started to find behavioral patterns.

Self-esteem may also play a factor. "People who particularly dislike their name and also if other people think it's an odd and unlikeable name, that can cause some problems," psychology professor Jean Twenge of San Diego State University told LiveScience. "[They] tend not to be as well-adjusted."

"People draw subconscious cues all the time about people," Figlio said. "You meet a person for the first time and without thinking about it on an explicit level you're looking at the way they're walking, what their accent sounds like, how they're dressed, whether they smell… and you're developing these immediate reactions," said Figlio. "I think there's probably an evolutionary reason behind that. We're hardwired to try to figure out in a heartbeat whether or not we want to trust somebody, whether we want to run from somebody."

To answer the age-old question: What's in a name? A lot of stuff, apparently.