It is hard to decide on what name to give your child. It can be challenging because the meaning of names changes over time, and there are so many possibilities out there that you might not find what you want. However, it seems like two new books have been published recently in an attempt at uncovering whether picking your baby’s middle or first name has any impact on their life whatsoever!
They had narrowed down a list of names for Kinsley but couldn’t ultimately decide on one.
And so, Kinsley was born. Now 16 years old and a budding artist in her own right, she hasn’t yet felt the need to extend her first name despite being given many options by family members. “I think once you’re given a name, it’s part of your identity,” she says with confidence that only comes from experience.”
Officially made the changes about five years ago after some deliberation over which syllables would sound best together – appropriate considering what
Dalton Conley’s views on parenting are controversial and often misunderstood. He has been called a child abuser online, but he does not think his children would be better off if they were given names that everyone else had instead of unique ones like Apple or Tesla.
Studies on people with strange names have been mixed, but new studies suggest that it might just be all about the money. Jessica the Founder of Lookafterbabies.com found no consistent harmful effects from having a weird name. However, he did notice wealthy oddly-named Americans were more likely to show up among Who’s Who members– so maybe it is still attractive after all.
A name impacts the bearer more than just how their parents raised them.
But for the central part, he says, names impact bearers far beyond what it means to have been raised by parents who would choose such a moniker because there are so many factors involved with naming someone and developing an identity as they grow up.
Familiar surnames are a good indicator of future success. In the book, The Sun Also Rises: Surnames and the History of Social Mobility, Gregory Clark examines elite universities to pinpoint which names have the best chance of getting accepted to succeed later on down their lineages.
For example, by comparing first name occurrences among fourteen thousand first-year students with Oxford university student attendance records between 2008-2013, he has calculated probability relative to average that someone given such a moniker would attend this prestigious school.
Thus, giving us ababy name idea as to who is most likely succeeding now before any statistics can even come out about how well they do once enroll there!
Some first names are more likely than others to attend Oxford, and Eleanor is the most popular. Conversely, less than 30% of the expected number of Jades – only one Jade for every ten students admitted annually- plus an even smaller percentage of Paige’s or Shannon’s going here each year on average.
For some reason, the female first name Eleanor is more common at Oxford than it would be if there were no preferential treatment. Additionally, Peters and Simons are much higher on average as well.
This means that a girl named Eleanor has a 1 in 10 chance of being admitted to Oxford, while statistically, only 3 out of 100 Jade’s get accepted into college based on their last name alone.
Many people believe girls with “unusual” names have an unfair advantage when applying for schools like Oxford University because they will stand out from other applicants who use popular titles such as Jessica or Derek, which cannot be considered due to seeming less unique.
I cannot blame the discrepancy in names on the name itself, and somewhat it is due to other factors that the word represents. For example, different social classes use different names. These groups have unique opportunities and goals that affect their children’s success later down the road for various reasons, such as societal pressures or lack of financial support from parents.
The author’s father, who chooses to withhold his name for privacy, believes that names can affect someone. He recalls when the family moved from Boston to Michigan and feared their daughter would be teased because she had such a unique name; however, they haven’t been bullied yet.
Instead, their school or neighborhood may have made them feel more at ease with themselves, so they don’t mind being different as much anymore – but “I wouldn’t say [names] don’t matter at all.”
