Children’s Names Can Have Negative Consequences

Have you heard that singer Beyonce and her husband, Jay-Z, have named their new baby Blue Ivy?  The naming has made headlines worldwide, with a wide range of comments from approval to “that’s strange.”  In fact, most of the people in a survey conducted via Toluna.com (click here to vote), 45.4 percent, said they didn’t like it.  Only 27 percent said they liked the name and the same amount had no opinion or weren’t sure.

But, irrespective of what you think about the name, or other strange names parents have given their children (did you know Sylvester Stallone named his child Sage Moonblood?), a researcher says that giving a child an odd name can lead to low-esteem, low education, and increased likelihood of the child becoming a smoker.  Yes, all of that because the parents decided they wanted to be creative in naming their child.  John, Susie and Meagan just weren’t going to cut it?

Negative Names

According to the researchers, giving a child what they call a “negative” name can have repercussions.  Of course, like beauty the positive or negative aspects of a person’s name may be in the beholder. 

The researchers decided to check out various dating website profiles to conduct their research – we assume this was all done in the interest of unbiased science, right?  Then they sent out 47,000 emails to members of a particular dating website.  Based on the response they received from their emails – for example – how many responses did they receive from someone when the email came from “Kevin” or “Mandy” – they were able to draw their conclusions.

Thumbs Down to Mandy?

What they found was a significant divide between what they termed unattractive names and attractive names.  By virtue of which profiles received the higher number of responses or inquiries, the researchers figured that the less favored names were, for men, names such as Kevin or Justin.  For women it was Mandy or Chantal (Barry Manilow fans will surely protest Mandy as a less favored name). Other less favorite names were Marvin, Dennis, Celina and Jacqueline.  While these names don’t seem to be that outlandish – certainly you would expect Moonbeam, Blue Ivy and other odd names to be less favored, but maybe those parents weren’t fans of dating websites.

As to what might lead persons of a certain name to a life of smoking, low self-esteem, etc. the researchers theorize that someone with a less favored name may be subject to pre-existing prejudices in school.  The researchers even pointed to another study that questioned 2,000 elementary school teachers and found that the teachers preferred the traditional names of children and linked them to good behavior, while Kevins and Mandys were linked to bad behavior.  They and their less-favored-named children were also thought to come from working class or immigrant backgrounds – a no-no in the German social circles it would seem.

As Shakespeare wrote, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.  But, if you are a parent – at least in Germany, if not elsewhere – lay off the Blue Ivy and stick with something that some researcher won’t be able to use for a study like this.

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