WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Does Your Name Determine Your Future?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. Lauren vog Obam here with a classic episode

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<v Speaker 1>from our former host, Christian Sader. This is one where

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<v Speaker 1>the research really surprised us, the topic does your name

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<v Speaker 1>determine your future? Hey brain Stuff? This is Christian Sager.

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<v Speaker 1>Everyone has a name. I just gave you mine. That's

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<v Speaker 1>extraordinary though, when you think about it, because it's one

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<v Speaker 1>of the very few social things that all human beings

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<v Speaker 1>have in common. No matter who you are, where you live,

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<v Speaker 1>or what you do with your life, you and everyone

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<v Speaker 1>else has a name. You might be a Kevin, a Felicia,

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<v Speaker 1>a Mohammed, a Holly, and so on. It's part of

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<v Speaker 1>your identity and helps separate you from the teeming mass

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<v Speaker 1>of humanity. But how much does your name affect you?

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<v Speaker 1>Could it determine your future? Well, it doesn't determine your

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<v Speaker 1>life exactly. Economists Steve Levitt and Roland Friar studied decades

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<v Speaker 1>worth of children's names, only to find that what your

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<v Speaker 1>parents name you doesn't really impact your economic future. So

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<v Speaker 1>you're not doomed to poverty just because your name is

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<v Speaker 1>Earnest or something. But your name will certainly affect your future.

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<v Speaker 1>A study called are You Ready? Are Emily and Greg

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<v Speaker 1>more employable than Lakisha and Jamal unearthed at least one

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<v Speaker 1>disturbing trend about names. Job applicants with equal qualifications or

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<v Speaker 1>even otherwise identical resumes are about fifty more likely to

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<v Speaker 1>get a callback if they have a white sounding name.

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<v Speaker 1>This indicates that despite numerous laws, discrimination still thrives in

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<v Speaker 1>the workplace. Your name doesn't just tell people about you.

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<v Speaker 1>It tells people about your parents and gives them away

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<v Speaker 1>to place you in their vision of society. This isn't

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<v Speaker 1>about whether their vision is correct. That's prejudice, but it

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<v Speaker 1>does affect how people with these expectations in mindsets will

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<v Speaker 1>address and interact with you. And that's not all. Your

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<v Speaker 1>name may also play a role in your career. This

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<v Speaker 1>theory is called nominative determinism, the idea that your name

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<v Speaker 1>may affect the way you interact with the world, including

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<v Speaker 1>anything from donations to your choice of career. For example,

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<v Speaker 1>is someone named Helen Painter more likely to be an artist?

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<v Speaker 1>Or is someone named Jimmy Hogg more likely to work

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<v Speaker 1>with pigs? Matthew Meirenberg and John Jones think so in

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<v Speaker 1>their study and here we go with another name. Why

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<v Speaker 1>Susie sells Seashells by the Sea Shore, Implicit egotism and

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<v Speaker 1>Major Life Decisions classic academic title. These researchers found that

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<v Speaker 1>people are more likely to choose careers whose labels resemble

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<v Speaker 1>their own names. So, to use one of their examples,

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<v Speaker 1>people named Dennis or Denise are overrepresented among can you

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<v Speaker 1>guess it Yeah dentists. Dentists Dennis, Denise, Mehrenberg, and Jones

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<v Speaker 1>believe this happens because people prefer things that they connect

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<v Speaker 1>with themselves, including their own names. Other scientists, like University

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<v Speaker 1>of Pennsylvania's Urie Simonson, are skeptical about this whole idea.

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<v Speaker 1>Are we drawing tenuous conclusions where none exists just to

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<v Speaker 1>support a neat idea? Well, for the record, Simonson does

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<v Speaker 1>suppose that nominative determinism might explain why people named Rachel

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<v Speaker 1>might be more likely to donate in the wake of

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<v Speaker 1>Hurricane Rhea, because as weird as this might sound, that

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<v Speaker 1>similarity just starting with the letter are triggered some sense

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<v Speaker 1>of identification. We haven't even talked about name changes or

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<v Speaker 1>the weird name changes people have tried in court. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>looking at you, Romanico, Sir Tasty Maximilian, Yeah, that is

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<v Speaker 1>his real name. We haven't talked about all the multi

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<v Speaker 1>generational popularity cycle they experience either, or, as we like

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<v Speaker 1>to call it, the rise and fall of the Brittany's

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<v Speaker 1>and ash Leaves. Today's episode was written by Ben Bolan

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<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production

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<v Speaker 1>of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more in

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<v Speaker 1>this and lots of other topics, visit our home planet,

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff Works dot com. Plus for more podcasts for

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.