The initials of your name may influence where you choose to work, new research suggests.
While it sounds like a joke, a well-known psychological theory called the name-letter effect maintains that a person’s behavior may be influenced by his or her name.
As my colleague Stephanie Rosenbloom reported earlier this year, “people like the letters in their own names (particularly their initials) better than other letters of the alphabet.”
Johnsons are more likely to wed Johnsons, women named Virginia are more likely to live in (and move to) Virginia, and people whose surname is Lane tend to have addresses that include the word “lane,” not “street.” During the 2000 presidential campaign, people whose surnames began with B were more likely to contribute to George Bush, while those whose surnames began with G were more likely to contribute to Al Gore.
Researchers from Ghent University in Belgium decided to test the “name-letter effect” to determine if it is powerful enough to influence a person’s place of employment. The psychologists analyzed a database containing information about Belgian employees who work full-time, looking at the employees’ names and how often the first initial matched the first letter of their company’s name.
While a certain number of matches would be expected by chance, the researchers found that there were 12 percent more matches than was expected based on probability estimates. The findings, published in Psychological Science, showed that for about one in nine people whose initials matched their company’s initial, choice of employer seems to have been influenced by the fact that the letters matched.
The authors concluded that they “have demonstrated that people are more likely to work for companies with initials matching their own than to work for companies with other initials.”
I have personally always been skeptical of the theory, but also confess that as someone with the initials T.L.P., I have a surprising number of examples of T’s, L’s and P’s in my life. (And now I do work at The Times!)
What do you think? Is it silly psychology, or have you seen any evidence of the name-letter effect in your life?
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From 1 to 25 of 212 Comments
Before my marriage, my initials were FED. Is it any coincidence that I became a registered dietian and public health nutritionist?
Once my initials changed, again perhaps coincidence, I changed professions. Now, however, my initials seem to be unrelated to anything in my lifestyle except marriage–and my husband. Although I will admit that my last name is Hatch, and that is related to eggs, which are related to nutrition… Or, you might say that my interest in nutrition led me to marry a man named Hatch…
— Nancy HatchIt’s silly.
— LKFBelgium must be doing better than Iceland, if they can afford to spend money on this nonsense.
— NYCI couldn’t disagree more. This sounds like an example of reading statistics and making them sound the way you want them to.
— BethI worked for six companies in my adult life, and none of their names included my initials.
— CharlieThey may be on to something. I am not a doctor, but my initials are MD and I work in a hospital. Go figure!
— MDI think there is something to the name-letter effect. I believe it was Dale Carnegie, who wrote the 1930s classic “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, who said that hearing their own name was like music to a person. He and many positive thinkers since have promoted it as a sure-fire way to get a person to listen to you, and like what you are saying.
If you think about it, it makes sense. Your caretakers (usually your parents, but sometimes others) have said your first name to you thousands of time while you were growing up. The emotional connections between being taken care of and having those people say your name are profoundly important to you.
Taoist philosophy from ancient China says “The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. The named is the mother of ten thousand things.” (Feng and English translation).
All important objects in the world are given names. This is an important way that humans negotiate through life and the world around them.
One’s name is the bedrock of one’s social identity.
Saying a person’s name is like turning a light on in the darkness of social anonymity. All of sudden, in a city of millions, you aren’t a nobody. You are Tara Parker.
“Oh, yes. I’ve heard of her. She is a well-known journalist.”
— Rob L, N Myrtle Beach SCI like to collect examples of name-workplace antithesis, as well. My all-time favorite was the late Cardinal Sin of the Philippines.
— MatthewIt’s utterly silly.
— ChuckHowever, I see a pattern in the names my friends give their kids. A friend named Pam named her daughter Paige, Amy named her daughter Abigail, Emily name her son Ethan, I named my daughter Elke. So, you never know!
— ErinThis is a waste of time, and I’m amazed that the NYT is willing to invest in making this kind of nonsense a subject of discussion. By the way, another relatively recent example of this in the NYT is Mr. Charles Blow’s blog where he will take a piece of (political, rather than health related) statistic and rant on it, then ask for reader “reactions”. Feh!
— Victoroh, and my maiden name is Teare and my first profession was teaching. . . crazy!
— ErinWhy does it matter? I suppose that if letters in a name influence major decisions, then that could be a tool for prevention campaigns. But really now, for every example of a “Lane” living on a lane rather than a street, there are probably a thousand more instances of the same person working for a company that has nothing to do with the name, marrying somebody with different initials, etc.
Your initials are TLP. Is there any way you could NOT become involved with a hundred different activities and institutions that use one of those letters? And how many activities and institutions (and people) have you been involved with that do NOT share even one of your initials?
The example about Bush and Gore is especially inane, because G is an initial of both candidates. So now will psychologists spend thousands of dollars to determine if the first name initial is less important than the last name initial?
Please!
— SLFI’m not saying the study is wrong, but you see the Ts, Ls and Ps in your life because you were looking for them after you heard about the study…if you had Ss, Ns or Rs among your intials you’d be able to find plenty of things that are related to those letters.
FROM TPP — Yes, I’m sure there is some of that. But I have always had a weird fondness for the letter L, no idea why. Named my daughter with an L name, married a Kyle L. (okay so that’s a stretch but it sounds like L) lived on an L street and had a few important L relationships and have worn an L around my neck (for my daughter) But as you note, I’m sure I have hundreds of other non-L connections in my life. But it is a good letter don’t you think?? (and just to clarify, I did say I was skeptical although it’s a fun topic to mull.) And for what’s it’s worth, my ex husband K married a K — so maybe that was our problem!!
— TomHmm., My initials are PCSW - I’m a teacher at Prince William County Schools (PWCS) - been here for 10 years …
FROM TPP — Good one!!
— PaulWell, that finally explains why Franklin Roosevelt married Eleanor Roosevelt!!!
— Dave, Monroe NYAnyone ever go to the Nolita tailor SEW (Scott Evan Wasserberger)?
— BethI am inclined to take a really hard look at how they calculate random chance here, and how they can prove that they aren’t just selectively tabulating favorable coincidences.
The possibility for hidden (and unconscious) bias in this study seems enormous.
— CareysubUlysses S. Grant was born Hyram Ulysses Grant. Upon enrolling in West Point he changed his name, for fear that others would read the initials on his footlocker and give him an unmanly nickname - H.U.G.
— d owensOne of my law school classmates had the initials LAW. Her sister, who wasn’t raised in the Jewish faith, married a Jewish man and converted; her initials were JEW. I don’t think this proves anything … but it’s fun.
FROM TPP — Well stated. It’s fun to think about…
— LauraMy initials are B.J. Thankfully, that has not influenced my line of work.
— BJI think it’s utterly silly too, but then again I’ve been unemployed for the past year, desperately looking for work and guess what my initials are? SAD!
— SuzanneMy brother and I have identical initials. He works in accounting and technology and once workd at Computer Associates. I work in public relations and once worked at Bear Stearns. Our initials are not B or C.
According to this theory, the companies should line up and we should have more in common.
— JanetFROM TPP — Actually, the study showed it only occurred in one in 9 people…..
wonder if the correlation hods or increases if sounds are considered rather than letters - chris moving to krakaow or Kim working Cartier.
— mattAs someone blessed (or is that saddled??) with a (Flemish) Belgian surname and a modicum of knowledge about the country, I wonder what effect the Flemish-Walloon division might be having on these results?
I bet a lot of Van Hoosenwhatsits work for a Van Whacchamacallit company simply due to geography, both cultural and physical.
My maiden initials were JMY; my first marriage initials, and the ones I had for the longest in my life, were JMN. Nothing in my name correlates to anywhere I’ve worked. Though I have lived in Maryland and Michigan, I simply cannot believe that is because of my middle name (I had no choice in Maryland, but I did move to Michigan voluntarily.)
My husband, the one who blessed me with this name, has the initials DAV. He always complains about the number of people with Js in his life (myself and his stepson, among many others).
In this country, there are a lot of J first and last names that are a linguistic artifact of English and its influence in this country. I would highly doubt we’d find a statistical relationship between personal choices and initials. I honestly believe simple coincidences and conventions of language have a lot more to do with it.
— Janet V