Hi, it's Jasmine.
I know we're not really talking about Hayakawa in class right now, but I found an interesting article in Newsweek.
Our names subconsciously affect our lives, according to some scientists. For example, baseball batters whose names begin with K are more likely to strike out (since there is a 'K' in 'strike'), based on statistics compiled from 1913 to the present. Another study revealed that business school students whose names began with C or D earned worse grades than those whose names began with A or B. This phenomena is called the "name-letter preference."
We've talked about the power of words (especially names) before. Our names are part of our identity - do they also affect our actions and desires without our realizing it?
What do you think? Am I more likely to like jam, Jell-O, or J-Crew because my name starts with a J? Or do you think these scientists are trying to make connections that don't really exist?
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5 comments:
I think that your name can affect your lifestyle without you even thinking about it. For example, in school, a lot of things are done by alphabetical order such as assigned seats and homerooms. Because of the first letter of a last name, students are continuously placed with the same group of people and as we interact with these people, we shape our personalities and the ways we interact with others. Since Jasmine and I are at the end of the alphabet, we've gotten to experience a variety of homeroom teachers from Ms. Beam, to Mr. Kennedy, to Mrs. Lipinsky, an obvious variety of personalities.
I've also heard people talking about how certain names can be linked to personalities. something like most Kate's are outgoing, or Brandon's aren't religious. I don't know, just names linked with different lifestyles, and some of it from my experiences seems somewhat true if most people I've met with the same name have similar characteristics.
Names, as whoever the previous poster was (I'm guessing Amy because Zajac is close to Zhuang) do affect us. I remember a teacher telling me last year that students in the latter half of the alphabet suffer from self-esteem issues more frequently than do the other half because they are continually called last or sit in the back of the classroom. In addition, the issue of names was discussed at length in the widely-read book "Freakonomics." I haven't had a chance to reread it recently, but there is a chapter portion telling the story of a father named his two sons Failure and Winner (or something to that effect). In the end, Winner turned out to be a drug dealer and Failure became an Ivy-League graduate. This example may even disprove what the scientists mentioned in Jasmine's post are trying to show. I feel that information may be skewed and statistics can be found or made for any topic. Any scientist can claim that batters with a 'K' name are more likely to strike out (and other such examples) but I feel that the information is largely falsified or exaggerated.
Hey, it's Erin.
Wow, what an interesting idea. I do agree with Ian; we've all learned that statistics can be used anyway you want to. Also, when you're looking for something, it's easy to see connections that maybe don't even exist. I don't know, I don't really think that names affect our lives. Names are such weird things - they're no more than what people have agreed to call you, with seemingly nothing to do with you. I do agree that sometimes it seems that people with certain names act the same way, but that probably has nothing to do with the name itself. I never really think of myself as "Erin Nigro". It's me in the sense that if someone asked who I was, that would be my reply. But at the same time, it says nothing about me; there's too much to a person to be contained in one word. There's probably other Erin Nigros in this world. The more I think of names, the weirder it gets. I suppose there are some ways, however, that names affect your life. If you've always been called fat, or smart, or ugly, or beautiful, that might affect your thought over time.
Amy Zajac
Hey AP ENglish 3. Oh, by the way, the first post was me.
I think it was interesting what Ian said about the two sons Failure and Winner and how they turned out to be what we would consider the opposite. Although Winner turned out to be a drug dealer and Failure became a top scholar, I think their names could have had an effect on their lifestyles, even if the outcome wasn't what we imagined.
What if Failure resented his name and wanted to prove to everyone that he could succeed and tried extremely hard in school to go to an ivy school and become successful in life, just to prove that his name wasn't the same as his personality.
On the other hand, what if Winner just assumed everything would come easy in life because he's always heard "winner" mentioned with success, happiness, and prosperity. What if, because of this, he never tried in school and hung out with the wrong crowd and did whatever he wanted because he felt he was already a "winner" and that was what everyone wanted him to be. Maybe he assumed everything would come easily to him and he never had to work.
We need to know the circumstances of the lives of both sons in order to fully determine whether this account disproves other statistics and accounts.
Hey guys, this is Cristy D.
I think names do maybe affect your experiences but I doubt they have direct affect on your personality. I guess you might be able to find indirect reasons, like being in a different homeroom each year, which then that in turn changes your personality? I think we have all been told by our parents the "other" name we were almost, practically named. I myself don't feel very connected to my name Cristy or my name Carmen. I like to think I'm independent of the name. Either an SAT or AP US history prompt said that native americans did not like to tell people their "real" birth names and so instead used nicknames. They believed that if someone knew your name, or if they spoke it they had control over your essence of being. Hayakawa would faint at the obvious symbol is the thing connection.
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