What's in a name? A lot!

Names have power - Rick Riordan, Heroes of Olympus : The Lightening Thief

Experience

Walking down the Rouche in Beirut, Lebanon on a sunny day in 2008, I swung around when I thought I heard my name being called. The probability of anyone saying 'Sudip' in a country where Arabic was the preferred language (and Arabic does not have a 'p') was probably in the decimal range, and yet I reacted as if it was on Rashbehari Avenue, Kolkata.

That's how powerful our names are to us. It is the single most important word in our vocabulary. We react to it with more alacrity than any other word that we can think of. The part of India that I come from, has young boys and girls given two names. One, the 'daak naam' - literally the name to be called, and the other 'bhalo naam' - literally good name. In fact I have had many people ask me (while speaking in English), 'What's your good name?' which elicited guffaws of laughter somewhere in my cerebral cortex and yet made perfect sense to the speaker.?

According to Belgian psychologist Jozef Nuttin, people feel a sense of ownership over their names. People tend to like what belongs to them, so he found that people preferred the letters that populated their names more than the letters that were absent from their names. In a study, Nuttin asked two thousand people who spoke one of twelve different languages to choose the six letters they liked most from their language’s written alphabet—the letters they found most attractive without investing much thought in the process. Across the twelve languages, people circled their own name letters 60 percent more often than they circled name-absent letters.?

The Human Brain

The human brain is a fantastically complex thing, having engineered space travel and liberated nuclear energy, it's no wonder that we resist the idea that we're deeply influenced by our surroundings. As profound as they are, these effects are almost impossible to detect both as they're occurring and in hindsight.?We know from scientific research in the field of psychology that our environment shapes what we think, how we feel, and the ways we behave. And how we react to that environment is dependent on our 'identity'. And one of the most important symbols of identity is our 'name'.

The world is abound with words and images that prompt unexpected, unconscious decisions. We are so deeply attracted to our own initials that we give more willingly to the victims of hurricanes that match our initials. It has been proven that Kims and Kens donate more generously to Hurricane Katrina victims, whereas Rons and Rachels give more openly to Hurricane Rita victims.?

Research Findings

Social interactions have similar effects, as professional cyclists pedal faster when people are watching. Teachers who took tea from the break room at Newcastle University contributed 300 percent more to a cash box when a picture of two eyes hung on the wall. We're evolutionarily sensitive to human surveillance, so we behave more virtuously even if we're only watched by a photograph.?

The physical environment, from locations to colours, also guides our hand in unseen ways. Dimly lit interiors metaphorically imply no one's watching and encourage dishonesty and theft, while (in the United States) blue lights discourage violent activity because they're associated with the police. Olympic taekwondo and judo athletes are more likely to win when they wear red rather than blue, because red makes them behave aggressively and referees see them as more dominant.?The internet is full of revelatory facts, riveting anecdotes, and cutting-edge experiments that collectively explain how the most unexpected factors lead us to think, feel, and behave the way we do.

The Name

When Carl Jung, one of the most famous psychiatrists of the twentieth century, once wondered why he was so fixated on the concept of rebirth, the answer arrived in a flash of insight: his name meant 'young', and from birth he had been preoccupied by the concepts of youth, ageing, and rebirth. Other renowned psychiatrists of the early twentieth century embarked on very different research programmes, but as Jung explained,?'Herr Freud (whose name means Joy in German) champions the pleasure principle, Herr Adler (Eagle) the will to power, and Herr Jung (Young) the idea of rebirth'.?

As far as Jung was concerned, the names we’re given at birth blaze a trail that our destinies tread for years to come. According to one Nigerian proverb,?'When a person is given a name, his gods accept it',?which explains why exhausted parents sometimes name their children Dumaka (literally, 'help me with hands') or Obiageli ('one who has come to eat').

Are you surprised now, at the speed of Usian Bolt??

People name their children using all sorts of rules and approaches. Sometimes they borrow names from historical or literary heroes, sometimes they perpetuate ancestral naming traditions, and sometimes they just like how a name sounds or the fact that it reminds them of something appealing.

In all cases, though, the otherwise meaningless name acquires meaning because it’s associated with other concepts that are themselves meaningful.

The power of association explains why Adolf, a common boy’s name once associated with Swedish and Luxembourger kings, plummeted in popularity during and after World War Two. Meanwhile, the name Donald fell from favour when Donald Duck appeared in the 1930s, and parents stopped naming their sons Ebenezer in the 1840s when Charles Dickens’s newly published book, A Christmas Carol, featured the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge.

I know many cases of complete change in personality once names change. Ranks in military service have similar effects. Each rank will bring about some change in personality, in the language used and even in behaviour. Add a Ph D as a suffix and notice the change in how people respond to you and how you respond to the world.?

Marriage?

A strange phenomenon happens once a woman gets married - especially in patriarchal societies prevalent in the world. Either the surname changes, or (in some cases) it gets hyphenated to include both her father's and her husband's surnames. In some places in India, the woman also has to change her first name and becomes (if you will) a brand new person. Who do you think such a woman would feel more connected to? Her in-laws? Or her people from her parental home??

Names, we know are the part of our identities. So a Samantha John will show qualities of a John. But as soon as she becomes a Lewis, her mannerisms will change, vocabulary will change and even likes, dislikes, values, tastes and needs may undergo a change from her former life. This is a?simple makeover?if we metaphorize the psychological changes.?

What happens then, when the name gets hyphenated? Like Jada Pinkett-Smith? Psychologically the hyphen acts as a barrier between her identities of Pinkett and Smith. So she brings to the equation her original pre-marriage personality.?

What happens post divorce? Or death of a spouse? Some women stick on to the pre-divorce surname or the name that they took on when they married. Which means, that in their minds, they are still part of that family constellation they were married into. What do you think their relationship with their new spouse (if they got married) would be??

Other Areas

Actors take on 'stage names'.

Mark Sinclair became Vin Diesel, Margaret Hyra became Meg Ryan, Eric Bishop became Jamie Foxx, Thomas Mapother IV dropped his surname to become Tom Cruise. In the yesteryears, Archibald Leach tasted success as Cary Grant and the famous Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortenson.

In India, Yousuf Khan became a Dilip Kumar, Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed Jaffrey became a Jagdeep, Mahjabeen Bano became Meena Kumari, Mumtaz Jehan Dehlavi became a Madhubala - all to appear more appealing and familiar to their audiences. Haribhai Jariwala tasted success as Sanjeev Kumar and Rajiv Bhatia as Akshay Kumar. Gourango Chakraborty became Mithun and Tshering Denzongpa became Danny.

Names changed, they adopted personalities of confident/beautiful/articulate stars who everyone desired and lit up the silver screen.

How do you think the name of your company matters? How does it impact customer interest? How does it impact SEO outputs? And how does it impact the stock markets?

It does... a lot! Of that, some other day.?

Conclusion

What is in a name, those who are fans of Shakespeare will write.?'A?rose?by any other name would smell as sweet'?the bard wrote in Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet seems to argue that it does not matter that Romeo is from her family's rival house of Montague, that is, that he is named Montague.

Unfortunately for Shakespeare, psychology and human behaviour doesn't agree with him.?

Names are part of identity and behaviours are a function of identity. So names have an affect on human behaviour.

As behaviour observers, next time you see a Twitter account or an Instagram handle, think of what that person wants, what she believes and what are her desires. And then match it with the posts.?

I am sure you will see the patterns which the account holder so furiously protects.