Yahoo News Here’s how your first name dictates what people think about you
People who’re lumbered with an unusual first name, take note – people really do judge you by yours.
New research by Syracuse University in New York found that people judge your age, your personality, and how good you are at your job based simply on your name.
Leonard Newman and his colleagues asked 500 volunteers to rate 400 names from the past seven decades, New Scientist reports.
Newman says that people’s prejudices come through in their opinions of whether names are ‘warm’ or ‘competent’ or both.
Newman said, ‘The results reflected gender stereotypes.’
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Newman also says that ‘fashionable’ names can mean that people judge someone based on their age.
Newman said, ‘If you give your child a fashionable name for the time, it might date them. The only way around it is to choose a name that never seems to go out of style, like David or Michael.’
