Parents may be worried about naming their newborn, but few people will go to court for naming their children. But in the past few years, judges all over the world have to intervene and challenge parents' decisions: "Nutella" (a brand name of chocolate hazelnut sauce) is a name that is forbidden in France; "Cyanide" (cyanide) is a name banned in Britain; Perhaps the strangest thing is that a girl named "Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii" in New Zealand was taken into custody by the court in order to give her a more traditional name.
Jane Pilcher, a sociologist at Lancaster University, believes that "name is the core symbol of our identity, and it is also related to an important legal identity, which determines how the state and the government identify us, and name is also an integral part of our social and cultural identity. They are also symbols of our gender, race and so on. "
However, the names parents give their children are increasingly unusual or unique. In a study conducted in 21, Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, found that among the names of 325 million American newborns born between 188 and 27, common names have gradually decreased since 195. For example, in 195, 3% of boys used the top ten names, while in 27, less than 1% of boys used the top ten names.
A name is a basic part of a child's identity. Recently, more and more parents choose to give their children a unique name.
Twenger pointed out that there are various ways for people to get a unique name, and spelling a unique name from a common name is one of them. For example, in the United States, the popular name "Jaxson" originally comes from one of the top 5 common names, but it uses an unusual spelling, while in Britain, it has become fashionable to give children a two-part compound name.
It seems that this trend is not limited to the United States or Britain. A recent study in Japan found that for children born between 24 and 213, parents will combine traditional Chinese characters with unusual pronunciations to name them. In another study, researchers analyzed the naming of children in a German city. They found that in 1894, 32% of the names were unique, that is, they did not have duplicate names in the sample. By 1994, 77% of the samples were unique in that year.
besides the constant change of fashion, what factors have caused this change? What kind of influence will it have on future generations? In view of this phenomenon, psychological and social studies have found some unexpected answers.
Frontier mentality
One answer is that it represents the development trend of culture towards individualism. Twenger said, "American culture tends to be more and more individualistic, and parents hope that the names given to their children will help them stand out, which means more unique names and fewer common names." Researchers in Japan and Germany have come to a similar conclusion: We all want to be different.
Michael Varnum, an associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University, has a further clue. He tries to sort out the reasons for the growing individualism in specific areas. In a study, he analyzed the common names popular in different parts of the United States and found that people did not give their children common names in areas where Europeans had recently settled, including the western mountainous areas and the Pacific Northwest, such as Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming.
They think that the situation of naming in Canada is similar. There are fewer common names in the western part of Canada than in the eastern part, and people settled in the eastern part earlier. Australia and New Zealand have similar situations.
He said, "We believe that this is the legendary settlement development. It reflects a certain degree of self-choice. People who decide to go to the crisis-ridden and ignorant Xinjiang may rely more on themselves than on customs. Today's naming reflects this. "
wealth may also play a role. For example, in a recent study, Varnom linked people's tendency to adopt unique names with improving economic conditions. With the improvement of social and economic conditions, individualism is on the rise, as can be seen from choosing unique names for children.
Varnom pointed out that research shows that the rich are more self-centered and advocate being unique rather than following the crowd. He believes that this situation also makes sense from our development process. He said, "when we are rich in resources, we are less worried about the scarcity of resources. It is okay to be a little different. In fact, keeping a distance from the public may still have an advantage. For example, there will be more opportunities for innovation. " However, when times are hard, it will be more beneficial to be wise and protect yourself. "If you don't have a lot of resources or wealth, the best strategy may be to follow the crowd and do what most people do."
Another study on American names from 1948 to 214 provides more evidence for this theory. Emily Bianchi of Emory University found that the increase of common names was related to the decrease of unemployment rate in the United States and states.
because names are very important for us to establish our self-identity, the choice of names may change the direction of our life. Now there is some new evidence to prove this.
A study shows that easy-to-pronounce names give people a more positive impression and are related to senior positions in law firms. Names can even affect a person's emotional fortune. For example, another study found that people with unusual names on dating sites are more likely to be ignored by visitors.
At present, there is another development trend that people often blur the gender boundaries when they choose names. In 25, David Figlio, director of the Policy Institute of Northwestern University in the United States, analyzed the influence of names on sisters' choice of majors. He first analyzed thousands of names and determined whether they were male or female names according to their specific pronunciations and structures. For example, "Ann" is almost always a girl's name, while "Anne" is more feminine in language.
Female names are also longer, and "Anastasia" is one of the most feminine names in language. Figlio said, "I found that girls whose names have no obvious gender characteristics in language pay more attention to math and science homework than their sisters." This influence will continue into adulthood. Another study shows that women whose names are more masculine in language are more likely to achieve success in the lawyer industry.
for men, it is another matter. For example, Figlio found that in junior middle school classes, boys whose names are traditionally female have a higher dropout rate, especially when there are girls with the same name in the class.
"In most English cultures, there are gender differences in names. About 97% of the names indicate gender. " The fact that boys have female names will destroy this, because feminization of boys is regarded as a bad thing. However, a girl with a masculine name may actually benefit from it, because masculinity has always been a highly respected trait in history. "
Figlio also pointed out that, of course, names will only have an impact on our life path to some extent, and for many people, it will have no impact at all." I think we should know something about this. We will give our children our favorite names, but we should also realize that children will be treated differently in society because of their names. "