Your Name could be the determinant of your Success !!

When in the midst of numerous myriads, there is need for identity.   So, primarily the ‘name’ is a word or term for identification.   A Name can  identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context.   In man kind,  we try to have unique and identifiable names though some are more oft repeated than others – so you find similar names for persons hailing from a particular place.  In India, as also in many other countries, there is the tradition of naming after Gods and valiant heroes. 

In naming animals, new inventions, planets, trains or even files on computer, there are various ‘naming patterns’ which help in making them unique, individualistic and easily identifiable.   There are two ways or perhaps more about names.

Some say, that the  sweetest music to a human is hearing their own name.  On the contrary,   "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" is a quotation from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, meant to say that the names of things do not matter, only what things are  !!

You may have heard of a Scientific organization ‘Society of Experimental Social Psychology’  (SESP) -  dedicated to the advancement of social psychology. They also publish two research journals: the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and Social Psychological and Personality Science.  There is something of a new theory confounded which states that “People with easy-to-pronounce names are favored at work and in personal life”  -  does it sound sense, sweet or logic to your ears ??

Having a simple, easy-to-pronounce name is more likely to win you friends and favour in the workplace, a study by Dr Simon Laham at the University of Melbourne and Dr Adam Alter at New York University Stern School of Business, has found.  In the first study of its kind, and published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, researchers analyse how the pronunciation of names can influence impression formation and decision-making. In particular, it is demonstrated "the name pronunciation effect," which occurs when people with easy–to-pronounce names are evaluated more positively than those with difficult-to-pronounce names.  The theory states that :

•        People with more pronounceable names are more likely to be favoured for political office and job promotions

•        Political candidates with easy-to-pronounce names are more likely to win a race than those without, based on a mock ballot study

•        Attorneys with more pronounceable names rise more quickly to superior positions in their firm hierarchies, based on a field study of 500 first and last names of US lawyers

Thus according to the authors of the theory,  there are subtle biases that we are not aware of,  affect our decisions and choices.  They further say that "Research findings revealed that the effect is not due merely to the length of a name or how foreign-sounding or unusual it is, but rather how easy it is to pronounce,"

In a share market, if you had all along that the fundamentals like EPS or speculation that determine their price, volume and movement, the research work suggests that financial stocks with simpler names tend to outperform similar stocks with complex names immediately after they appear on the market !!!!  Following a mock ballot, candidates with easier names were found to be more likely to win an election race than those without.

So, if you have felt that you have always struggled to get up in the career ladder, whilst some had it easy and if you had ever wondered that you are always by-passed for promotion and recognition – then perhaps think of changing to a easily pronounceable common name !!!  But always understand that there would always be exceptions and whether it is the norm or exception is not easily determinable.  Bill Gates and Larry Page could be very common names but there are also achievers like Mark Zuckerberg

I feel that mine is not too common and how about yours …….. so any thoughts of changing yours in to a common, easily pronounceable one……  !!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.