Is there any relationship between a person’s name and probablity that he/she may need psychiatric help during their lifetimes? I have read somewhere that individuals who have unusual or odd names have a greater propensity to be in need of psychiatric care than say someone with a very common name.
My real name is Irish spelled as gaelige and not English, and therefore you don’t say it the way you spell it. I grew up in the UK and went through hell at school for having a stupid name. Teachers thought I was thick because I couldn’t spell my name (having first heard it), or because I couldn’t say it (having first seen it written down). I was almost put in remedial class over it. Since I was considered to be a bit of a dunce I was ignored by most teachers and I had terrible grades. I grew up thinking I was stupid - although I now realise I’m not. I’ve had four or five breakdowns in the last 25 years (the first one happened in the middle of a maths exam), but I’ve never had treatment for any of them. I’m not sure that all my breakdowns were to do with my name per se, but WAG I’d say it was a common denominator
every greg i’ve ever met has had trouble pronouncing the letter ‘r.’ i don’t know if that’s coincidence or not, but i always thought it was interesting.
In direct relation to the OP I’d say no. Definitely not. Ones name does not have a direct correlation to ones physical emotions. However, if your parents decided to name you Cigar Stubbs [which is a verifiable name] One would think they may attract ridicule in the future from a decidely teenage crowd. However, as a psychologist, I’d say I have met several individuals who have names like Gaylord and Star and Shuffawalluph and are completely fine with their place in society…
It is an individuals right to grow up like they see fit, or like they are allowed in some cases.
In closing…someone with the name Michael is just as likely at birth to be a psychotic as someone named Cigar - it’s all in how you deal with your own self, and personality.
Another psychologist here. I’m not aware of any studies supporting this contention, and my clinical experience in psychiatric settings doesn’t confirm it. BTW, the name “Shoshana” (plus an unwieldy surname never pronounced correctly in the US or UK) do not appear to have led to psychiatric problems on my part.
What about the cases of people having names ambiguous to their gender.
Men called Julien, Tracy, or women called Sam, Chris?
To add on to what Phlsphr said, you can find a significant correlation between any two concepts if you take a large enough sample for measurement.
So yeah, if you study, 25000 (random large number I picked) people, it’s possible you’ll show a connection between name and psychiatric history. You’ll likely find a relationship between the amound of potato pie eaten and the tendency to swear.
The correlation may be there. It just doesn’t mean anything.
As to the OP, I don’t know. But it could be argued that giving your child a seriously bizarre name could be a sign of a dysfunctional personality, which could have some bearing on the child’s personality in turn. Personally, my childhood wasn’t helped by my being called “Raymond” which, Raymond Chandler and Raymond Massey notwithstanding, tended to be treated by peers and teachers as an effete name.
aasna: you can find a significant correlation between any two concepts if you take a large enough sample for measurement.
Uh, really? Any statisticians here to debunk that? But I agree it’s quite possible that you may find real, but meaningless, correlations between names and some characteristics. For instance, it’d be a reasonable guess that men called Muhammed will be far less likely to die of cirrhosis than those called John.
raygirvan:
The sample size effect is something that is hammered into every psych student from day 1. I assure you it’s a fact!
For online cites:
Here. Check the assumptions section.
Or Here. Check the comments section.
Or you might go read any introductory ‘statistics for psychologists’ textbook. Refer to the section on correlations.
OK, but I think you glossed over the difference between “strong correlation” and “significant correlation” to suit your claim that such correlations in this case are likely to be spurious. It needs pointing out for lay readers that “strong” and “significant” - in the statistical sense - are two different things.
Ok I asked my wife, a university professor who teaches statistics.
Increasing ‘N’ only increases your chances of finding a true difference if such a difference exists. If a statistical difference does exist then increasing ‘N’ will increase the accuracy, however if there is no true difference then no increase in ‘N’ will help establish a difference. If the numbers are small increasing will only improve accuracy.
I’ve heard of a boy named Sue with definite Father-issues… very Oedipal.
Every Jason I’ve ever known has been a complete asshole. Every. Single. One.
I’ve also heard of a boy named George and I’m pretty sure he had some issues as well.
Ok that’s 50/50 for the names and 100% with issues.
Umm…if you read my post, you’ll notice that I said ‘significant’, not ‘strong’.
Significant does not mean strong, and I never averred that it did.
Oh wait, you’re saying I didn’t make the difference clear.
Sorry about that…just one of the side-effects of being a student. If I know it , everybody else must know it too, right? 
Since my point was just an add-on, and doesn’t really affect the OP, I won’t bother going into details about statistics (unless someone really wants to know).
Carry on.
Hey my parents lumbered me with Alfred (im 27) and im twitch perfectly twitch fine
And it’s attitudes like that that make it obvious that your name does impact on how people react to you, at least initially.
It might be only be slight, but how people react to you has an impact on your mental well-being. In an extreme case, if your name marks you out for derision and distain your entire life from everyone, then that could easily be enough to send you over the edge.
To: “Insider”
From:
“Ted” Bundy
“Ed” Kemper
“Danny” Rawlins
“John” Wayne Gacy
“Richard” Speck
“Jeffrey” Dahmer
“Gary” Ridgway
Good point insider! We (all the above) TOTALLY agree with your point 100%! Now would you please file a motion on our behalf to get us released/exonerated using your theory as the legal basis? We’re totally innocent!
Dated two Belindas. One was on Zoloft and the other should have been.
There will never be a third!