CALGARY – A new study from the University of Calgary suggests certain personality traits are attached to names based on their “round” or “sharp” sounds.
Researchers used dozens of popular baby names to explore the relationship of “sound symbolism” between the sound of a name and its perceived personas.
“With names, people are trying to cut down the uncertainty in the world and if you know you’re going to meet a Bob, you want to manage your expectations about what Bob might be like,” said a statement from Penny Pexman, co-author of the study and psychology professor.
“As well as thinking about other Bobs we’ve met, we use the sounds in the name to help generate expectations about Bob’s personality. We were really interested in the social consequences of naming,” said Pexman.
People were more likely to say that Molly or Leo are easy going and gentle, whereas Kate or Kirk were determined and sarcastic.
The study also explored gender differences and found people are more likely to associate female names with the round shapes and male names with the sharp shapes.
“We gave people a pair of silhouettes and one of them was round and blobby and one of them was very sharp, and we had a single name and we said choose a silhouette that you think matches it,” said a statement from David Sidhu, a PhD student in the Department of Psychology and co-author of the study.
“Half the time the names were soft-sounding, like Molly, and half the time they were sharp like Kate or Kirk,” said Sidhu. “We found that people are more likely to choose the rounded silhouette for a name like Molly but a sharper silhouette for a name like Kirk.”
Researchers said this is the first study done that looked into the relationship between the sound and meaning of a first name.
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