When Victoria Beckham went on from a chart-topping pop career to becoming a celebrated fashion designer few should have been surprised, say scientists.
For new research reveals that Mrs Beckham’s drive and determination to succeed could have been destined by her first name.
Expert analysis suggests our names reveal far more than just our gender and are linked to different personality traits and abilities that could have lifelong consequences.
Examining the most popular names in the UK, researchers discovered that more than 20 traits, from trustworthiness and being hardworking, to honesty and diligence, are associated with individual names.
Women with the name Victoria were found to be ambitious, attractive, intelligent, over confident and competitive – all labels that have been used for Mrs Beckham – while those called Anna were discovered to be honest, reliable team players.
Men called Ryan were found to be extroverts, competitive and risk takers – a description that fits the former Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs – while those called James were competent and those named Matthew were altruistic.
One theory is that such names may be linked to the behaviour of characters from the Bible or movies. Another is that people may change behaviour and appearance over time to match the characteristics associated with their names.
‘The important message of our study – the first of its kind – is that first names not only relate to gender, but that people have consistently and significantly different perceptions of common and timeless first names of the same gender,’ said Katharina Werner of Passau University in German.
New research reveals that Victoria Beckham’s drive and determination to succeed could have been destined by her first name.
Victoria is rated as significantly more assertive than other female names
Men called Ryan were found to be extroverts, competitive and risk takers – a description that fits the former Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs (pictured)
With colleagues from Cologne University, she used artificial intelligence to check demographic and personality data from 4,000 adults for the study published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (CORR).
‘Recent evidence suggests that individuals’ facial appearance may change to match their first name over time, making stereotypes attached to a name a self-fulfilling prophecy,’ said Dr Werner, an expert in behavioural economics. ‘A similar process could hold for behaviour.’’
Her team compiled a list of 20 ‘popular and timeless’ first names, split equally between men and women, from the Office of National Statistics. They then had participants – half from the UK and the rest from the US – rate them for 22 traits and other factors, including workplace behaviour.
Names used in the study were Anna, Emily, Julia, Katherine, Natalie, Rachel, Rebecca, Sarah, Samantha, Victoria, Christopher, Daniel, David, James, Joseph, Matthew, Michael, Nathan, Ryan, and Thomas.
Victoria is rated as significantly more assertive than other female names, while Anna is rated significantly more ‘prosocial’ – or kind and compassionate – compared to Rebecca, while Michael is associated with being a capable leader and more skilled.
James is regarded as more of a team player and competent, while Thomas is rated as trustworthy. Josephs and Annas are least likely to be risk takers.
Matthew is rated more favourably than Nathan on several job-relevant qualities – more competent, intelligent, reliable, ambitious, skilled, hardworking, diligent and capable as a leader. The same is true for Sarah compared to Rebecca.
Exactly why such qualities are linked to specific names is unclear and the researchers say there may be a number of factors.
Different first name choices may be linked to differences in parental attributes such as wealth, education or parenting approaches, they suggest.
