Do we have the head of our first name? Researchers have tried to answer this question by conducting a study whose results were positive regarding the existence of stereotypes that can impact first name choices.
The habit does not make the monk, of course, but perhaps we have a face that « would stick » to our first name. It is on this basis that Israeli researchers from the University of Jerusalem conducted a study published in the Journal of Personality and social psychology of February 27, 2017.
So the study set out to check for potential links between someone’s face and their first name. An experiment was done on 185 volunteers (70 in Israel and 115 in France) who were asked to guess the first name of 25 handpicked people based solely on their physical appearance. You should also know that the choice of first name has each time been reduced to four or five possibilities.
The results showed a significant rate of correct answers. Indeed, while the success rates were 20 to 25% depending on the number of first names available, these same rates reached 30% in Israel and 40% in France. Some first names were even easier to assign than some others. For example, the French were able to identify a « Véronique » in 80% of cases, while the Israelis were particularly likely to identify a « Tom » at 52%.
According to Yonat Zwebner who conducted this study, the existence of stereotypes makes it possible to assign a first name to someone. People think of stereotypes corresponding to a certain physique or to cultural criteria. It could even be elements from their own experience. Additionally, haircut was identified by researchers as a possible factor. According to them, people can (consciously or not) adopt a haircut corresponding to the stereotype of their first name.
Sources: 24matins – Health Passport