Predudice towards names

[sunshinenanny]

I know that they say a childs name can influence it's success in life But I was shocked when a nanny I met at toddlers told me she had negative feelings towards one of her charges because of his name. evidently she doesn't think a child with his name could be anything but a troublemaker! On the other hand his sister can do no wrong because the nanny likes her name! At first I thought she was winding me up but she seemed deadly serious; She says you can always tell a childs nature by his/her name. Has anyone else heard of this sort of reasoning? It seems an apalling attitude for anyone to have, let alone someone looking after children

that is totally nuts. ignore.

She sounds very thick and she's in the wrong job

No, of course a name does not influence a person's behaviour.

However there may be (and probably is) correlation between names that parents like and their parenting approach/their values etc, which in turn has an effect on the child's upbringing.

Of course you can't always tell a child's nature by their name, that's just silly.

But when my sister was teaching she claimed Nathans were always a handfull. and I have never met an ugly James.

Lynette you must meet my husband then you will have met an ugly one. I do think Mathews are always a handful. Poppies are always lovely.

Shes talking bollocks

Absolute bollocks. To prove it:

I know a very ugly James; very quiet, posh little Nathan; a bitch called Poppy and all the Matthews I've ever met have been quite wet.

Names are just names. They don't influence your personality.

I think she must mean pre/misconceptions about what type of family a child comes from based on child's name. Eg- If a child has a blatantly made up or mis-spelled Yoonique name, then you might think - hmmmm. That doesn't necessarily mean that they will be misbehaved or not a nice child, but that could be what she was trying to get at. I'm not saying it's right, before I get annihilated, I'm just trying to see what she was getting at.
Disclaimer: I'm on the fence here, as I tend to like quite randomly ''out there'' boys names, but I agree with OP about how names can affect and influence your success in life - if I got two CV's, one with a child called Nathan or one with a child called Dr Dré, I think I know who would be getting the job... sniff. (Unless it was a music producing job, of course....)

I was also going to say that any Matthew was a handful, mine included.

I have never met a Rachel who has been anything but lovely, sensible and level headed. My husband and I were just discussing this last week when thinking of baby names.

I work with a Rachel who is a total bitch! Sorry to shatter any Rachel illusions. But I did go to school with a nice one and dh's cousin is a nice one too - so 2 out of 3.

So you would discount someone for a job purely on their name?

just wow

All the Poppy's I know are awful but must agree Nathans are a handful

OH and I have both noticed there does tend to be a correlation between names and character traits but so far no name we can think of is without it's exceptions. For example a certain girls name he associates with teenage total wastes of space is also the name of a healthy, modest, hard working and active little girl in his badminton club who could easily be held up as a role model to her peers. One of the worst boys names we can think of (another scum name) is also the name of my best friends partner, who is a gentle, philosphical, calming soul with great integrity and intelligence. Trends exist yes, but nothing is absolute. Not giving someone a chance based on their name is disgusting, especially in a Nanny (she should be fired immediately if found not to have been joking)!

I knew an ugly James!

I've never met a nice Louise.

We discounted lots of names because we associated them with people we didn't like. Not because we actually thought our associations would effect our child though.
We did choose DS2's name because (after discounting each other's other favourite names) neither of us had ever met a Cameron we didn't like (or fancy in my case!)

The child minder is a fruit loop.

My step sister is a Rachael and is a complete waste of space, I'm afraid. The worst person I have ever met, actually.

I hope this isn't true. Ive recently encountered a toddler with the same name as DS who is a proper little tyrant.

The council estate kids

just wow again

"I think it's more to.do with socio-economic class than anything"

Absolutely. There is a correlation between parent's tastes (including names) and their values/morals/behaviours. There was a list recently on the bbc website which listed the 'worst behaved' children according to a large survey by teachers.

But of course there are exceptions!

Bbc report on the Bounty survey here

My council estate kid (yr 6) has just been voted Chair of her school council, is normally top of the class and wants to take her GCSEs early and study chemistry at university. Not that any of that matters compared to our address. You sound lovely, Puddlejumper, but I'm very glad DD doesn't have your sister for a teacher!

Jordans, Reeces, Lewises and Keirons are bound to be right little toerags.
Emmas and Sarahs are all lovely.

Ha ha - of course it's silly....but there is no doubt that names conjour up images and an impression in one's head. That is what makes us want to choose one name over another.