Have you noticed a correlation between names and personality?

[LuckyCharm3]

Do you think there's a correlation between names and personality (including future life choices/outcomes)? I have worked in multiple prisons and have noticed that there are names that we see more frequently than others. It's difficult to not notice when it's quite obvious. These typically aren't even names that you'd "expect". I do take it into consideration when naming my own children. Does this make me superstitious? Perhaps. Will I change my mind? Probably not.

This isn't to say that everyone with a certain name will end up in prison or that everyone with a certain name will be successful, just that there are general patterns.

Ben’s are lovely I agree

There's quite a few. The ones that immediately come to mind are Michael, Darren (every spelling), James, Jace/Jase, Eric, Joshua, Ian, Amir, Tony, Paul, Alex(ander), Daniel, Ahmed, Andrew, Omar, Marcus, Malik.

James (including every nickname) is one that I see very often.

one supposed statistic that 'resonated' with me is the claim that there are always more Lees (grammatically, should this be Lee's? - neither sounds correct) within prison than outside it 🤷🏾‍♀️. From experience, I approve the notion 🧐.

I know a Grace who is graceful (as in classy).. I'm not 100% sure how to take it because graceful feels like how a swan might be gliding across a pond whereas we're talking about humans and their behaviour in social circles I guess. Graceful to me, is more of a physical movement thing. I expect that's clear as mud

correlation isn’t causation. It will be related more to name trends in certain socioeconomic groups, and then those names will crop up more in certain situations.

My friend is a primary school teacher. She’s definitely of the opinion that certain names mean trouble.

Why?!

Both my (adult) sons have J names, and are perfectly law abiding!!

You’re right- it is bollocks.

I know two Bens- both arseholes.
Sarah is my best friend of 50+ years.
Lucy is my wonderful manager.
Mark is my very un mummy’s boy brother.
Rachel is my God-daughter, and is an absolute nightmare!

😁

Lee, Darren, Steve, Mark, and Dave are all excellent handymen, plasterers or electricians.

If you are a boy with a first name that’s a surname (looking at you Jackson/Jaxon) then you are trouble.

I find women with a first name beginning with K can be problematic. Every single Kelly I’ve met has been loud and not very pleasant to others.

I have a friend who is a child psychologist and she told me that the majority of children she treats with problems have flower names. Not sure why

On the socioeconomic front I was talking to a teacher (I was doing supply) who, with his partner, were about to adopt three children.

They were not allowed to change the children's names, so you will eventually have three children growing up in a MC household with very not MC names.

Teaching there are certain names you look at the register and try not to judge.

Aah but we don’t know your name. For all we know you could be a Rebecca, which would explain everything 🤣

Over the years, I have found that Alex is frequently the name of a tricky child, M or F. I think it's because the parents are aspirational are permissive because they want to encourage over-confidence in the child.

People with unusual names have to be braced to assert these and their spelling so may seem more assertive than average. As per @NamingNoNames who mentioned introducing him/herself with a more conventional name because it made life easier.
I'm in this boat b/c my name is posh but unusual so I have to jump through a few hoops regarding that before the real conversation can begin. People can be surprisingly rude - e.g. 'Didn't your mother like you?' or, at a minimum, their body language/facial expression/tone of voice indicates a negative reaction.

The average age of UK prisoners is apparently 30 to 39 which makes them born at a time when the name James was especially popular.

Therefore it's not surprising that many prisoners are called James.

@thefourthbeatle , Lees (grammatically, should this be Lee's? - neither sounds correct) Lees is correct - it's more than one Lee.
Lee's is 'belonging to Lee'.

@Weirdconditionaltense , @Crispynoodle , ... every Grace I’ve ever met has been anything but graceful
Grace could always be gracious.

@NormasArse , Why? Because there are a lot of people with names starting with J.

SD1978 · Today 03:24
correlation isn’t causation. It will be related more to name trends in certain socioeconomic groups, and then those names will crop up more in certain situations. This.

@NamingNoNames thanks for that. It's been bothering me I could be overlooking something..and yes, this Grace is indeed Gracious. Not a word you hear much these days. Thanks again. :)

With James - it’s a very popular name so percentage wise you’re more likely to have more prisoners with that name. The James’ I know are senior naval officers and a virgin pilot, plus a hospital medical director and paediatric consultant.

Jaydon, Laydon and Caydon are naughty names in my area currently amongst teens. I think it’s more to do with names popular within socio economic boundaries.

You're welcome. I know a Grace. She is slim, quite delicate-looking and the name Grace suits her perfectly. She was named before the name became very popular.
Since then, I've heard 'Graaice-aay' shouted out in bargain shops, usually to a quite ungraceful-looking child.

No, I don't.

What I do notice is a correlation between a child's name and the personality of its parents.

It is. Jadon is a name from the Old Testament, Jayden is a name from around 2000.

I went to a very nice rural primary school a few decades ago.
There was one family whose daughters had 'jolly hockeysticksnames' (much loved on today's MN, and the sons had names MN would call 'chavvy'.

The family whose children had 'posh' names was as rough as anything.

Do those names end in don or den? I've heard Jayden etc but never pronounced JayDON, it's always been den, however it's spelt.

-den. The spellings may vary but the -den spelling is more usual.

Baby name explorer (- names starting with Jayd)

You probably have!

Don’t forget Hayden!