Advantages to having a surname beginning A-L in alphabet?

[Cortina]

I've always had a bit of theory that if you have a surname that begins with a letter in the top half of the alphabet you have a slight advantage in life.

As regards Primary schoools, I help out at the school and things are often done alphabetically. With the As and Bs you are not in so much of a rush when you listen to them reading etc, they tend to have more of your time. Not lots more but marginally more.

You may look at your watch, know you have limited time and need to hurry through the next 5 or so readers (further down the alphabet). Of course you try to apportion time fairly but this can happen.

When it comes to activities and special treats often again the register is used as a guide. Those with surnames in the early part of the register get to go first. This can build confidence over time maybe? In my school we had very confident children with the surname Aitken, Allen, Appleton Bell and Collins!

My surname fell at the end of the alphabet. I can still remember the rare times the teacher decided to work through the register in reverse order, with the Zs first! I remember I missed my go as I was away from school that day!

I also remember (when older) sulking at the back of the exam queue waiting to go into the examination hall with the Ss, Ts and Ws! It took an age.

[Wandaaa]

My surname begins with a D and DP a Y, whilst waiting in the registrars office I had a brainstorm to put my name first so DD wouldn't be last on the school register as I could vaguely remember reading about children at the end of the register being disadvantaged. Unfortunately my name already has 2 words so she is now stuck with a 3 worded double barrelled surname which I really regret. Nobody can ever find her at the doctors or dentists etc because they never know which letter it comes under or how to spell it or the hyphen is in the wrong place. The good news is the school secretary always knows who she is.

[CultureMix]

I was a 'B' and yes I definitely was among the first to be called for everything (not good though when you're the very first one).

It was always alphabetical at school though one year we had a teacher Mr. W who ran the list in reverse order .

notagranny: for crossing out you need to use the double dash for every word not just the start and end

[notagrannyyet]

pushy parent

Thanks Culturemix, will try to remember that.

[elvislives]

My friend was a W and is always banging on about this. As a G I was not conscious of the A-L bias at all

[MarmMummy]

I was a W, and am now an S. When I went to University all the first years in college lived in. Everyone was in the same block except me and about 10 others at the end of the alphabet who were miles away from everyone else. It certainly affected my friendship group initially!

[moshchops]

I agree, I was a P and always one of the last to be called for anything.
What a disadvantage when you were called from the register and had to spell a word before you could go out to play/for lunch.
My children are a G, lucky so and so's.

[choccyp1g]

At DS old school they used to have lists in various different orders, alphabetic first name, date-of-birth, second name, plus some activities would be done by tables, or sets.
(I know 'cos I used to help in the classroom) At current school, I think they rely more on alphabetic surnames. I help in the library, and the list I was given was in alphabetic surname order, but in practise I make a point of starting with the ones who were absent or missed the week before, because you don't always get to the end, or might have to hurry the last few.

[ConFuschias]

We were never assigned thing at school based on alphabetising of our surnames.

Can't remember how they did it though.

[edam]

Thank heavens dh and I decided to give ds my surname, not dh's (W)! Ds and I are stuck in the middle but reading this thread, it's got to be better than being at the end. And he's a summer-born boy so W as well would be disastrous.

[paisleyleaf]

Is your name to blame for unhappiness?

My DD is a doomed W

[mrsws]

Hello!
I am a 'W' - always last at school but I dont think I had a disadvantage as I still did well! In fact I think it has some advantages too. We got to the airport to fly home from our honeymoon to be told there had been a problem and everyone would sit apart. Stood at the desk for an hour to secure first in the que to fix it only for the staff to take everyones boarding cards and tell us they would call us up (A-Z). We were the only couple not sorted as the flight was boarding. Pleaded for seats together (DH not a good flyer) and ended up with First Class window seats. Each seat cost more for that flight than our whole holiday had! So maybe I am just an optomist but I think being a 'W' has its advantages too!

[kennythekangaroo]

I'm a big believer in alphabetical order having an effect and am always impressed when friends manage to move up the alphabet when married. Many of my friends are at the end of the alphabet as that's how we were grouped at uni and as such got the retired lecturers and dodgy rooms.

Some research on this suggests..
Of the 20 British Prime Ministers between 1900 and 2007, 8 had surnames beginning with the first three letters of the alphabet and only two with surnames beginning with the last 13 letters of the alphabet. There were 23 members of the British cabinet in mid 2006, of which 9 had a surname initial of A or B.

which I think proves my theories correct.

[overmydeadbody]

Well, I'm glad our surname comes within the first 7 letters of the alphabet!

[HarrietTheSpy]

No. Disagree with all this. Plenty of MDs in our firm (most, actually) with last names in the back of the bus. Recent redundancines A-L. I guess it's better to be further down the list for that one!!

[Everhopeful]

I really believe in this! I was a P surname, so not as badly off as some, but still things had often run out before they got to us, so my dd is a C - great, I thought. She will never know about this. So, what does her school do? Everything goes by first name and hers starts with T, so she's almost last and has all the problems I every experienced, then some!

[Ozziegirly]

I was a W and sometimes at school they would switch and decide things by first name.

My first name begins with a V

I was destined never to be first.

Even when they would occasionally switch and begin at Z, you knew it was just to humour those lastys stuck down the end of the alphabet....

I married an E.

[NezLiquide]

At Secondary School our classes were spllit alphabetically A-H, I-P, R-Z so as an R, I was one of the first in the last class IYSWIM. Now as a W I've moved further down the line and as fennel pointed out DS doesn't really stand a chance being born in August of 2008.

[Clary]

I do think studies show that this can be an issue. For example, waiting in line for the dentist or to go into exams ? those sort of things cannot be done in order of hair colour of birthdays (tho I agree teachers should try to vary it).

My kids have surnames at the start of the alphabet ? and just to make sure we gave them first names towards the start as well. There was a child at school who had first name and surname both starting with Z! Bit of a nightmare there.

[admylin]

I have a surname with A and in primary school I remember hating having to go first in things like to the nit nurse, the cycling proficiency test (I was first and everyone promptly copied my mistake so the test was started again!)

I even had to sit right on the front row of desks for exams when I would rather have been at the back! Even now dd hates being called up first for things.

[campion]

My surname before I was married began with B. I could cope with being almost first on the register ( 1 A, 1 B in front of me) but when I went for interviews for my first ( teaching) job I was always interviewed first. (NB this was one of those times the govt had miscalculated, so too many teachers for too few jobs - am not totally hopeless )

I figured that I might not have got a couple of jobs because, 5 candidates later, the old farts of governors interviewers had forgotten how wonderful I was

So, next interview, when the Head said ' shall we go in alphabetical order?' I chimed up with ' can we do it revese order?'. He thought for a moment and agreed. So we did and I got the job! Maybe my brilliance shone through (!) or maybe they could just remember me better. Actually, 'twas a v tough school so perhaps I got it to teach me a lesson.

I now sit happily in the middle of the alphabet and it's at least one thing DS's haven't blamed us for.

My mum was a W and she always thought she'd done something wrong cos her name was always last!

[LadyLaLa]

Ahem. Why is the focus on A-L (ie up to letter 12 instead of letter 13 (M) of a 26 letter alphabet?

[DontCallMeBaby]

Maybe A-L because you can almost discount X and Z (I said ALMOST, no flaming!), leaving 24 letters?

DD's school seem to do alphabetical order of forename (she's only Yr 1) rather than surname, though not sure how often it gets used. She is an N but comes 28th out of 31 children however!

[Abubu]

Before I got married, my surname began with an A.

I was the first in the register throughout my whole school life and hated always being the first to have do do things. I always felt like I was the guinea pig and that everyone was watching me.

Mind you this probably wasn't helped by the fact that I was excutiatingly shy.

[OliviaMumsnet]

My DH's secondary school allocated sporting activity by surname. As a V he never got to play tennis at school. EVER
And further, evidence I was an L before getting married and don't ever really remember it being an issue at all.

[happyharry]

I was a b and hated it. I was almost always 1st at register time and never knew how the teacher wanted you to reply to register. However, my dc is an s and she has already complained that they do show and tell alphabetically. She said she will have to wait ages. she's only 5.