Name stereotypes and teachers' expectations.

Abstract

Acknowledging effects of implicit biases in teachers' expectations upon the educational process, it was conjectured that teachers' evaluations of children's performance may be systematically associated with stereotyped perceptions of first names. Short essays actually written by fifth-grade students were presented for evaluation to teachers and college sophomores. Authorship of the essays was randomly linked with boys and girls with common, popular, and attractive names, as well as with rare, unpopular, and unattractive names. As expected, the attributed quality of each essay was higher when essays were authored by names associated with positive stereotypes. This stereotype bias was more pronounced for experienced teachers than for inexperienced college sophomores, and the effect was clearer for boys' names than for girls' names.

Are Names of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder More ‘Hyperactive’?

“…Parents’ projected expectations may be internalized by their offspring and crystallize into his or her evolving psychological matrix through different developmental processes [18]. The chosen name may have both a positive [19] and negative impact on the psychological development of the child. For example, androgynous names that were attributed to gender confusion of the parents may affect the offspring as well [20].…”

Psychological impact of women's name change at marriage: Literature review and implications for further study

“…With the re-emergence of interest in women's status in the 1960's came reassessment of social institutions and customs relating to women, including that of surname change at marriage. Reviews of developments in the women's rights movement are available (Freeman, 1975;Kanowitz, 1969) and include some information on married women's rights to determine their own names.…”

Do People Whose Names Begin with “D” Really Die Young?

“…Several studies (Harari & McDavid, 1973;Levine & Willis, 1994;McDavid & Harari, 1966;Savage & Wells, 1948) have concluded that people with unpopular first names are perceived by themselves and by others as inferior to people with popular names. If health is related to self-esteem (McGee & Williams, 2000;Trzesniewsky et al, 2006), then life expectancy may be lower for people with unusual first names.…”