I Just Realized Something..
 

every girl I know whose name is Ashley or Amber is a whore. This may seem like a completely pointless and meaningless observation, and it probably is, but hear me out: can a person's name influence their behavior? Personally, I think a person's name has significant psychosocial effects on one's life. This article has to do with names influencing behavior, check it out:

Odd names turn boys bad - oddstuff | Stuff.co.nz

That's a horrible name for that article because it suggests the names are causative.

Probably a name can and will influence behaviours, but such studies are riddled with problems. First there could be a problem with statistics - if you compared names to criminal records on a group of people, the chances are you would see a pattern even if names and criminal records were completely independent. That's because randomness creates patterns. To avoid patterns from randomness, you need a lot of samples - so a lot of people - but of course there are more Thomases and Lisas than there are Brohms and Gandalfs, so then some names may still be slightly vulnerable for random effects in the study and how do you compare a name which only belongs to 10 people compared to one which belongs to 1000? You might take out a random 10 out of those 1000 so that the amount is more comparable, but then you could get random effect problems again.

The people doing such studies are likely aware and good at that sort of stuff and can probably deal with those kind of problems, but then you have the bigger problem of hidden variables. How many caucasian white people in the US are called Kareem or Tyrell? Names are not evenly "dispersed" over the population. F.ex some ethnic groups will like some while another ethnic groups will gravitate towards others. Factors, hidden variables, which stem from these differences may seep into the names study and make it seem like the names are causal of the social characteristics.

The people studying this are probably aware of this as well so I think the biggest problems / misunderstandings come from journalists getting their grubby hands and thoughts over studies like these :p: I mean, one of the main researchers from the study seems to think names are not causal (just correlate with other things that are), but that didn't stop the moron who wrote up the article from calling it "Odd names turn boys bad" :rolleyes: Shows real stupidity and a lack of respect to the researchers in my opinion!

agreed.

odd names don't turn the boy bad, all the ridiculing, disrespect, and derision he has to endure while growing up because he had an odd name though...

also the biggest slut i knew was a 'Crystal'

I don't know girls with these names, so I had to go with gut feeling which may come part from 80s flicks with high school kids in'em like in so many 80s horror films, but .. I thought Kimberly seemed a bit more slutty than the rest.

Well, a name doesn't have a bearing on their behaviour, but if a person's parents call their kid Crystal then they're bound to grow up to be a bit of a slag.

or Diamond or Princess
I knew a MyAngel once

Back when I was young (;)) I did a study on something a little similar to this in sociology and what we found was that it wasn't the names that specifically led to bad behaviour. You had to look at class (touchy subject, I know, but I've started now). If you look at things broadly, generally speaking crime is commited mostly by people of a 'lower class'. I know there are exceptions to every rule, but as I said, this is generally speaking. What we found when we studied this was that a different class of people call their children a different class of name (again, exceptions to a rule, broadly speaking). So, in theory, Darren, Charmaine, Wayne, Liam and Chantelle from a 'low class' background' are more likely to come into contact with trouble/crime than Daniel, Matthew, Gemma (;)), James, Samuel and Alexandra from a 'middle class' background.

Sorry if I've included someones name and offended them - this was just a rule of thumb and they're not always concrete!

But the point was that I don't think it's the name as such that will lead to bad behaviour. It's just in certain groups (like criminals!) some names are more common than others.

I'd loe to hear bunglaowbill's impression on this one.

Haha here's me thinking Tiffany!

That has to be the most retarded study ever

It's like if you name your kid Jeeves, he's going be a butler.
I'm gonna name my frirst kid Kobe and hopefully he'll be good at basketball.

Statistically it's insignificant with high levels of bias, I'd imagine and R-square of approximately 12% and a y predictor = -134.03 +1.3x

x= sluttiness

too many slutty ethels out there.

I don't think it is - as I wrote in my first post, the researchers themselves are not saying names are causative of criminal or any other behaviour. The problem is the journalist trying to create news when there is none.

With names relating to behaviors, we should be looking at correlations we may be able to see.

For example, if you name your child some superlative that is rarely found outside of strip joints, you can assume a few things. Chiefly of all, that the parents could give a flying **** about the outcome of this child.

While names =/= results, they can be a trip wire in diagnosing miserable parenting. We used to say at a camp I worked at that parents thought their kids "**** ice cream." It was our crass way of saying "walk on water."

With males, you tend to find this is middle-of-the-road type names like "Cameron" and anyone trying to drive pronunciation outside of the assumed colloquialisms.

Julian isn't Julian, its szoo-lee-An (like "shoe" without the "H"). There is a strong indicator there that a parent thinks their child is above the fold, removed from the unwashed masses and forever a "good boy."

While we can't draw scientific law from names to actions, we come a lot closer when we look at parenting and its effect on behavior.

which makes me so glad my father got my mom to name me Dave instead of Stefan (not Steven or Stephen but Steff-ahn). even David got it's own twisted pronunciation.

as for behaviour, having a twist on a common name definitely had an effect. far more introverted in school and in public, very defensive, and yeah LOTS of indirect pressure from within the family (direct and extended) unit.

It's not on the list, but Sarah has to be the sluttiest name.

I can vouch for that one.
My ex fiance's name is Sarah. She cheated on me with a mildly-retarded fry cook while I was in Iraq.

Who does that?!?

Sarahs do that.

My sister's name is Diamond :bringit:

I'm sorry man, this isn't funny, but it sounds kinda funny.

But to make it up to you, if you need a hit on the fry cook (or sarah) you call me.

Haha no dude it's absolutely hilarious. It wasn't when it happened around 4 years ago, but it's completely hilarious now. Time is an effective anti-drama.

Stuff like that, when it happens, I'm sure you know it sucks (although I can't speak to your experience with being passed up for a semi-retarded fry cook)... but after a while, you realize it's probably the best thing that could have happened.

Especially in my situation when I realized how lucky I was that I didn't marry a girl who cheats on people with semi-retarded fry cooks. Score!
I guess I should be thanking the Ambers, Laqueefahs, and Sarahs of the world.

My first observation: that poll is actually kinda wacky and interesting.

My second observation: for those of you who have read Freakonomics, you'll recall that names tend to work in cycles so there certainly could be a relationship between income level and name, and thus possibly income level plays a factor in "sluttiness"...

My apologies to your sister

(again;))

Aw, I know heaps of lovely Sarahs who aren't sluts.

Honestly, it's all in the statistical interpretation. As long as you think critically, it becomes obvious why certain correlations might exist. Bloody journalists...

I have noticed, however, that every single person I've met called Joy has been a grouchy irascible cow. Nurse Joy and anyone here named Joy excluded of course ;)

I don't feel know so much about american/english names and sluttyness, but if I ever meet a woman named Ilsa, I'm gonna assume she's a complete tortorous nazi slut.

http://www.horror-movies.ca/albums/u.../Ilsa_Wolf.jpg

I know for a fact that "Isla"s (different placement of S) are nice people though.

What if he turns out to be a rapist?

like that matters if he's good at basketball

I don't actually think a name can actually affect behaviour. That just seems silly. I think parenting, enviroment, economics and lifestyle effects behaviour. An "Walter' growing up in a poverty state is more likely to get in trouble with the law than a "Walter" growing up with an average lifestyle. And even then it's all chances because I do think that there are just good people, bad people, and those who are figuring themselves out still.

I have noticed, however, that girls with "V" names tend to be pretty snotty - Vanessa, Veronica, etc.

I agree. Also, none of these names have that 'stripper' feel to it.

What's retarded about the study?

I know girls with names like Ashley and Amber who are totally not sluts at all.

I don't see how a name could possibly ever influence your personality or behavior. Unless you were given a wacko name like if you were a boy named sue, then that might inspire you to become a badass and beat the sh*t out of your dad for giving you that name.

Or it just might make you a transvestite.

The thing that's bugging me about this thread: View Poll Results: Which is the sluttiest sounding name?

It's totally to do with sluttiest sounding names, same with other things. Butchest sounding names - Dave. It doesn't necessarily mean that all people called Dave are butch. (However they're all big, c'mon.. everyone knows a Big Dave)

This is just about sluttiest sounding names, the 'A person's name has no bearing on their behavior' option shouldn't be there.

I'm sorry, did you think there was merit here?

I know a Big Dave!

I dont believe names affect someones sluttiness, but someone or something can influence the way you feel about the name. Hence Pamela Anderson, when I meet girls called Pamela, I instantely think theyre a bit slutty, even though for all I know they could be the next Dalai Llama.

Also with the name Ashley, as I've never met one that I liked. I instantely think theyre quite bitchy. Crystal is quite a skanky name, just from association with well known porn stars, but you could say the same for names like Sasha and Candy then.

Did someone just say that Crystal doesnt have a "stripper" feel to it? Crystal?

Crystal doesnt even sound like a real name. It sounds like an adopted stage name for a stripper. If you're gonna call your kid Crystal you may not force this career path upon them but you are putting them at a disadvantage immediately when it comes to the mocking they will get for having such a stupid name. If Crystal is a name then you may as well call your kid Angel, Ruby, Kettle or Lamp. Just give the bullies some real ammo.

Crystal Chandelier ;)

my boys named onyx

uhhhh 6'3" and... (runs to the bathroom) WOOHOO! finally back on the 150 line!

not exactly what most people call big hehe unless you're talking about what's in my pants, then i'm still not big - i'm huge :p:

You must be in the midwest.