Are you your name?

Hi Sarah. Or maybe you’re David? In actual fact the likelihood of this being your name is fairly high given that of our readers, 1776 of you are called Sarah - the most popular Manchester Confidential name, followed by 1552 Davids, 1526 Pauls and 1195 Emmas.

If you're off to the office Christmas party, research suggests you should keep an eye out for girls called Sarah, Becky and Emma - as they are the ones most likely to make a fool of themselves.

But with the increase in more unusual names for new babies, these figures are likely to decrease in years to come. According to the Baby Name Guide, the most popular names of 2009 were Holly, Isabel, Ava, Alexa, Ashlee, Lucas, Dylan, Liam, Riley and Alfie. Aside from your given name serving the purpose of your lifelong identification, some people strongly associate the connection of name to personality, with some very interesting results.

Graham W Price is a Chartered Psychologist at Abicord. He said: “Mystical theories aside, there are genuine reasons for a relationship between names and personality. In the absence of independent scientific evidence to support such theories, scientists and psychologists generally dismiss them. But the absence of evidence is no proof that something doesn’t exist which of course allows us to believe whatever we like.”

Some such beliefs have appeared in several name surveys this year. For example. if you're off to the office Christmas party, research suggests you should keep an eye out for girls called Sarah, Becky and Emma - as they are the ones most likely to make a fool of themselves.

Other girls to give a wide berth on the dance floor include Alice, Debbie, Katie, Amy and Chantelle according to the UK survey of 4,000 people. Blokes to be laughed at were revealed as Chris, John, Dave, Steve and Paul, and Brits called Anne and Richard are most likely to slope off early - heading home at 9.30pm.

Even more bizarrely, a different poll of 4,000 parents in the UK found that girls named Tia will have the most money spent on them this Christmas - £500 to be exact, followed closely by Brookes, Lexis and all those lucky Libbys out there. Boys named Cody will also be better off this Christmas, as will Leons, Louis’s and Sams, but children named Ashton, Maddison, Sofia, Lola, Isobel, Issac, Bailey or Harley are in for a less extravagant day.

But do such results give any weight to the theory that names are much more than arbitrary symbols or is it all just a bit of light-hearted name calling based on popular names? Whilst it may be important not to judge people by their names, it seems that names can in some cases be considered to reflect social standing and in turn have a knock on effect to some extent on the bearer’s life.

Graham said: “Occasionally the choice of a name may be influenced by personality traits already evident in the baby. I don’t know anyone called Cryalot or even Smiley but popular names such as Rosie might be more likely attributed to cheerful babies.

“The choice of name, however, more often reflects the personality of the parents and, as parents will also affect the personality of the child, a link between the child’s name and personality can hence be created. Can a child’s personality be impacted directly by their name? There are reasons to believe so.”

According to Graham a study reported in the Journal of Educational Psychology tested whether a teacher’s judgement of a child could be affected by the child’s name. Names were allocated randomly to homework assignments.

Furthermore names were rotated so a particular homework assignment was given one name for one marker and then a different name for other markers. It was found that marks given to homework attributed to more popular names such as Karen, Lisa, David, and Michael, were significantly higher on average than marks given to homework attributed to less popular names. This suggests the teachers - perhaps unwittingly - favour children according to their names. Over an extended period, such bias could well be expected to impact the children’s own self-assessment and actual performance.

Often when you hear of a new born baby with a very unusual name, a common reaction is: ‘Poor child. He’ll be bullied at school with a name like that.’ Country singer, Johnny Cash acknowledges this in his song ‘A boy named Sue.’

In some cases, children with unusual names may very well be made fun of by their peers. Depending on other personality traits, again no doubt influenced by the personality of the parents, such fun-making could make a child stronger or weaker but, whichever way it goes, some affect is likely to remain.

Celebrities are well known for opting for very unusual names for their offspring. Bob Geldof’s children are called Fifi Trixabelle, Peaches and Pixie. Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin named theirs Apple and Moses. And who could forget Jermaine Jackson’s son, Jermajesty. However as Graham points out, “We shall never be able to distinguish the impact of those names on the children’s personality from the impact of the parents' own personality. Psychologists would no doubt have preferred the Geldofs to have had at least 25 children - naming half of them with popular names and the other half with creative names. We might then have had a meaningful study.

“Geri Haliwell made a good start, naming her child Bluebell, but then gave up. Julia Roberts kindly arranged a 50/50 split with Hazel and Phinnaeus, but sadly two is not enough. Mia Farrow may have had this in mind when she mothered 14 children. But all bar two have unusual names, not an adequate basis for a reliable study.”

So there we have it- the simple process of naming a child could be a lot more important than we think. As you welcome a newborn into the world, bear in mind that as we become our names, our names, in some cases, become us. That said, it’s also clear that names are not the sole force behind the development of us as people. There are many other factors to take into account, but it does make you wonder if a different choice of name would have made much of a difference to the person you became. That, we’ll never know - but if you are feeling trapped in the name game, remember there is always the option of change by Deed Poll. It may even get you more Christmas presents.

Most common Manchester Confidential subscriber names

Sarah 1776
David 1552
Paul 1526
Emma 1195
Helen 1143
John 1143
Mark 1086
Claire 1074
Andrew 1060
Laura 1028
Chris 947
James 919
Karen 909
Lisa 860

Graham W Price is a Chartered Psychologist CBT / AAT Specialist and Development Trainer, BPS, BABCP, UKCP, HPC, BACP, MBA, MSc. For more information please visit www.abicord.com