Baby Names and Budding Personalities

I went through a brief period of time where I wanted to name my first daughter 'Paprika" and my first son 'Thor', but I never moved much further away from my original intent. I now plan to include Shakespearean characters somewhere in all of my children's names. I go to a school where people often have off beat names. I have met people named after forms of writing, beaches, and birds. In my own mind I determined that having a different name gives you a distinct personality, creativity, and most importantly strength. Turns out I was kind of right.

In a recent New York Times article called "A Boy Named Sue, and a Theory of Names" the author embraces his feminine middle name as he explores the implications for odd names are not as society had perceived. It was previously thought that children with different names were less intelligent or more likely to end up in prison. Yet, when controlling for issues such as race or socioeconomic variables it didn't seem to matter.

Here is what they did find. In men with feminine names there was a better sense of self-control, the people had learned that there were some fights that were not important. As for the artsy and creative side that I see. Well, one might think that people who are innovative and 'different' have learned that being different like their name is okay, you don't have to follow the pack. So I no longer feel and qualms about what I want to name my children in the future, I just have to find someone who wants a child named Benvolio Slade.