First names and perceptions of physical attractiveness.
“I examined the impact of first names on ratings of physical attractiveness as judged by British undergraduate subjects using male and female full-face pictures presented on photographic slides. The photographs were identified with attractive names, unattractive names, or without any name indicated. Subjects rated the stimulus figures for physical attractiveness. Names accounted for approximately 6% of the variance in subjects’ ratings of physical attractiveness. This effect was highly significant for pictures of women (p < .001), but nonsignificant for pictures of men (p > .05).”
Bonus quote from the materials and methods:
“The stimulus names were selected from a list of 160 names that had been rated for attractiveness by 10 male and 10 female subjects on a 7-point scale. Male and female names of approximately the same level of attractiveness were selected. One attractive and one unattractive name was used for each sex. The attractive female name was Danielle (M = 4.70) and the attractive male name was Alexander (M = 4.85). The unattractive female name was Tracey (M = 1.2) and the unattractive male name was Kenneth (M = 1. 15).”
Characteristics attributed to individuals on the basis of their first names.
“Characteristics connoted by first names were explored in 7 studies. Four factors were identified: Ethical Caring, Popular Fun, Successful, and Masculine-Feminine (Study 1, N = 165). Men’s names connoted more masculine characteristics, less ethical caring, and more successful characteristics than did women’s names (Study 2, N = 274). Nicknames connoted less successful characteristics, more popular fun, and less ethical caring characteristics than did given names (Study 3, N = 289). Androgynous names connoted more popular fun and less masculine characteristics for men and more popular fun, less ethical caring, and more masculine characteristics for women than did gender-specific names (Study 4, N = 378). Less conventionally spelled names connoted uniformly less attractive characteristics (Study 5, N = 145). For men only, longer names connoted more ethical caring, less popular fun, more successful, and less masculine characteristics (Study 6, N = 620). More anxiety and neuroticism were attributed to those with less common names and more exuberance was attributed to those with more attractive names (Study 7, N = 137).”
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