What's in a name?

Does a baby's name affect its chances in life? writes William Kremer in the the BBC online News magazine.

It seems that CJS has always specialised in the less common names with our founders being Anthea (often addressed as Andrea and always corrected) and Niall (frequently referred to, even by himself, as Neil).

However, even the more frequently encountered names can be problematic, how many different ways are there to spell Amy?  Apparently multiple - ranging from Aimee to Ami and Tracey is frequently addressed without the 'e'.

I have an unusual name, my parents came up with Kerryn.  Both were teachers and every name one thought of the other had an associated naughty / bad pupil memory.  It was a family friend who actually suggested Kerryn, as an amalgamation of Keith and Carolyn.  It's been a blessing and a curse but it's me so I'm not changing; although I did disavow my middle name as soon as I could, and no I'm not telling anyone what it was!  I'm used to Karen, Kerry, Keiran and even on one occasion Kevin, I gently correct the error but don't worry about it, unlike my mum who gets all hot and bothered about people using the wrong name.

Blessing?  

Well it means I'm usually remembered if only because "you're the one with the odd name - what is it again?" .  Which also means that my name stands out on applications and paperwork and creates a feeling of familiarity because it's remembered boosting it to the top of the heap (with luck the yes heap!).  

It's human nature to associate words including names with memories. Having an unusual name means that you can genuinely create a first impression, a more regular one may already have a memory, an archetype or even a caricature linked to it. What do you think of when I say Vicky Pollard? or George Osborne (If like me you immediately thought of the Chancellor it's worth noting that he actually changed his name from Gideon, which would have been even more memorable and archetypical).

Today names are easy to find and histories checked, if you google me (I wouldn't recommend it, it's all really boring) you immediately find me, first page is all me (I just checked and it's quite scary being so easy to find) and some of it even leads back to CJS which is good for us. Whereas if you google Amy she doesn't appear in the first several pages of results.  Neither of us are particularly active on social media, if I was there may even be more results returned which is an even more worrying thought.  Which leads to....

Curse?

Well, because my name is so easily remembered (or at least recognised) and found.  If I'd posted anything embarrassing or incriminating it was there highly visible for all to see.  In the pre-IT era it was always my name that was remembered and then my cohorts got pulled in by association it's just that google makes it so much easier.

So why is this a CJS muse?

Mainly because of the ease of being remembered and found.  In our helpful hints we recommend cleaning up your online profile because the majority of employers, whether they admit it or not, will check your online status.  But until now we never thought about the ease of being found; that's not to say being Fred Bloggs gives you a license to post anything whilst Fiametta  Bassingthwaighte has to watch every word and image. Fiamatta could use it to her advantage by creating a unique positive online presence but Fred has to work that much harder to get his online content more easily found.

So do names help or hinder?

Probably both.