Parenting: What’s in a Name?
I am very sure many parents would agree to play Mozart or Beethoven even for six hours every day if it would guarantee the success of their children. If the success of your child was guaranteed by performing a certain weird but arduous task — — something like washing her with the waters of the Congo River or taking him atop the Andes every month? I suspect many parents would still do it.
But what if something simple like a name that you choose to give the child was all that mattered and voila, success and fame are at your beck and call? Naming would be anything but casual.
And that is exactly what many parents think. For starters, consider that that many anxious parents consider naming serious enough to pay $29,000 to a professional baby namer!
This is because these parents think that a name associated with greatness can inspire a child to greatness as well. And there are examples. Or are they?
Take the case of Martin Luther King Jr.
Did you know that the extraordinary man we know and reverence as Martin Luther King Jr was never a Martin or even a Luther until much later in his life? The name on his original birth certificate was actually Michael King. He would officially change his name much later, at 28 years of age, about two years after he had earned his PhD from Boston University and four years after he had married.
So what was the reason for the change in name?
In 1934, when Luther was only about 5 years of age, his minister-father went on a foreign trip as part of a Baptist Church delegation to attend a meeting of the World Baptist Alliance in Berlin, Germany. During that trip, the elder King toured the historic sites of the Protestant reformation of the 16th century. He would visit Wittenberg and gaze with wonder at the scenes and places that birthed an idea that would re-shape western civilization and the whole world permanently.
At this time, the elder King was known as Michael King. The younger King was known as Michael King Jr. On returning from this historic trip, the senior King would change not only his name but that of his son also.
Was this change of name the source and cause of his remarkable success?
Maybe yes. Probably no.
A complicated mouthful of a name like Nebuchadnezzar may spell doom for your child especially at her work place. Instead, a simple name like Roy makes the cut. Reason? According to researchers, when a name is easier to comprehend, we tend to like it more.
If you give your child an uncommon name like Primrose or September, he is more likely to be a guest of the state due to juvenile crime. But there is a caveat: “Unpopular names are likely not the cause of crime but correlated with factors that increase the tendency toward juvenile delinquency, such as a disadvantaged home environment and residence in a county with low socioeconomic status.” In short, an uncommon name may reveal that the child lives in a poor area or a dysfunctional home where popular, trendy names are not known or appreciated. It is this this environment that may predispose a child to crime and not the name itself.
Still, other studies point in the opposite direction. Research findings seem to obey Newton’s third law of motion. For every research finding, there is an equal and opposite research finding. And so, unpopular and unique names may actually mean success. Others say that children with unusual names may learn impulse control because they may be teased or get used to people asking about their names.
Also, according to research published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, people are likely to think that your IQ is above 130 if you are using a middle initial like John F. Kennedy. And in another interesting study, names associated with nobility like King or Kaiser were related to a higher rank than names such as Cook or Butler. In societies where ethnicity or race is a problematic issue, a name signals your identity and the way you will be subsequently treated for good or bad.
In some societies, naming was a very sacred activity. In the Jewish tradition for example, some names were actually given by angels; not by parents. Yet in the Bible we also find that sometimes names did not really matter. Prophet Daniel for instance was given a name representing a Babylonian god. There is no record that he protested or that any of Jews protested. Instead, there is apparent evidence that Daniel assumed his new name without much ado or ruckus.
The verdict?
A great name may influence a child.
When Martin Luther King Jr. brought his civil rights campaign to Chicago, he did something quite revealing. He attached his demands for fair and open housing to the door of city hall just like his German namesake had done on the door of the church at Wittenberg.
But that is not all. In his letter from a Birmingham jail he quoted the great reformers’ lofty words, “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.”
Still, there is no easy route to success. By all means, name your child. Just don’t call him “Sanitizer”.
