The Psychology and Politics of Names

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     Names-the deciding factor of first impressions.

    For many families, finding a name for their child might take months, but quoting Shakespeare's line "What's in a name?" could render efforts for picking baby names useless.

    I'm here to tell you that Shakespeare did not have the future in mind when writing these lines. In a world where names decide friends, enemies, and a child's future, Shakespeare's words lose their credibility.

    The weight a name holds can be suffocating, especially when the meaning behind a name seems contrary to the beholder's personality. 

     Take my name, for example, Shambhavi, I was named after a goddess in the Hindu religion who represents bliss and happiness. With this in mind, I find that I constantly remind myself that I need to live up to my name. Yes, people have tried to make jokes about my name, but I disregard it because of their ignorance, I'm the one carrying the weight of my name, not them.

     While names play a role psychologically in determining the characteristics of a person, they also affect how others perceive them.

    Let's look back at all the presidents America has had. Most of these presidents of the United States have been Caucasian males with fairly common first names. At first glance, these names might not indicate anything important, but the lack of uniqueness in these names can reveal a lot about American citizens.

    As humans, we tend to only do and reveal things about ourselves that are common with others. As we have seen, former president Barack Obama and vice president Kamala Harris, are two of the few presidential candidates who have uncommon or unique names. I'm not denying that voters consider other factors like the candidates' ideals before voting, but history has proven that it's easier for voters to vote for someone who has a common name, maybe the common name carries common ideals. 

    After thinking about names this was the first thing that came to mind:)



Comments

  1. Julia MowreyMarch 6, 2022 at 8:20 PM

    Shambhavi! You had a really insightful connection over how meaning behind names can also effect a persons expectations of themselves which I definitely hadn't thought about before. Thinking about it, I know if I had been named after an important religious or cultural figure my name would definitely carry more weight in my mind. However, I think it should also empower you: you are a GODDESS, and of bliss and happiness no less. Embrace it. You have a really unique name and I know a part of me envies you for that, being a Julia and all. Nice meme at the end as well. :)

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  2. EvaMarch 6, 2022 at 8:31 PM

    Your memes made me laugh! It was a nice way to lighten up your blog. But on another note, the point you brought up in your blog post about our innate reactions to people's names is really interesting, very much so. We really do have a hypocritical outlook on the faces of America; despite our diversity, we've had so many Presidents that, at face-value, don't seem too diverse. I loved how you tied their names into this phenomenon, too. Well done.

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