Names linked to money sense

What you’re called speaks volumes about how good you are with money, writes Rob Stock.

IF you want to be good with money, live like an Enid.

That’s because people named Enid have a higher average credit score than people sharing any other common first name in the country, research from credit reporting agency Credit Simple has found.

The Enids are followed by the Joans, the Winifreds, the Nolas, the Merles, the Beryls, and the Muriels.

There are two good reasons: older people, and older women in particular, tend to have the credit scores at the higher end of the spectrum.

Every adult has a credit score, which runs from zero to 1000, and is based on how reliable they are at paying their bills and meeting their financial commitments. The higher the score, the better.

Hazel Phillips from Credit Simple, which lets people check their credit scores online for free, said: ‘‘Overall, women have an average credit score of 621 compared to 617 for men. ‘‘This is consistent across generations.

For example, Gen Y (born mid1980s to around 2000), we see 483 for women compared to 481 for men; Gen X (born late 1960s to early 80s), women score 609 while men score 606; and Baby Boomer (born 1946-64) women score 722 while men score 720.’’

The strongest correlation is age. ‘‘Older names, popular in previous generations such as Enid, Joan, Winifred, Beryl and Muriel all rank in the top 10, which shows your credit score typically gets better as you get older. As people age, they tend to become more financially stable and responsible, and have a longer credit history which helps raise their credit score,’’ she said.

It’s tempting to see names as also reflecting the rungs on the economic ladders that are occupied by the namers.

The bottom names included Cheynne, Tyson, Junior, Levi, Viliami, Mele, Krystal and Tiana. But as those names are associated with younger people, the average age of the country’s Krystals may be more important than the income and education of their parents.

Enid Ratahi-Pryor is a successful business woman who jokes that she’s ‘‘probably an odd ball’’ among Enids as it isn’t a traditional Maori name. She was named after her mum’s English best friend.

She was surprised to find that Enids had the highest average credit scores, but not that women, traditionally the heart of families, outscored men.

Ratahi-Pryor, from the Ngati Awa Social and Health Services Trust (Te Tohu o te Ora o Ngati Awa) said she owed her money philosophies to her family, where selfreliance, work and home-ownership were all considered nonnegotiables.

‘‘In my family everybody grew up with the idea that work is good. That work is the only way forward. We have always had that strong work ethic,’’ she said.

‘‘We have always had that tradition of saving for a first home before you have kids. There was a certain order to things.’’

‘‘All of my immediate family, my brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews are working. We don’t have unemployment in the family,’’ she said.

She also thanked ASB for its school banking programme, which started her off as a saver early in life.

The changing patterns of high credit score names for different generations, speaks of New Zealand’s changing economic order.

The most credit-worthy Baby Boomer names are: Sheila, Lynley, Gillian (Jillian), Philippa, Alastair and Hilary. For Generation X, it’s Hilary, Lynley, Gillian (Jillian) and Phillipa with the Asian name Jian in fifth place. The top five Generation Y names are Jing, Yan, Ying, Duncan, and Yi.

In my family everybody grew up with the idea that work is good.’ ENID RATAHI-PRYOR