Bobs are jolly, Tims are thin: how names shape our faces
CHOOSING a name for a child is often a headache for parents, but new research shows that picking the right one could be more crucial than once thought.
Academics have found that your first name actually changes the way you look, a phenomenon dubbed “The Dorian Gray effect”, after Oscar Wilde’s eponymous hero.
Just as Gray’s wicked deeds were etched onto the face of his portrait, so the cultural stereotypes linked to a name come to be written on the faces of their bearers, researchers say.
For example, someone called Bob is expected by society to have a rounder, more jovial face than a man called Tim. That expectation eventually leads Bobs to become more gregarious and jolly, while Tims may appear more pinched and reserved.
Winstons are perceived as fairly glum, while Marys are considered to be moral, both traits which may alter countenance, and over time, change face shape. Likewise, a woman named Katherine is considered to be more serious and dependable than a girl named Bonnie. Such cultural expectations may encourage Katherines to be more studious and academic, which could gradually influence the development of facial muscles, perhaps through increased concentration.
Dr Yonat Zwebner, lead author of the study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said: “Prior research has shown there are cultural stereotypes attached to names, including how someone should look.
“For instance, people are more likely to imagine a person named Bob to have a rounder face than a person named Tim. We believe these stereotypes can, over time, affect people’s facial appearance.”
To find out if face shape was linked to name, researchers conducted eight studies to see it was possible for strangers to correctly identify the names of people simply by looking at their faces.
In every experiment, the participants were significantly better (up to 40 per cent accurate) at matching the name to the face than random chance, even when ethnicity, age and other variables were controlled for.
It is the first study to show that social preconceptions and expectations in a name can alter the way a person looks, not just genes and hormone levels.
Dr Zwebner said: “We propose that one’s given name may have a ‘Dorian Gray’ effect on one’s face.
“Our given name is our very first social tagging. Each name has associated characteristics, behaviours and a look. Over time these stereotypical facial expectations of how we should look may eventually manifest in our facial appearance. We develop the personality that other people expect us to exhibit.
“The study implies that people live up to their given name. The possibility that our name can influence our look, even to small extent is intriguing.
“We are subject to social structuring from the minute we are born, not only by our gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, but also by the simple choice that others make in giving us our name.”
The study also proved it was possible to create a computer algorithm which could guess names better than chance, simply by looking at facial characteristics.
Co-author Dr Ruth Mayo added: “Together, these findings suggest that facial appearance represents social expectations of how a person with a particular name should look. In this way, a social tag may influence one’s facial appearance.”
The research appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
‘One’s name may have a Dorian Gray effect on one’s face. We develop personality that others expect us to’