This is Louis.
He lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with a disproportionate number of other people… also named Louis.
We’re unconsciously attracted to people, places and things that resemble ourselves.
And it affects our life in some pretty bizarre ways.
In one study, researchers analysed the public records of 66 million Americans and found
that people are disproportionately likely to live in places whose names resemble their
own.
Just like St. Louis and it’s Louises, Jacksonville is inhabited by more Jacks, Philadelphia by
Philips, and Virginia Beach by Virginias.
While some gravitate towards these places, it’s also possible that parents living in
Georgia are more likely to name their children George or Georgia.
The researchers also found people are more likely to live in cities whose names began
with their birthday numbers.
If you were born on the second of the month, you’d live in Two Harbors, Minnesota.
The third?
Three Oaks, Michigan.
And people were more likely to choose careers whose labels resemble their names.
Dennis or Denise are overrepresented among dentists; Laurie, Lauren and Lawrence among
lawyers.
The researchers called this effect of unconscious self-love “Implicit Egotism”.
And it doesn’t stop there.
A recent study of undergraduate students found when you work in a group, sharing initials
with other members of the group increases the overall quality of your group work.
Bizarrely, the study was authored by three researchers by the names of Polman, Pollmann
and Poehlman.
They suggest this is caused by the “Name-letter effect”, where we have a preference for
the letters in our names.
We write our name thousands of times throughout our life, so the more we are merely exposed
to something–like those letters–the more we like it.
Also known as the “Mere exposure effect.”
One study in the 1980s showed people more often ranked letters belonging to their name
as their most preferred letters of the alphabet.
And they found this Name-letter effect across 12 different European languages.
Some of the findings - like more Louises living in St Louis - seem counterintuitive, but they
are supported by a lot of data, like analysing birth, marriage and death records.
So when Angela moves to Los Angeles or Phillip buys a Phillips television, there may be some
implicit egotism involved.
And, finally, there’s a scientific explanation about why susie sells sea shells by the sea
shore.
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