Thirty to forty years ago, scientists thought an unusual, Distinctive name would make a child unpopular in school and harm her emotional development. It was thought that children with uncommon names like Riza or Blair would have fewer friends than children with ordinary names like Susan or David. Some experts even insisted an unusual name alone would launch a child on path of crime!

Happily, these silly notions have gone by the wayside. The most recent research reveals that, far from being a handicap, an unusual name can be quite an advantage. Clinical psychologist C.R. Snyder, co- author of Uniqueness: The Human Pursuit of Difference argues that a child’s name is one of his or her “uniqueness” traits. “To have self – esteem,” Dr. Snyder says, “all human beings have to feel special. If you make people too similar to others, you threaten their uniqueness and their self – esteem will take a nose–dive.” Dr. Snyder points out that any name helps a child establish a unique identity. But a distinctive name that makes a child stand out a little more from the crowd may actually help the child in his or her struggle to feel individual and special.

Sports heroes, singers, and film stars have long recognized the publicity value of having a distinctive name. Would Yogi Berra have been as memorable on and off the baseball diamond if he’d gone by his real name__ Lawrence Peter Berra? Would Cary Grant have been a sex symbol as Archie Leach? Or would Bo Derek have rated a “10” had she stayed Mary Cathleen Collins? Probably not.

Unusual names may be especially advantageous to a child born in the upper – middle or upper class. As Guilford College psychologist Richard Zwegenhaft notes in a Journal of Social Psychology article, a child already privileged by birth may see his distinctive name as just another positive way he stands out. Research on upper- class children who go on to fulfill their promise of birth strongly supports this theory. To see whether an unusual name had any effect on later success, Dr. Zweigenhaft chose 436 male names at random from The Social Register, which has been called the “best guide to the membership of the national upper class.” Half the men had unusual first names like Urie and Cornell, whereas the other half had common ones like William and John. Of those thirty men who actually went on to become listed in Who’s Who, twenty – three or a whopping 77 percent came from the group with unusual names.

Past studies showed that children with unusual names did worse on IQ tests and had lower self – esteem. Again, more recent studies have not born this out. Indeed, one study reported in The Journal of Social Psychology found unusually named college women actually scored higher on many variables, including capacity for status, sociability, social presence, and self – acceptance, than did women with ordinary names.

Nor should you worry that giving your child an unusual name will make her unpopular. One often – reported 1966 study did suggest that kids with uncommon names might be less popular with their peers. But that study included only fifty- nine children (all Jewish) who knew one another. In a much more extensive study done in 1979, Dr. Busse looked at 1,548 children from many racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. Comparing kids with ordinary names to chose with unusual ones, he found no relation between a child’s first name and her popularity. There is simply no proof that a special, unique, or distinctive name will doom your child to a life of unpopularity.

Lest we replace the myth that an unusual name always harms a child with a new myth that an unusual name never hurts, however, we should point put that there’s a clear difference between giving a child a downright comical name like Ima Pigg or Hong Fong Dong (which is bound to provoke vicious teasing from schoolmates) and a pretty or distinctive name like Kala or Jared, which will likely just help a child feel more special.