Contrary to what one might think, a first name does not only serve a person. Stéphanie Rapoport, specialist in first names, tells us about it.
A first name is definitely not just a first name. We often think that it only serves to designate us: “My name is Martine”,, “Me, it’s Alicia and he is Gabin”… And yet, he has much more influence than we imagine. Several scientific studies have studied the subject under various prisms. Some say that you look physically like your first name, and that it is possible to identify that of a person looking only at their face. “He has a head to be called Robert!” Another suggests that the first letter of our first name influences our life choices: we would be instinctively attracted by professions or places sharing the same initial of our first name. And precisely, does our first name really influence our personality and our character?
For the first name specialist, Stéphanie Rapoport, author of the first name official (First editions), the answer is clear. “Yes, he influences us, enormously even. Our first name is a marker of our original social environment, it can also be a marker of our age, our region of origin or of our religion. The first name is at the center of our identity today, since we use our first name much more than our family name”, she told us. “If your parents have chosen to call you Bixente, you will grow with this Basque identity. If you call Mohamed, you are more from a more religious, believing, Muslim family. If you are called Tancrède, you are undoubtedly from a more traditional family”comments the expert.
The first name also influences self -confidence and the life course of an individual. “The perception that others have of us goes through the first name first. For example, to carry a strong and rare first name, like fawn, and assume it fully can strengthen self -confidence”she adds. David Zhu, professor at the State University of Arizona, who studies the psychology of first names, also goes in this sense: the first name “constitutes the very foundation of the image that we have of ourselves, especially in our relationships with others“He told BBC.
In the same way, “If you have a very popular first name, you will inspire confidence in others unconsciously”, notes Stéphanie Rapoport. It is not for nothing that most parents express the choice of singularity when they choose the first name of their future child. They say to each other : “My child will go far, he will be a little different from the others”. Unfortunately, some first names have been associated with stereotypes and that for many years already. The different cultures and eras play there for many. But concretely, our first name identifies us, it is part of us and our personality. It’s undeniable!
