You may have heard about this research, which seems to suggest that your name can influence your future career choice.
If your name is Dennis, you are more likely to become a dentist.
This works with other names, too. Lauras and Larrys are also more likely to become lawyers, for example.
The effect is attributed to something called implicit egotism.
“People prefer people, places, and things that they associate (unconsciously) with the self. People’s positive automatic associations about themselves may influence their feelings about almost anything that people associate with the self.”
I plan on using this odd human tendency as the basis of a novel someday.
But here is the $10,000 question:
If these findings are correct, what does this mean for someone like me with the last name Dicks?
Or even worse, someone like my uncle Harry Dicks, or my great uncle, Harry Dicks, or my father, Les Dicks?