# The name you give your baby changes the way they look

**Creator:** Fatherly
**Platform:** youtube
**Duration:** 2m
**Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNtJ2rRKTbg

## Summary

Choosing a baby's name can significantly influence their identity and how they are perceived by society, according to a study by Professor Sally Ere. The research suggests that names carry stereotypes that can shape individuals' appearances and behaviors, leading to a societal expectation based on their names.

- Names can influence perceptions and expectations about a person's appearance and behavior.
- People can often guess a person's name based on their looks with above-chance accuracy.
- Stereotypes exist for different names, affecting how individuals are viewed socially.
- The study utilized deep machine learning to analyze nearly 100,000 pictures for name recognition.
- Parents are advised to choose names that resonate positively in contemporary society.
- Historical significance of a name should be balanced with its current social perception.
- A name is a shared social construct that impacts how a child is integrated into society.

## Transcript

[[0:00]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNtJ2rRKTbg&t=0s)
can you guess this person's name if you guessed correctly there's a reason behind that picking your baby's first name can be a very tough decision you can go for the common choices unique names or name them after a relative eventually that name can actually shape what they look like we spoke to enlarge Sally ere a professor and researcher who published a

[[0:31]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNtJ2rRKTbg&t=31s)
study called we look like our names and what does it mean it means that basically if you meet somebody you don't know and I give you four possible first names for that person you're able to guess above chance level the right thing it so happens that people tend to have stereotypes about each first names right I mean we we have a stereotype a preconceived notion of what a bill looks like or how bill behaves compared to

[[0:59]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNtJ2rRKTbg&t=59s)
Heather and so we find that people tend to actually fit that expectation they live up to their name literally and over time that mark surface we use something called deep machine learning so what we did was to show Beatrix's to the computer and once the computer has been trained on recognizing the matrix we find that they managed to recognize a beatrix above chance level and that was done over nearly 100,000 pictures so

[[1:29]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNtJ2rRKTbg&t=89s)
parents here's her recommendation on helping pick a name for your baby the only recommendation we can safely make is please give your child a name that is easy to think for society around your child very often I find parents to be very excited with again the origin of the name or oh it was the name that the great-great grandmother or and okay does how well it resonates today right because the name is also a shared social

[[1:59]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNtJ2rRKTbg&t=119s)
thing today right and it doesn't only relate you back to the past it's also shared with others around you [Music]