What if I told you that your initials might determine how long you live?
Seems crazy, but for a select group of men, it just might be true.
In 1999, three psychologists at the University of California, San Diego, poured through death records to determine if there was a link between the lifespan of human males and their initials.
Their discoveries, in a published report titled What’s in a Name: Mortality and the Power of Symbols, suggested that individuals with “positive” initials (for example, ACE, VIP) live longer than those with “negative” initials (eg PIG, DIE).
The data found that “males with positive initials live 4.48 years longer” than most people, “whereas males with negative initials die 2.80 years younger”.
If you are like me, you had two questions: (1) would parents really give their son the initials DIE? And (2) if so, why does it affect their child’s lifespan?
The authors of the study, Nicholas Christenfeld, David Phillips and Laura Glynn, didn’t answer question #1, but they did have an explanation for #2
“Parents might fail to notice that the initials they are about to give a child could have negative connotations. This oversight suggests that there may be many offspring who have been inadvertently assigned initials with negative connotations. These may cause individuals not to think well of themselves, and they may have to endure teasing and other negative reactions from those around them.”
I can’t speak from experience (unless the initials AMB are somehow negative) but I can believe their suggestion. With things like bullying being so prevalent, there is enough stuff in this world that can hang a negative cloud over a child. Kids don’t need the added weight of having horrible initials.
Future parents, I encourage you to remember this study when time comes to name your kids. I know I will. I am going to stay away from names that would make the initials SOB or FIB and lean toward a name that creates something more positive like FAB.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
