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More Middle Initials Make You Seem Smarter

posted by martyb on Wednesday May 07 2014, @02:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the John-J-J-Schmidt dept.

Angry Jesus writes:

In light of two recent studies, expecting parents might consider doing a little social engineering when naming their children. New evidence suggests if you're trying to convey intelligence the more middle initials in your name, the smarter people will assume you to be.

Also, if you want to be trusted more, use a first name that everyone can pronounce. That effect seems to be in line with another study (not peer-reviewed) indicating short first names correlate with higher earnings.

Perhaps one should combine the two and just use initials for all but the surname, like J.P. Morgan?

 
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by internetguy on Wednesday May 07 2014, @05:16PM

    by internetguy (235) on Wednesday May 07 2014, @05:16PM (#40599)

    Also: Ulysses S. Grant was born without a middle name/initial

    Actually, "Ulysses" was his middle name. His first name at birth was Hiram, which he evidently wasn't a fan of.

    Actually, "Hiram Ulysses Grant" was his birth name but it's rumored that he didn't want the initial H.U.G. as a monogram at West Point. He changed his name to "Ulysses S. Grant" and the "S" did not represent anything. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant [wikipedia.org]

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