What's in a name?
How about your next job?
Naming has always been something that we've
done with our gut.
But as we learn more about the scientific
effects of names, maybe we need a better science
of naming.
Ever since ancient times, people have suspected
there's something spooky about names.
Look at all those folktales where the heroine
can defeat the villain, simply by guessing
his name - everything from Rumpelstiltskin
to Beetlejuice.
And then there are the cultural taboos about
speaking certain names out loud, whether it's
of a particular god, or an exalted public
figure, or even a dead friend or family member.
But why do we ascribe so much power to names?
I mean aren't names just words?
Wouldn't a rose by any other name smell as
sweet?
You might be surprised.
Take these two random shapes.
Now one of them is named "Kiki" and one of
them is named "Bouba."
But which one is which?
Now if you said the more spiky shape is Kiki
and the more rounded one is Bouba - congratulations
you're in the 95% of people who feel the same
way you do.
But why is this such a strong trend?
Well, as it turns out names are not just these
blank neutral words we use for communication.
For reasons we don't fully understand, certain
letters and phonetic sounds seem to carry
a visual and even conceptual weight to them.
In a world where more and more of our social
interactions are in social networks, and we
never meet face to face, names might be really
important.
I can envision a future where people start
to consult with name and username optimization
experts, kind of the way businesses talk with
branding consultants.
But of course we're not just talking about
naming human beings here.
A small study found that two-thirds of Roomba
vacuum cleaner owners are naming their Roombas.
This means we're creating an emotional attachment
with the things we own.
This history of naming has long been a seesaw
battle between the scientific need for unique
identifiers, and the more human need for something
familiar that we can refer to in our day-to-day
lives.
Lets think about stars for a second.
These days we have powerful telescopes hooked
up to computers, discovering stars at an exponential
rate.
We have databases filled with more than a
billion stars, most of which have names that
are just based on their sky coordinates.
For example, SDSSJ05552+0724
just rolls off the tongue doesn't it?
Now we have given some stars some nicknames,
including that one.
You might know it better as "Beetlejuice."
And here's a little trivia, if you say its
name three times it collapses into a black
hole!
Now if human beings ever settle distant star
systems, we're gonna have to come up with
some brand new familiar names.
Hopefully we can avoid the same mistake the
vikings made when they named their beautiful
new settlement...Iceland.
I've got a question for all of you guys out
there.
Have you ever wanted to change your own name,
and if so what name would you prefer to have?
Let us know in the comments below.
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