Let's Get Pickin'
Baby Boy Names

Every Tom, Dick and Harry Seems to BeNamed Michael

By Bruce Lansky

These days, it seems that every Tom, Dick and Harry is namedMichael. Of course, years ago, the names Tom, Dick and Harry wereprobably as popular as Michael is now, which is why that trio ofnames is often used in the same way as John Q. Public or JoeBlow.

Why is Michael such a popular name? And why are some namespopular at all?

One might conjecture that expectant parents read birthannouncements in the newspaper and pick the most common names inthe hope that their children will be popular. But I don't thinkthat's a satisfactory explanation.

I studied the results of a large-sample survey that wasconducted to discover what people think of more than 1,500 commonnames. I noticed an interesting pattern: Many of the most popularboys' names convey an extremely positive impression.Specifically, they create the feeling that boys with those namesare likely to have a number of positive attributes.

Here are attributes that survey respondents connected withpopular boys' names:

• Daniel: good-looking, strong, all-American Boy Scout, athletic, brave, kind, friendly, trustworthy, well-bred, intelligent, easygoing.
• David: strong, handsome, intelligent, friendly, good-humored, dependable
• Michael: strong, handsome, smart, successful, hardworking, easygoing
• Steve: good guy, strong, good looking, humorous, friendly,lots of fun

By contrast: many names, including Tom, Dick and Harry, sendmixed messages:

• Tom: confident, likeable, down-to-earth, but average
• Dick: either fun-loving, friendly and easygoing or vulgar, cocky and opinionated
• Harry: blue collar and either friendly, funny andhappy-go-lucky or serious and bad-tempered

Given a choice between names that suggest many positiveattributes and names that suggest both positive and negativeattributes, it is no wonder that so many parents choose namesthat project the most positive images.

Of course, there are problems with selecting an extremelypopular name for your baby boy. When he goes to school, there maybe several children named Michael, David and Daniel in his class.He may believe that the name is not uniquely his, but that heshares the name with a great many boys ? some of whom are sittingso close they can copy his test answers.

But if you stray from a multiple-positive name ever soslightly, here's what can happen:

• Change Daniel to Dane, and you get a tall, lanky, athletic Scandinavian or a self-assured, rich snob.
• Change David to Davis, and you get a quiet, formal, upper-class bore or a cocky, mischievous kid.
• Change Michael to Mickey, and you get a cute but silly, light-hearted, fun boy.
• Change Steve to Stevie, and you get a quiet, withdrawn momma's boy.

In short, small changes can produce large differences in theway a name comes across. Sensing that, parents who want a namethat gives off good vibes wind up picking the most popularnames.

I challenge you to find positive names that every Tom, Dickand Harry won't share with your son. I suggest that you test thenames you are considering with friends who are likely to besensitive to the impression each name gives off. Or look for ababy-name book that discusses the subjective impressions ofnames.

Bruce Lansky is the No. 1 author of baby-namebooks. He has co-authored "The Baby Name Survey Book" (Meadowbrook Press), whichdiscusses the subjective impression of names. Article provided byFeatureSource