The NLE or name letter effect is described by Wikipedia as:
...a person's tendency to favor the letters in their name over the other letters of the alphabet and it is one of the widest used measures of implicit self-esteem. Discovered by Jozef Nuttin, the name–letter effect has been the subject of much research over the last few decades, shedding light on subjects such as implicit egotism, academic and financial success, and even the idea that people gravitate to cities that resemble their names....
more detail from a Rady/Yale paper
People like their names and initials (Nuttin, 1987). In fact, this name-letter effect (NLE) is influential enough to encourage the pursuit of name-resembling life outcomes and partners. For example, Toby is more likely to buy a Toyota, move to Toronto, and marry Tonya than is Jack, who is more likely to buy a Jaguar, move to Jacksonville, and marry Jackie...
If true, perhaps manufacturers should consider branding choices based on regional name distribution statistics...
But although statistically confirmed by numerous studies I'm having a hard time believing it.
I mean just because someone's name happens to be Alex, would they really be biased towards Avigilon? Or would an Ethan really prefer Exacq? Or if one just happened to have a last name of Dillabaugh could that really attract them to Dahua? Or even if one had a name of say, Lindgren, why would that mean one might be predisposed to indigoVision? ;)
Ridiculous.
But that's not to say it's not useful. In my case:
It was shown that students with names that started with the letter C or D were more likely to have lower grade-point averages, thought to be due to the students being less averse to the lower grades because the signifying letters of those grades corresponded with their initials. Wiki
They say only C or D but I'm imagining the effect can only be worse with C and D, which allowed me to blame my parents for my poor scholastics due to naming negligence and failure to provide at least a offsetting middle initial. Which was awesome...
Thoughts?