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Help[Opinions] That sounds very similar to a book I have
in reply to a message by Momtobetoo
called The Secret Universe of Names: The Dynamic Interplay of Names and Destiny by Roy Feinson. Feinson says he is a member of the American Name Society (Dr. Evans doesn't know him and had not heard of the book, until I asked him).
The book "proposes the idea that words evolve into our language and culture because the very sounds in these words evoke a particular emotional resonance in humans. And that in addition, the very pronunciation of these sounds requires a specific distortion of the speaker's face, which reinforces the emotional response of the listener. Since these visceral reactions stem from deeply imbedded reptilian hardwiring of the human brain, this book further suggests that reactions to these sounds in our own names can affect our self-image and the expectations others have of us...I conducted a study using the initial letters of sixty-three million American first names and compared them to professional lists of successful people in a variety of fields. The results of this study...suggest that there is indeed a link between our names and society's expectations. I am not suggesting that people with the same names will share exactly the same personality characteristics, but this book does conclude with an informal analysis of personality traits for each name, taking into account its component letters and sounds."
[Quoted directly from the book, pages ix and x]
Feison never uses the word "acrophonology," and I had not heard it until your post. He refers to the dominant letter combinations in names (almost exclusively consonants, particularly the first letter of the name) as phonemes. Each phoneme gets one page, including a descriptive nn, three positive and three negative personality traits, and ratings from 1 to 10 in four categories of potential success: Charisma; Career Success; Love & Friendship; and Power. Then there is a multi-paragraph description about the people with names dominated by the particular phoneme, and a list of exemplary names with the phoneme, as well as a brief bio of a famous person with one of the names.
I know this is confusing. By way of illustration, since I don't know your name I'll use my own. The dominant phoneme in Lillian is LL, called "the Life Loving." Personality traits specified are "Relaxed; Strong; Self-assured; Condescending; Overly dramatic; Smug." LL names rate 9 of 10 for Charisma; 9/10 for Career Success; 9/10 for Love & Friendship; and 7/10 for Power. Feinson lists 30 different names with this phoneme, most of which don't have the two Ls together in a row like Lillian does; these include Lael, Leila, Leilani, Lorelei, Lemuel, Lulu and Lyle. Lyle Lovett is offered as an example of a famous person with a LL-phoneme name.
A lot of what the book says about LL people (meaning me) is fairly accurate for myself, and quite a few of my friends say they recognize themselves in the descriptions about their names.
Let me state clearly, btw, that I put no store in Kabbalah, or this guy Feinson, or any other means of divining about a person based on name alone, since our names 99% of the time were chosen by someone else (our parents) who didn't even know us at the time (just before birth) and had their own arbitrary agendas for choosing our names that didn't even involve us (Dad wants all the kids to have Q names, mom wants to honor Uncle Otto).
I recognize that names absolutely affect the way we are perceived by those around us, of that there can be no doubt (Quick, which one is the gang member: Shauntaevion or Henry? Which is the cheerleader: Tiffany or Bertha?). But do they predict who we become? I don't think so. This is just a fun game to play, is all.
~Lillian~
Proud daughter of Ann and John
Proud sister of Lauren and Leah
Proud wife of David
Proud mother of Alexander, Scarlett, Sophia, and Gideon
The book "proposes the idea that words evolve into our language and culture because the very sounds in these words evoke a particular emotional resonance in humans. And that in addition, the very pronunciation of these sounds requires a specific distortion of the speaker's face, which reinforces the emotional response of the listener. Since these visceral reactions stem from deeply imbedded reptilian hardwiring of the human brain, this book further suggests that reactions to these sounds in our own names can affect our self-image and the expectations others have of us...I conducted a study using the initial letters of sixty-three million American first names and compared them to professional lists of successful people in a variety of fields. The results of this study...suggest that there is indeed a link between our names and society's expectations. I am not suggesting that people with the same names will share exactly the same personality characteristics, but this book does conclude with an informal analysis of personality traits for each name, taking into account its component letters and sounds."
[Quoted directly from the book, pages ix and x]
Feison never uses the word "acrophonology," and I had not heard it until your post. He refers to the dominant letter combinations in names (almost exclusively consonants, particularly the first letter of the name) as phonemes. Each phoneme gets one page, including a descriptive nn, three positive and three negative personality traits, and ratings from 1 to 10 in four categories of potential success: Charisma; Career Success; Love & Friendship; and Power. Then there is a multi-paragraph description about the people with names dominated by the particular phoneme, and a list of exemplary names with the phoneme, as well as a brief bio of a famous person with one of the names.
I know this is confusing. By way of illustration, since I don't know your name I'll use my own. The dominant phoneme in Lillian is LL, called "the Life Loving." Personality traits specified are "Relaxed; Strong; Self-assured; Condescending; Overly dramatic; Smug." LL names rate 9 of 10 for Charisma; 9/10 for Career Success; 9/10 for Love & Friendship; and 7/10 for Power. Feinson lists 30 different names with this phoneme, most of which don't have the two Ls together in a row like Lillian does; these include Lael, Leila, Leilani, Lorelei, Lemuel, Lulu and Lyle. Lyle Lovett is offered as an example of a famous person with a LL-phoneme name.
A lot of what the book says about LL people (meaning me) is fairly accurate for myself, and quite a few of my friends say they recognize themselves in the descriptions about their names.
Let me state clearly, btw, that I put no store in Kabbalah, or this guy Feinson, or any other means of divining about a person based on name alone, since our names 99% of the time were chosen by someone else (our parents) who didn't even know us at the time (just before birth) and had their own arbitrary agendas for choosing our names that didn't even involve us (Dad wants all the kids to have Q names, mom wants to honor Uncle Otto).
I recognize that names absolutely affect the way we are perceived by those around us, of that there can be no doubt (Quick, which one is the gang member: Shauntaevion or Henry? Which is the cheerleader: Tiffany or Bertha?). But do they predict who we become? I don't think so. This is just a fun game to play, is all.
~Lillian~
Proud daughter of Ann and John
Proud sister of Lauren and Leah
Proud wife of David
Proud mother of Alexander, Scarlett, Sophia, and Gideon
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