"You look like a Clare." The fascinating reason why people 'look like' their name.

Have you ever found yourself thinking that people’s first names remarkably tend to match their faces, only to stop to remind yourself that of course they do, because you know them? 

You dismiss your observation because the association between a face and a name is completely arbitrary – Caitlins don’t ‘look’ like Caitlins, it’s just that Caitlins are Caitlins.

Well, it turns out there actually is a weird link between faces and names, and it’s easily the most exciting thing I’ve learnt this year.

A recent study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology presented an eerie finding: people can guess a stranger’s name with surprising accuracy, and it’s likely to do with the social and cultural stereotypes ingrained within a name.

An Elizabeth for example is often responsible, mature and conscientious, whereas an Evie is more creative and ‘out there.’

The study found a correlation between people’s names and their appearance, and it’s believed this occurs because a) names are culturally-bound, so a ‘Heather’ is likely to be Caucasian, for example, and b) each name comes with stereotypical expectations, and people unconsciously adopt these characteristics over time.

Psychologist Yonat Zwebner, the lead author of the study, said “Each name has associated characteristics, behaviours, and a look, and as such, it has a meaning and a shared schema within a society.”

"These name stereotypes include a prototypical facial appearance such that we have a shared representation for the ‘right’ look associated with each name."

Zwebner's research involved presenting participants with photographs of strangers, alongside a list of four to five names. They were then asked to choose which name seemed to fit the person best.

Overall, participants correctly guessed people's names with 40 per cent accuracy - far higher than chance.

Dr Ruth Mayo, a co-author of the study, concluded, "We are subject to social structuring from the minute we are born, not only by gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status, but by the simple choice others make in giving us our name."

Essentially, our names become a self-fulfilling prophecy: our name (which the authors call a 'social tag') affects the way we're perceived, and the way people interact with and treat us, which in turn influences our self-perception, personality, and the choices we make about our physical appearance.

Listen to Mamamia's parenting podcast This Glorious Mess: What personalities come with having an original name?

To use another example,  a classic research study explored the Ashanti people in Africa, who sincerely believe that the day of the week on which a person is born has a lot to do with their personality. In particular, boys born on a Wednesday are believed to be violent and aggressive.

Indeed, within the Ashanti people, boys born on a Wednesday are responsible for a disproportionate amount of violent behaviour.

Not because they are innately more violent, but because people tend to live up to what is expected of them.

What we're noticing about names is the same phenomenon.

But that's not all - Zwebner's research also found that people with the same name actually have similar physical features around their eyes and at the corners of their mouths.

According to the researchers, people might be altering their facial expressions to conform with the expectations of their name.

Zwebner used the example of the name 'Joy,' and said, "The moment she's born, her parents and society treat her in a way that befits that name. They say, you really are so joyful, smiling just like your name."

"She develops a certain look maybe because she is smiling more because of all the positive feedback she gets when she smiles."

So,  yes, Emmas, Clares and Caitlins really do have a 'look.' And people are very, very good at recognising it.