Pondering a Name Change
1 Jun 2006 in Freakonomics, Podcasting by GarrickHi, my name is Garrick.
It’s a good name. One I’m happy with - now. As a kid, it was a frustrating name. Relatively long, unfamiliar, and without an easy nickname. Though, in the end, those attributes don’t really matter. Persistence does. Continual usage over decades made me more comfortable with my name and by extension, everyone else in the world.
Wait, not everyone else.
For there’s no way more than 30% of Americans have heard of me. Even though, I’m the “garrick” over at Google.
If I changed my name to say, “Mark”. Would more people have heard of me? Well, yes and no. More people are probably comfortable and familiar with “Mark” - and more Marks exist in the world, but they’re all different than me. So, despite more people knowing my name, fewer would actually know me. For all the people the knew me as “Garrick” would be seriously confused. So, by changing my name won’t increase the number of people that know me - but sticking with it will.
Thankfully, in chapter 6 of Freakonomics Steven and Stephen confirm a name is no indication of success, let alone popularity.
