In the following article, originally published in
The
Daily Telegraph, Richard Wiseman describes how your surname may
affect your life.
A few
weeks ago, I invited Telegraph readers to take part in a unique experiment
to explore whether your surname influences your life. There was a
massive response, with 15,000 readers participating online.
The results yielded a fascinating insight into a hitherto hidden aspect
of the human psyche. I wanted to know if people who had a surname
that began with a letter near the start of the alphabet were more
successful in life than those with names towards the end.
Last year, American
economists
analysed
the surnames of academics working in economics departments at US universities,
and found that those with initials early in the alphabet were more
likely to be in the best-rated departments, to become fellows of the
Econometric Society and even to win a Nobel Prize.
clipped from: www.richardwiseman.com 