And just like in books, evil characters have names that sound evil too. In real life, names that people find “weird”, unpopular, or that come with negative connotations can actually have a negative impact on the self-esteem of the person who has to be called that for the rest of their life. This is mainly because of 2 separate reasons, that at some point merge to create the perfect storm. On the one hand, our own ego can feel hurt because we do not like the name or what it represents for us. On the other hand, other people might not like it. And most people will find a way to let you know this, which isn’t great — sometimes it can even be both.

As it very often happens in other things, names can also awaken prejudices. These can have a social, cultural, and even linguistic origin. That’s how many people come to the conclusion that a person who has a more “ringing” name, which is often pronounced with more fluency than other names, is a pleasant person. On the other hand, people who have longer and more “abrupt” names are more likely to be judged as a loner by those in their environment.

Other studies seem to stress this idea even more by suggesting that children with rare or unusual names will be more likely to suffer from some emotional disorders than children with common names. Is it a coincidence that the names chosen to represent 2 famous girls from movies and TV were “Wednesday,” from The Addams Family, and “Annie,” from Annie? The disturbing little girl with braids and the empathetic and adorable Annie are just some of the most revealing examples behind this theory.

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