Finding the Emotion in Names

About the Book

Every name is made up of sounds, and the sounds that we use in names are not chosen by accident. They are meaningful: they tell us about the emotions or feelings that influence name-givers (parents) when they choose names for their children. This book is about ways of measuring and revealing the emotions that are hidden in names. Are the sounds in a name Cheerful? Tough? Gentle? Unpleasant? The Table of Names and Emotions in this book answers these and other important questions. In the first pages of this book, I explain how we know that the sounds in names are tied to feelings. In the remainder of the book, I provide a Table of Names and Emotions: this Table scores over 1200 popular US and Canadian names in terms of the emotions or feelings in their sounds. The most popular current boys’ and girls’ names are included in the table. In addition to picturing emotions, the entries in the Table tell you how masculine or feminine a name sounds, and also how easy it would be for children to pronounce the name.

About the Author

Dr. Cynthia Whissell has been teaching and conducting research at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, for four decades. She regularly instructs in courses at the undergraduate (B.A.) and graduate (M.A., Ph.D.) levels. These courses focus on the topics of emotion, language, and research design and analysis. Cynthia is a member of the Psychology department and also teaches in two graduate interdisciplinary departments (Human Development and Human Studies). Cynthia’s research on sounds and the emotion in names led to the publication of several scientific articles and also to this book.