Vol. 61 No. 1 (2013)
Research Article

The QWERTY Effect Does Not Extend to Birth Names

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  • Wayne E Thogmartin
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/0027773812Z.00000000039

Published 2013-03-01

Keywords

  • conceptual mappings,
  • cultural models,
  • pragmatics,
  • branding,
  • inference,
  • Rioja wine brands
    • ...More
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Copyright (c) 2013 American Name Society 2013

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Abstract

The QWERTY effect suggests a consequence to word meaning deriving from the placement of letters on a QWERTY keyboard. reported that words formed primarily of letters from the left side of the keyboard were more aversive in nature, whereas those on the right side were more attractive (right-side advantage, RSA); they concluded that those individuals branding new products could ensure a positive affect by attending to the balance of letters. I tested this hypothesis on arguably the most important branding decision an individual can make, the naming of a baby, by associating name popularity against RSA. Names and their rank among the top 1000 names reported to the Social Security Administration were gathered for each decadal interval between 1880 and 2010 (n=28,000 names). I found no evidence for the QWERTY effect in child names (?RSA=0·007; 95% CI=[?0·014, 0·027]). Instead, gender-specific patterns in name popularity were related to length of name (?Name Length=0·079 [0·058, 0·099]). Parents should not be concerned that positive affect is dictated by the QWERTY effect.

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