Brain droppings on language & names

Hi dudes,
...What are the main influences on language change over time? I suspect one main one is inability to spell, which brings in extra words. For example, someone likes the sound of the name Sean but spells it 'Shawn'. The child who gets saddled with this carries the subtext; 'My name's Sean but my parents can't spell; therefore I'm probably dumb as well'. Unexpectedly, the original version doesn't die out; it just now carries the extra information 'My name's Sean AND my parents can spell; therefore I'm probably smart too'.

All names carry subtexts. In older times they might tell you about relatives (Sean Hewison; ie., Sean, son of Huwi) or specialist skills (Sean Baker, Sean Mason, Sean Cooper) or place of birth (Sean Marsh, Sean Highfield, Sean Middleton).

More recently, teachers at a local school used to have a list of first names, the bearers of which could be predicted to be potentially violent. Here's a selection: Barry, Billy, Danny, Darren, Dean, Gary, Gavin, Hayley, Joanne, Kelly, Ken, Kylie, Lindsey, Paul, Sharon, Shelley, Sonny, Tracy, Vicky. The names on the list are all from uk soap operas or celebrities, which one presumes the childrens' families watch. -Is this teacher-imposed nominative determinism, or associational prejudice? All they knew is it was a great predictor of problems; they didn't know why (consciously).

One could point to association with the TV characters and their behavior. But why were these names used for soap opera characters in the first place? They do have some things in common; almost all ending with y or n, all between 3 and 7 letters; but any random selection of names would present some pattern due to the limited overall choices. Is there some kind of unconscious association with actual sounds going on here? Is Billy likely to be thought of as silly because his name sounds like the word?

It would seem not; at least not universally, because fascinatingly, area of origin changed everything; a Paul from france didn't count, a Vicky from america was fine and unlikely to cause trouble. A Sean from india might well be your best student. But among kids with local origins, the list worked well.

Association does matter; as anyone looking at phone listings after WWII can witness. There are suddenly no Mr.or Ms. Hitlers in the directories, and I'll wager the name Adolph lost popularity among new parents for a while there. But does the entertainment industry deliberately choose names associated with 'being dumb' in the past, or is it their use of the name that creates the association in the first place?

When writing fiction, I tend to do the former; looking for a name that already 'sounds like a nerd' or 'sounds like a villain'. I like them not to be so obviously archetypal as 'Darth Vader', but the name must lead to associations with the character, and I think most writers do this deliberately (for example, the dorkiest guy in the world is 'Dwayne Dibbley'*, plus find me a name for a fictional female russian spy in 20th century fiction that isn't 'Natasha'). Whether they do it consciously or unconsciously is the interesting part. But WHY Dwayne Dibbley sounds like a dork is the very interesting part.

All this gets hacked of course by those who change their names. Imagine if you had to go into witness protection and choose a new identity. What name would you choose? What is it about your choice that attracts you? Is it a nice sound, or are the associations beneficial? Is it the name of a past or present role model? Do you know what it means? (go look it up) Does knowing what it means confirm your choice or put you off it a little?

All that we can determine privately are our own associations. Looking up what a name means gives us some cultural associations, but most associations currently are social -and many of us will be named after some TV or movie character our parents thought was cool.

In some areas of the world, parents only choose a child's 'baby name' or temporary name. At adulthood the young person chooses the adult name they wish to be known by. We have the same option via deed poll, but rarely choose it. I find it interesting that one of the most personal things about us, our names, are chosen by other people, probably after a good movie when they were drunk, and yet we stick with them and rarely consider a change, even when they are something like Bart Sidebottom, F. Dick, B.A.Shitta, D.Wimps, and possibly even Dwayne Dibbley.**

Hope you have fun thinking about this...
AR
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6vU_Urxgbg
**The first four are in the phone registry uk. I didn't look for Dwayne Dibbley  :  )