Does your name influence where you live?

[whisky]

I work with a database of names and addresses, and when I look someone up rather than type their whole name out I just use the first 3 letters of their first and surname, then look for their address to identify the right one.

More and more I am seeing different people with similar names living at the same number house, but in different streets.

Today it was pau*** whi*** and out of the 14 results that came up, three of those live at number 12.

Probably just a meaningless coincidence.

 

[whisky]

Another one, 5 results, 3 different people all living at number 7 in different streets.

 

[Ilyanna]

Uh-oh. Don't let Dan Brown hear!

Do all these people live in the same town? If yes, how many streets have only a limited number of houses (and, thus, numbers)?

 

[whisky]

There arent many streets in my town that dont at least go to 100.

But they arent all from the same town in any case.

 

[Ilyanna]

ok, so that rationalization just went out the window.
We should consult some numerologist.

 

[Fuddlemiff]

I suppose it really depends on how many names you're looking up every day. How many are there that aren't at all remarkable, which you forget? From what you say it sounds like it's quite common though.

 

[whisky]

Depends on the name, if someone has an unique enough name only one or two might come up with my three letter search.

But as you say there are probably a lot more people dont live in the same numbered houses than do, its just the ones that do catch my eye.

 

[headvoid]

I read freakonomics a while back - and they studied the names, geography and life chances of naming your child. There is a lot of references to race, rather than geography, but nonetheless I found it very interesting

http://www.slate.com/id/2116449/

 

[headvoid]

For those too lazy to click - at least read the story of Winner and Loser Lane

This might explain why, in 1958, a New York City father named Robert Lane decided to call his baby son Winner. The Lanes, who lived in a housing project in Harlem, already had several children, each with a fairly typical name. But this boy—well, Robert Lane apparently had a special feeling about him. Winner Lane: How could he fail with a name like that?

Three years later, the Lanes had another baby boy, their seventh and last child. For reasons that no one can quite pin down today, Robert decided to name this boy Loser. Robert wasn't unhappy about the new baby; he just seemed to get a kick out of the name's bookend effect. First a Winner, now a Loser. But if Winner Lane could hardly be expected to fail, could Loser Lane possibly succeed?

Loser Lane did in fact succeed. He went to prep school on a scholarship, graduated from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, and joined the New York Police Department, where he made detective and, eventually, sergeant. Although he never hid his name, many people were uncomfortable using it. To his police colleagues today, he is known as Lou.

And what of his brother? The most noteworthy achievement of Winner Lane, now in his late 40s, is the sheer length of his criminal record: more than 30 arrests for burglary, domestic violence, trespassing, resisting arrest, and other mayhem.

These days, Loser and Winner barely speak. The father who named them is no longer alive. Though he got his boys mixed up, did he have the right idea—is naming destiny? What kind of signal does a child's name send to the world?

 

[Donovan]

I work with a database of names and addresses, and when I look someone up rather than type their whole name out I just use the first 3 letters of their first and surname, then look for their address to identify the right one.

More and more I am seeing different people with similar names living at the same number house, but in different streets.

Today it was pau*** whi*** and out of the 14 results that came up, three of those live at number 12.

Probably just a meaningless coincidence.

In the US all people named Jackson, Washington, and Brown are required to live on Martin Luther King Blvd. No matter what city it is. It's a rule.

 

[Dr Dave]

I read freakonomics a while back - and they studied the names, geography and life chances of naming your child. There is a lot of references to race, rather than geography, but nonetheless I found it very interesting

http://www.slate.com/id/2116449/

I need to give that book another go at some point.

I remember it being good from what I had read of it.

 

[CaptainWacky]

In the future we'll all live in cubes stacked on top of each other.

 

[whisky]

Like a block of flats?

 

[Dr Dave]

In the future we'll all live in cubes stacked on top of each other.

Will there be pie?

 

[headvoid]

The true correlation, pointed out by Donovan, is that names have been found to "cluster" so geography and names do converge, but this is due to a lack of imagination. Humans are predictably irrational creatures.

 

[ThatSunrise]

I would say it's highly dependent on the number and length of streets around. In England I imagine streets are generally shorter in continuous length with the old/medieval style of planning. In places with more of a regular grid and long streets, there are more numbers available. Some addresses in the US are five digits.