In the SuperFreakonomics section about various “birth effects,” we cited some research about the downside of having a surname that begins with a letter late in the alphabet:
It is common practice, especially among economists, to co-write academic papers and list the authors alphabetically by last name. What does this mean for an economist who happened to be born Albert Zyzmor instead of, say, Albert Aab? Two (real) economists addressed this question and found that, all else being equal, Dr. Aab would be more likely to gain tenure at a top university, become a fellow in the Econometric Society (hooray!), and even win the Nobel Prize.
Now there’s some evidence of an upside for those with late-letter last names. In a new Journal of Consumer Research paper called “The Last Name Effect,” researchers Kurt A. Carlson and Jacqueline M. Conard found that people with last names toward the end of the alphabet are faster at making buying decisions. Why? Kids with the A to I last names were always first in line, whereas kids with last names from R to Z got sidelined when quantities were limited, or just grew to hate waiting in line. The researchers found that those with R-Z last names will “jump the line” whenever possible in order to compensate for this learned disadvantage. The behavior seems to persist into adulthood: women who married and changed their names still reflected the response time of their maiden last name.
*See Liran Einav and Leeat Yariv, “What’s in a Surname? The Effects of Surname Initials on Academic Success,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20, no. 1 (2006). “Indeed,” they conclude, “one of us [presumably Yariv] is currently contemplating dropping the first letter of her surname.” See also C. Mirjam van Praag and Bernard M.S. van Praag, “The Benefits of Being Economics Professor A (and not Z),” Institute for the Study of Labor discussion paper, March 2007.
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If teachers seat alphabetically they should do this front-to-back, not side-to-side, so that from class to class/year to year the students are more randomly arranged alphabetically (i.e., someone whose name starts with S could still be in the front row).
I don’t think I ever made a buying decision as a child or experienced, or even saw, a waiting line arranged alphabetically.
For some reason, I’m reminded of Isaac Asimov’s story “Spell my name with an ‘S’”
In this case, changing the Z to an S was a moderate improvement (one small step, perhaps) in Z/Sebatinsky’s life, but a vast disaster was averted for the entire planet…
For a while I was thinking about adopting my mother’s surname (Taylor) because there are no men on her side of the family to carry on the bloodline. However, I guess I’ll be sticking to Edwards then! Sorry grampa!
Wicked eye-opener
This post reminded me of the feud Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono were in a few years ago about the song-listing order of the Lennon-McCartney catalog. McCartney, on songs he wrote largely on his own (“Yesterday”, for example), wanted to switch the order to McCartney-Lennon. This almost started a legal battle between he and Ono before McCartney relented.
What’s fascinating to me is, here is a household name the world over nervous about his place in the annals of popular music. The bad press it received left McCartney looking greedy in spite of his reasonable assertion of primary authorship on certain songs. So he quickly switched his position and said the way it was is the way it will always be: “Lennon-McCartney”. That’s the brand.
What does a compilation of the data look like?
You said that the learned disadvantage leads to line cutting etc… And Women who change there name still exhibit these traits.
Do Women who change from a Late Surname, to an Early Surname, have more or less chance of becoming tenured (etc.) than their natural early surname cohorts?
R here. Got screwed on height too since the short kids went in front.
Another reason to be glad the man at Ellis Island couldn’t spell Zylbersztejn and ended up moving my family several tiers higher in the alphabet.