I've always been fascinated by names of people and places. It seems to me that with some people, their names suit them down to the ground and for others, their names are an ill fit.

For my brother-in-law, his name is perfect. You learn his name, you see him in person and hear his voice, he's very much what you would expect. His mother got it exactly right.

For my husband, his name is all wrong. He's Irish Catholic, but his name derives from the northern coast of France. When you hear his name before meeting him, then meet him in person, there is an awkwardness as you adjust.

My nickname doesn't suit me at all. When my mother told the OB nurse that my name was the nickname, the nurse, bless her, wrote the proper name on the birth certificate. My real name suits me perfectly; the nickname, which is silly and flirty and not wrapped too tightly? Not so much.

A recent study looked at the first letter of names to see if there was a correlation with where we live (or move to after marriage), whom we marry, even what company we work for.

Some odd results. Wage earners, given a selection available, are more likely to choose a workplace when its first letter matches their own name. Of course, when the person founded the company or his/her father did, that is very likely to be the case. But why the effect with 9 to 5ers?

First letters also influence casual purchases, choices of shopping venues, so they said. So I shop at Ralph's because...? I don't think because of the name. Though back in the Dark Ages when my name was Lawrence I did move to Los Angeles. Hmmmm....

Then there's the old aphorism about choice of marriage partners (indicating that names, particularly initial letters have influence of some kind):
Change the name, not the letter.
Change for worse, not for better.
Oddly enough (bit of a frisson here), that was true for me. Maybe I should have paid more attention to superstition.