Name Uniqueness Predicts Career Choice and Career Achievement

Do personal names relate to career choice and career achievement? If so, how and why? We propose that uniqueness (vs. conformity), a dimension crucial for identity construction, may associate name (personal identity) with career (vocational identity). By testing a broad range of names and jobs, we identified a phenomenon—the name-job uniqueness fit—and revealed its benefit to career success. Seven studies (total N = 7.38 million) provided correlational, experimental, and real-world evidence for that holding more unique names (less used in the population) predicted choosing more unique jobs (less occupied in the workforce). The need for uniqueness partly explained the name-job uniqueness fit. Furthermore, better name-job uniqueness fit predicted higher career achievement. Importantly, the name-job relations remained positive when considering confounding factors (e.g., socioeconomic status) and alternative explanations (e.g., parental influences) and were replicated in the U.S., the U.K., and China (with some cross-cultural differences). Our findings provide a perspective on how and why personal names relate to career outcomes beyond past theories.