If I present you with the names “Astrid” and “Susan,” and ask you to form an image of them in your mind, you will probably picture two very different people. Why is that? I haven’t given you any physical or personal details about these characters, but already you have some sort of picture of who they might be. Susan sounds like she is probably a very normal girl (whatever that means), not too shocking in appearance. Maybe she’s super friendly, and she probably follows most of the rules. Astrid on the other hand, maybe has a colored streak in her hair. She’s someone who’s got a bit of a rough personality and she loves to rebel. You could certainly reverse the names of the girls and their personality’s, but it probably doesn’t sit quite right in your mind. Susan isn’t friendly because her name is Susan, and Astrid isn’t a rebel because of her name either. So why is it that we make these assumptions?

In their book Freakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner may provide an explanation. Towards the end of the book, they talk about correlation between certain names and factors including race, intelligence, and socioeconomic status. For example:

In a typical audit study, a researcher would send two identical (and fake) resumes, one with a traditionally white name and the other with an immigrant or minority-sounding name, to potential employers. The “white” resumes have always gleaned more job interviews. (Levitt and Dubner 189)

The authors go on to explain that perhaps employers are racist, or maybe that the names imply lower income and educational background and simply believe such a person will not be successful in that position. Either way, employers are making assumptions based solely on names.

Names, so seemingly insignificant, can hold a lot of power in the hands of others. A name is often the first thing you learn about a person, and from that moment, you begin forming an idea of who that person is. As a parent, or a writer, the act of naming a person does not so much determine who that person will be, but rather how they will be seen.

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Levitt, Steven D. and Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonomics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009. Print.

My favorite authors include Gail Carson Levine, JK Rowling, Christopher Paolini, and Rick Riordan. My favorite thing about fantasy is the freedom it gives to authors. Authors such as Levine and Paolini create entire worlds complete with separate cultures, languages and fashions. Rowling and Riordan use the framework of the existing modern world, but add a new hidden element to it, pushing past the boundaries of life as we know it. When I read, I want to experience something I cannot experience anywhere in this world. And when I write, I want to give my readers that feeling as well.

A lot of people undervalue fantasy, because it isn’t real and could never be real–but the fantasy I have read has taught me very real lessons about the world around me.