I’ve never formally studied Psychology but recently have taken a lot of interest in the sixteen personalities and am finding myself imagining names belonging to people of certain personality types. This applies more to writing I guess since you can’t pick and choose who a real person will become, but are there any names you associate with a certain personality type?
1 Like
I REALLY love this question. . .I’m a psychology minor and personality theory is my favorite subset.
I’m an ENFP so I obviously know more about my particular personality and have a clearer idea of what names I feel would fit my type. I think [name_f]Molly[/name_f] is the perfect ENFP names. Others: [name_f]Felicity[/name_f], [name_f]Flora[/name_f], [name_f]Minnie[/name_f], [name_f]Poppy[/name_f] and [name_f]Georgiana[/name_f].
I would probably associate more unique names (by that I mean not high in popularity) with the more extraverted personalities because it would be more of a conversation starter. Individuals with common names wouldn’t be questioned as often (if at all) about their names.
Introverted types are more likely to need an icebreaker, though.
I am a textbook INTJ, conforming to all stereotypes (save gender). Since we’re the cold, aloof, logical rationalists, I envision a set of crisp, no-nonsense, consonant-heavy, yet ‘intellectual’ names.
[name_m]Anton[/name_m]
[name_m]Stefan[/name_m]
[name_m]Dmitri[/name_m]
[name_m]Aloysius[/name_m]
[name_m]Conrad[/name_m]
[name_m]Marius[/name_m]
[name_m]Gerard[/name_m]
[name_f]Brigid[/name_f]
[name_f]Astrid[/name_f]
[name_f]Ingrid[/name_f]
[name_f]Elsa[/name_f]
[name_f]Petra[/name_f]
I’m INTP. I imagine my type with either a very sleek, clean name or a monstrously elaborate name. Maybe just some unusual letters. Something you don’t see all the time. At least, those are what I’ve always liked for myself.
I am very much an ENTP- nonconformist; challenges norms. [name_f]My[/name_f] love of “out there”, gender benders, and nature names makes sense. ENTPs wouldn’t go with trendy or popular but with obscure or unusual. Some of my faves:
Myth: [name_f]Pallas[/name_f], Luxor, [name_m]Mars[/name_m]
Words: [name_f]Kismet[/name_f], [name_f]Azure[/name_f], [name_f]Winsome[/name_f]
Nature: Lazuli, Ibis, [name_f]Orchid[/name_f]
Biblical: Asherah, [name_m]Seraphim[/name_m], [name_f]Selah[/name_f]
I, personally, have found that the Myers-briggs gives me a different result each time. It could easily be my own error, but I’m skeptical of it all the same.
But, for the sake of playing along: I am either an INTP, INFP, INTJ, or INFJ.
[name_f]My[/name_f] name taste is all over the place. I love unusual-but-real names. [name_f]Clementine[/name_f], [name_f]Xanthe[/name_f], and [name_m]Philo[/name_m] are my usual favorites. I like vintage names ([name_f]Louisa[/name_f], [name_m]Edwin[/name_m], [name_f]Rose[/name_f], [name_m]Thomas[/name_m]) but sometimes they just feel so boring. And I like bizarre word names ([name_u]November[/name_u], [name_f]Tuesday[/name_f], [name_m]Prosper[/name_m]) but I worry about them seeming ridiculous.
I have always been curious as to how a person’s name affects their personality development. [name_f]My[/name_f] own name is quite rare, but traditional with a non-traditional spelling, and on the romantic side. I’m an INFJ, and my name definitely reinforced my identity as a kid. As an adult, I love traditional names but loath non-traditional spellings.
I think S types typically have common, mainstream names for their generation. Ns tend to have common and unusual names.
I have a theory that people who grow up with off-trend names are very rarely S types. [name_f]My[/name_f] own name, for instance, would be on-trend for current babies, but was very off-trend for my generation in the 70s/80s. From my observation, Ns tend to have both common and uncommon names. Ss (especially SJs) almost always have mainstream ones.
That’s not necessarily true. There are plenty of outgoing introverts and awkward extroverts. The introversion/extroversion continuum is a reflection of one’s internal/external energy source, not a reflection of one’s ability to socialize.
In response to the original post, I do think that names can reflect background and other nurture inducing traits. However, the personality traits reflected in Myers [name_m]Briggs[/name_m] can’t be predicted by expectant parents so I don’t think that it’s possible to associate a name with any particular Myers [name_m]Briggs[/name_m] type. Moreover, individuals usually test differently depending on the stage they are at in their lives. As we age and develop new skills our results are pretty much guaranteed to evolve. So [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] at 16 might be an ESFP, but at 40 she could be an INFJ.
Sorry. I know I sound like a complete buzz kill. I just generally think that name preferences can largely be attributed to environment and exposure rather than personality. Very interesting topic though. Really made me think.
BTW I said that from personal experience. I am an introvert with an unusual name and I have always liked it because (I will freely admit) small-talk is not a strong suit of mine and my name is an easy icebreaker. Of course you can make the argument that one can’t really generalize based on categories, but then what is the point of categorizing in the first place? Sure not all introverts are socially awkward and some extroverts are socially awkward blah blah blah caveat caveat caveat…but I do believe that more introverts tend to be socially awkward than extroverts. It’s fun to discuss!
Thanks everyone for an interesting discussion. I guess everything always goes back to the great nature vs. nurture debate. Though we’re all products of our environment and there will always be exceptions, I definitely agree that I would find some names (ie: unusual) ill-suited to some personality types. I’m sure they’re out there, but I have a hard time imagining too many ISTJs with crazy names.
I’ll ask another question though. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you think your name taste corresponds with your own personality type? [name_f]Do[/name_f] you like names that would suit someone like you or someone drastically different?
Also, does anyone else think certain personality types are more drawn to an interest in names? Everyone who shared their own said they were an intuitive type, mostly introverted, with me being an INFP myself. Or maybe we’re just more interested in personality types, which I’ve noticed as a trend as well.
I am ISFJ, and have had an interest in names since the age of seven, so yes, I do think certain personality types are drawn to this. I also was a psychology minor in college, so I have a strong interest in personality types, of course. 
I wonder if most Berries are like this?
I would guess there are a lot of people that are N types. We like to over think things. Social awkwardness shows up differently in introverts vs extroverts and when people think of social awkwardness they usually think of the more introverted type rather than the extrovert who is more likely to put their foot in their mouth, for example. I’m not an expert or anything but it’s been my personal experience that both introverts and extroverts will do a faux pas but introverts are more likely to be labeled socially lacking for it.
I’m an INFJ, and it took me awhile to figure it out because I would always test almost dead 50/50 on the F or T trait, which I read more recently on some website that is pretty common for an INFJ because while we are F’s at heart, we can pretty much mimic T behavior at will. But not everyone interprets the Myers-[name_m]Briggs[/name_m] the same, anyway. I don’t think having a rare name affects your personality type.
I generally do envision an extrovert/introvert type when I think a name, some names like [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] are so well used that any type would fit it but other names not so much. It is something I consider when selecting names for my list because I realized that as an introvert I tend to like a fair number of “quiet, gentle” names but it’s pretty likely by kids would be extroverted so I had to go back and rethink about more energetic names because my sweet gentle little girl names just weren’t right for my little girl. I find names with s, v, and k sounds to feel “high energy” to me.
Names on my list I consider extroverted:
[name_f]Michaela[/name_f]
[name_f]Susannah[/name_f]
[name_f]Victoria[/name_f]
[name_f]Zelda[/name_f]
[name_m]Victor[/name_m]
[name_m]Alexander[/name_m]
[name_u]Everett[/name_u]
[name_m]Frederick[/name_m]
[name_m]Jasper[/name_m]
[name_m]Isaiah[/name_m]
Introverted:
[name_f]Juliet[/name_f]
[name_f]Emmeline[/name_f]
[name_f]Clara[/name_f]
[name_f]Alice[/name_f]
[name_f]Angeline[/name_f]
[name_m]Abraham[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m]
[name_m]Edwin[/name_m]
[name_m]Henry[/name_m]
[name_u]Elliott[/name_u]
[name_u]Rowan[/name_u]
But most people aren’t at extremes and exhibit multiple personality types, and I don’t think these names are only for one type. It’s more like an averaging of impressions by the name.
1 Like
I’m an INTJ, and I’ve always felt my name, [name_f]Margaret[/name_f], is fitting. It’s uncommon enough in my generation that it didn’t have the “popular girl” vibe (all the popular girls of my year seemed to have K names), but not rare or weird enough to draw too much attention. It’s a name with history, associated with strong, intelligent women like [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] [name_u]Mead[/name_u], [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] [name_m]Thatcher[/name_m] (though I’m not a [name_m]Thatcher[/name_m]-ite), and [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] Atwood. Also, as [name_m]Blade[/name_m]-noted above, it fits in the “consonent-heavy” category as well.
I never really thought about my names as related to my MBTI score, though I guess many of my favourites fall into the category of traditional and practical but not super-popular: [name_m]Edmund[/name_m], [name_m]Benedict[/name_m], [name_m]Walter[/name_m], [name_m]Martin[/name_m], [name_f]Estella[/name_f], [name_f]Helena[/name_f], [name_f]Miriam[/name_f]. I don’t know if that’s because I’m INTJ or because of a myriad of factors.
This is fascinating! Though it’s not exactly what is being discussed, I’ve never considered how my personality type could influence my name preferences. I’m an ISFP. [name_f]My[/name_f] preferred names tend to be soft and have a lot of natural imagery. They also have to be aesthetically pleasing not just in sound but in their visual appearances. I’m not a fan of “tall” letters and “round” letters commingling. A former favorite, [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] [name_f]Lillia[/name_f], is out for this reason.
I think I have the perfect name for an ISFP as well. [name_f]Hypatia[/name_f] isn’t the name I was born with but one that I chose for myself when I turned 24 after years of deliberation. I like that it has a more artsy feel. It’s a conversation starter as well. People have to ask how it’s pronounced which can be exasperating, but they ask other things as well. It leads into a nice conversation. Which, given my lack of conversational skills and shyness, can be a blessing.
[name_m]Hi[/name_m], first post. Odd that we have so many INTJ personalities on this board! I am INTJ and my husband is INFJ. I find myself drawn to much more classical names. [name_f]My[/name_f] son is [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m]. If he had been a girl his name would have been [name_f]Lydia[/name_f] or [name_f]Amelia[/name_f]. Names we have discussed for when we have a second child are:
Boy - [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m], [name_u]Douglas[/name_u], [name_m]Will[/name_m], [name_m]Todd[/name_m]
Girl - [name_f]Lydia[/name_f], [name_f]Amelia[/name_f], [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f]
[name_u]LOVE[/name_u] this idea, too! I am an INFP (or MAYBE an ENFP). I think INFP’s should have something sort of soft but unusual.
[name_f]Ianthe[/name_f] sounds like a perfect INFP name to me, for example.
I think that’s a very interesting perspective.
It goes back to the question of whether you should name your child based on how you think they will be or how you want them to be. Should you name based on what would help them the most or what you personally like the best.
I’m ISTJ and my name is very average and simple, the essence of unremarkable. I admit that meeting new people probably would be easier if my name wasn’t [name_u]Kim[/name_u] but rather something like [name_f]Fiona[/name_f] or [name_f]Heidi[/name_f] or [name_u]Piper[/name_u]. It would likely be an icebreaker.
Another INTJ here… It IS odd there seem to be so many of us here, although maybe not. Isn’t it common for INTJs to flock to internet forums to voice our thoughts as it is often less taxing than having actual face to face conversations for us? That’s my story anyway.
[name_f]My[/name_f] name is [name_u]Ashley[/name_u], and I never thought it fit me. Trendy, popular - not me. If I were to rename myself, I would choose [name_f]Eve[/name_f]. Short, simple, to the point, classic but not over done. I think [name_f]Eve[/name_f] would be the dead pan image of who I am, which might explain why it’s been a long time favorite of mine.
[name_f]My[/name_f] favorite names are usually nature based, slightly unusual, and/or have meaningful origins/meanings. I’m also one for honoring family with names.
ETA: I abhor names that are made up, misspelled, or give the general impression of trying too hard, (I’m looking at you Titan and Thor.)
Female INTJs [name_f]UNITE[/name_f]!
1 Like