The Hindu Business Line : The name of the rose

UMBERTO Eco, the great Italian novelist and semiotician, wrote in 1983 a murder mystery titled The Name of the Rose. The story, set in the 14th century, is replete with intrigue, murders, conflicts, and even has a main character named Baskerville. As such it is least bit evocative of the pleasantness associated with the rose.

Yet, this outstanding novel bears the name of the rose. Not all get the name they deserve. In humans, the search for the right name begins at birth.

Parents go through a lot of trouble to choose the right name for their children. "Should it be my mother's or your mother's, or be one among the numerous other suggestions; what should be the name in the school, and so on?"

All such efforts seem such a waste nowadays, as increasingly people are changing their names midway through their lives — in a bid to improve their luck. The name change is carried out despite the fact that it is very tedious to carry it out in all personal documents.

Also, it is no longer a search for names but a game of numbers. Names appear to be interlinked to numbers as ordered under numerology and important milestones of one's life. Attitudes such as that of Juliet when she told Romeo, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" are passé. So also Gertrude Stein's famous line, "A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose".

Now, adherents of nameology can draw sustenance for their faith from a recent report in the Nature which says name matters in matchmaking, when men and women choose their partners.

The report stated how "If you are a loser in the dating game, your name might be part of the problem. New research has revealed that the vowel sounds in your name could influence how others judge the attractiveness of your face."

Amy Perfors, a cognitive scientist at MIT who carried out a study believes the effect is subconscious. Her results: For boys, a good name will contain vowel sounds made at the front of the mouth, such as "e" or "i" sounds; names with fuller, rounder vowel sounds such as "u" tend to score lower. The opposite is true for girls.

Thus, while Ben and Laura may get matches easily Paul and Amy will not have such good luck. But nubile girls need not worry, assures the learned professor "If you are a good-looking person with a bad name you are still more attractive than an unattractive person with a good name."

R. Sundaram