Name game 

"Hunter?" "Oscar?" "Delilah?"

These names will be a lot more common in classrooms of the future.

The 2022 baby name rankings are out. Muhammad and Lily, perhaps inspired by royal baby Lilibet Diana, have taken the top spots. Less traditional names are on the rise. Zion and Oakley both made the top 100 for British boys. 

Picking a name is a big decision for parents.

To add to the pressure, studies suggest a person's name can determine everything from their career and personality to how likely they are to donate money to disaster victims.

It all starts at school. In 2001, economist David Figlio found that a child's name influences how teachers treat them. In turn, the different treatment is reflected in the pupil's achievements.

Yet it is not all bad for those with rare monikers. Unusual names are also associated with higher levels of creativity. 

And, according to the implicit-egotism effect, we like things that resemble ourselves. Therefore, we are more likely to take jobs that remind us of our own names.

It sounds extraordinary. But one study in the US found that people named Denis and Denise are more likely to become dentists. 

Your name may even influence your physical appearance. Researchers in Jerusalem discovered that both humans and computers perform better than expected when matching strangers' faces with their names.

Human cultures have always been fascinated by the power of names. When the Greek hero Odysseus is captured by a giant, he is able to evadeEscape. harm as long as he keeps his name secret.

But more than any other writer, Charles Dickens knew the importance of names for capturing the essence of a character. He created the old miser Ebenezer Scrooge and Mr Gradgrind, a strict educator concerned only with hard facts.

Yes: The differences may at first seem subtle, but names help forge who we are in a million tiny ways. They influence the teacher meeting us on our first day of school and the employer reading our CV. 

No: Much of the science behind nominative determinism is shaky at best. The influence would be so tiny as to be unnoticeable. There are a huge number of factors that shape our destinies. 

Or... It is not that our names change our lives, but rather that our names reflect other factors like class and race that limit the opportunities available to us. We should work to change this reality.