Abstract
Although uncommon names are becoming increasingly popular, they may convey subtle impressions of the individuals they refer to, and have also been found to be frequently misperceived by individuals such as teachers. Twenty-six preschool teachers were surveyed about their perceptions of characteristics associated with literal and non-literal children‟s names. Results indicated that preschool teachers more frequently associated names with literal connotations with a difficult temperament, and names without literal connotations were more frequently associated with being successful and ethical-caring. With respect to name gender, preschool teachers more frequently associated female names with ethical-caring characteristics and male names with success, masculinity, and difficult temperaments. Implications for the study suggest that children with first names that preschool teachers consider desirable have higher quality interactions with their teacher, and as a result, a better self-concept and achievement v scores. In contrast, students with names considered to be undesirable by preschool teachers, such as those with literal connotations, are more likely to have lower quality interactions with their teacher, and lower self-concept and achievement. The importance of preschool teachers self-reflection on the perceptions of student names is also discussed.