Racialized Names and Sound Symbolism

Sound symbolism links certain kinds of phonemes to perceptual properties (e.g., sonorants with roundness and voiceless stops with spikiness). Sidhu et al. (2019) applied this to names and personality traits, showing that round- and spiky-sounding names went with different personality factors. We examined name sound symbolism using the Stereotype Content Model’s warmth and competence dimensions. We also tested whether associations generalize to typically Black names, unlike prior studies that used typically culturally White names (Sidhu et al., 2019; Sidhu & Pexman, 2015). Participants (N = 66) rated 64 names on how likely they expected a person with that name to possess a given trait (related to warmth or competence). We found that round-sounding names were judged higher in warmth and competence, regardless of race or gender. Notably, typically Black names were rated higher on both dimensions. We also considered individual differences in feelings towards different groups. Our findings provide insight into sound symbolism and social cognition.