James Bruning, a psychology expert at Ohio State University in the United States, found in a recent psychological study that people still tend to stick to conventional ways when using names. For example, a person named Bruno may easily find a job as a truck driver, but it might be more difficult for him to become a hairdresser.

This study, which involved students from the University of Athens and Ohio State University, showed that people often like to associate a person's name with a specific profession. If a person's name seems more suitable for a certain job, he or she has more chances of getting that job. In short, the students participating in this study believed that men should do manly things and women should do womanly things, and a person's name is the first clue to determine if they are suitable for the job.

Bruning conducted this study because nowadays people hope they are not conservative and want to be innovative. However, through his research, he found that this is not the case. A person named Bruno still finds it difficult to get a job as a hairdresser. Even for names that he specially selected for the study, which are less common, this is still true.

In one experiment, Bruning selected sixteen professions, half of which were traditionally considered male-dominated, and the other half female-dominated. The results showed that computer programmer, plumber, track coach, truck driver, electrician, construction worker, engineering designer, and computer technician were identified as male occupations. While nail technician, nurse, hairdresser, cheerleader coach, new product shop owner, interior painter, care center worker, and flight attendant were identified as female occupations.

As for the reason behind this phenomenon, Bruning himself is not sure. "This might start right after we are born," he said. "We all are like this." However, he still warned people not to overemphasize a person's name, as it is only a small part of a person's overall situation. Of course, he also admitted that almost everyone is very suitable for their own name.

He thinks this may be because parents have certain expectations when they choose a name for their child, hoping that their child will become what they wish.