Have you ever heard someone say that a person “looks like a Tom” or “looks like a Susan”? It is a relatively common saying that most people likely assume is said because someone might have similar features to someone the speaker once knew.

A new study was published the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, however, that shows that people’s adult facial features might actually be based, at least in part, on the names they were given.

When the study was published, a press release came out about it, in which it was explained:

“The findings revealed that both the children and the adults correctly matched adult faces to their corresponding names, significantly above the chance level. However, when it came to children’s faces and names, the participants were unable to make accurate associations.”

So, when you see someone, or a picture of someone, and you think you might know what their name is, you have a statistically significant chance of being right. With how many different names there are out there, this is quite surprising.

The researchers believe that this may be because of the influences of society on people, including things people associate with names.

Dr. Yonat Zwebner from Reichman University is the first author on the paper. He commented on the findings, saying:

“Social structuring is so strong that it can affect a person’s appearance. These findings may imply the extent to which other personal factors that are even more significant than names, such as gender or ethnicity, may shape who people grow up to be.”

More research will be needed to try to further confirm these findings, and explain how someone’s name would influence their appearance as they grow up.

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