What's in a name?

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but would a businessperson without a popular first name be as likely to savor the smell of success in the executive suite? Maybe, because success is mainly merit-based, but a common name doesn't hurt, according to research by Lee McPheters, senior associate dean at the W. P. Carey School of Business. To his surprise, McPheters found that six names accounted for 35 percent of the highest-paid executives in Phoenix.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but would a businessperson without a popular first name be as likely to savor the smell of success in the executive suite? Maybe, because success is mainly merit-based, but a common name doesn't hurt, according to research by Lee McPheters, senior associate dean with the W. P. Carey School of Business. To his surprise, McPheters found that six names accounted for 35 percent of the highest-paid executives in Phoenix. The names are, in order: Robert, John, Steve, Richard, Donald and William.

Common names; uncommon success

In an article in the Arizona Blue Chip newsletter, McPheters cites the Phoenix Business Journal's 2006 list of "High Rollers," the 100 best-paid executives of metro Phoenix publicly held firms. That list is based on May 2005 data. The top three names account for 20 percent of the High Rollers. According to U. S. Social Security Administration numbers, those top three baby names — Robert, John and Steve — accounted for less than 10 percent of births from 1945 through 1965.

"The six most frequent names accounted for 15 percent of all births during the period, but account for 35 percent of CEOs, or more than double their share in the general population," McPheters' article states. "There seems to be no reason that immediately comes to mind to explain why people with popular names are overrepresented," McPheters says of his article.

"These are not names they chose for themselves; the names were given at birth, so we can't say they chose names destined for success as they perhaps chose their college major."

When it comes to executive compensation, McPheters says in an interview, "Most studies by economists would pay more attention to the characteristics of the company than to the individual when studying factors that influence executive pay." He says larger companies and companies in certain industries would pay more.

"And usually, we would expect that companies that are either more profitable or have seen increases in stock prices or have paid higher dividends would pay their executives more," McPheters says. "Characteristics of the individual are secondary. Perhaps age would be a factor, on the reasoning that people progress in their careers, even as CEOs, and would expect higher pay as they become more senior. But economic theory would not have much to say about why people with certain names would be overrepresented among listings of higher paid executives."

What happened to James?

There's no mistaking the gender dominance revealed by McPheters' research. Of the 100 High Rollers listed, 96 are men. "Assuming women account for 50 percent of the population in the relevant age group, men are clearly disproportionately overrepresented," he writes. "The gender gap in pay and advancement has been studied at length. The current CEO listing in a major metro area is a reminder that change has been slow to come. But the gender representation on the list is probably not surprising to those familiar with similar data nationally."

McPheters says he also looked at the Forbes national list of the 100 highest-paid CEOs nationally. John accounted for eight of the 100 (all male) and Robert was second with five, along with Steven and Henry, also with five. "These four popular names accounted for 23 percent of the highest paid CEOs nationally, and three of the names (John, Robert and Steve/Steven) were the same three that were most frequent in the Phoenix listing," McPheters says.

Some parents worry about saddling a child with a hard-to-pronounce or hard-to-spell name that proves confusing when folks first get acquainted. Others worry that a common name might be uninteresting. "One conclusion would be that parents that worry about their child having a popular name that is 'too popular' shouldn't worry so much," McPheters says. "Apparently, people with popular names tend to do well in listings of highest-paid executives."

The correlation between popular names and business success is far from absolute. "If one were to argue that popular names lead to advancement in business, one would also have to explain what happened to James, the most popular name of all," McPheters writes. "James accounted for 4 percent of birth names between 1945-65 but only 2 percent of High Roller names. The analytically minded will also point out that there are many other individual names on the list that are overrepresented, at least to some extent."

Among McPheters' findings are the facts that: Name popularity has changed in the past 50 years; only Michael survives in the top 10 boy names; none of the top 10 girl names from 1955 made it in 2005; "Jacob" rose from No. 303 in 1955 to No. 1 in 2005; and "Emily" rose from 223rd in 1955 to the top in 2005.

"Nevertheless, if the most popular names have at least their fair share of CEOs, we can expect the High Roller list in 2055 to feature Jacob, Michael and Joshua and very likely Emma, Emily and Madison, as well," McPheters' article concludes. Is the predominance of common first names indicative of conformity of thought or a "go along to get along" attitude among executives and the boards that hire them?

"Our starting assumption would be that the highest-paid positions in business go to the individuals who are most productive based on past performance and have the most promise of bringing future good fortunes to the firm," McPheters says.

"To the extent that capability begins in childhood, perhaps parents who choose popular names also do other things to make their child popular, including encouraging social interaction, responsibility and achievement." McPheters says he doubts that boards hire on the basis of names. "They hire on performance, and the popular name seems to be associated with executive capability, as measured by pay."

Glass ceiling still strong

What does the predominance of male, middle-of-the-road names say about the effectiveness of decades of affirmative action? "The glass ceiling — at the highest level — seems to be alive and well," McPheters says. "In the Phoenix list of top executives, there are several names associated with other cultures and other parts of the globe. These names are uncommon in the USA, but we don't know if they are popular in their own cultures."

Are the names cause to suspect that companies are not taking enough account of minority-group members in the Arizona market and perhaps missing business opportunities? "At the executive level, persons typically have a record of performance that should overwhelm a name," McPheters says. "But at the entry level, consider a hypothetical situation where a manager is looking at three resumes for one job, and the names are Robert, Roberto and Roberta. Those names may have made more difference in 1960 than they do now, but the executives of today started many years ago."

"The simple analysis of the names of executives suggests — but does not at all prove — that a popular name is certainly not a detriment, and may be of limited but positive benefit," McPheters says.

Bottom Line:

• Although the top three baby names for 1945-65 account for 10 percent of the births, they constitute the top 20 percent of the highest-paid executives in Phoenix in 2005.
• The six most popular names accounted for 35 percent of the highest-paid executives in Phoenix.
• Although common names are not the reason for business-career success — merit is — their names probably don't hurt, and parents who choose popular names may also tend to encourage their children to work well with others and to strive for leadership roles in the workplace.
• The fact that 96 percent of the top 100 names are male does not indicate great success in incorporating female talent into the business world; nor does the dearth of ethnic minority names. Improvement on both counts seems inevitable.