Names and Age
October 11, 2007 – 10:11 amWhen I’m bored, I randomly snoop through 5300 data to find interesting things. If you go through the list, you’d be really surprised what you can find. Namely, no pun intended, the names of the CEO’s. They all seem like "old" names. Yes, that’s a gross generalization, but Kenneth, Millard, Wendell, Gerald, and Richard all strike me as older names. I looked around on the internet for a source to find the average age of a name. Something like the average Marjorie (thanks grandma) is 71 and the average Ellie is 15 but had no luck. Just my random observation for the week. I wonder if you could gauge a CEO’s propensity for retirement by their name…
There were a few Doug’s, Ron’s, and even a Brent, but I tried to avoid names of people I know…
12 Responses to “Names and Age”
I’ve found the best cure for boredom to be http://www.trueofficeconfessions.com. A simple site where anyone can submit an anonymous confession relating to working in an office. It’s updated about every half hour, and you’d be surprised (or not surprised) at some of the things people confess to when it’s anonymous.
By Eryk on Oct 11, 2007
Yep, I’m guessing they sound old because those folks are old. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, credit unions need experienced leadership. The real questions lie in how the current leadership prepares and retains young talent for the future.
By Josh Jones on Oct 11, 2007
Old age does necessarily mean experience though…
By Robbie Wright on Oct 11, 2007
Reminds me of Freakonomics.
By Trey Reeme on Oct 11, 2007
Josh makes a good point ‘how the current leadership prepares and retains young talent’. To put it bluntly they haven’t. And the boards have not held anyone’s feet to the fire to do succession planning. Take a look at all the mergers. Why does the ’swallower’ always seem to be well prepared and the ’swallowee’ ready for retirement? Unless the current group starts the preparation there will be fewer credit unions. And there is the shame in all of it, our system revolves around a few key individuals and their personalities instead of the principles we sometimes only love to discuss.
By Gene on Oct 11, 2007
Try out NameVoyager: http://www.babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html
Hours of fun for the bored.
Kenneth: 1940s
Millard: 20s & 30s
Wendell: 30s & 40s
Gerald: 40s
Millard seems like a possible fluke, like my 31 year old sister Edith.
And Richard is a special case — it was in the top 20 from the 1910s through the 1970s, peaking in popularity in the 50s.
I had my aha! moment about the aging of the community college system when I looked up Barbara. It seemed like there were a lot of Barbaras when I worked at a community college.
As for what it all means…in the CC system it meant that staff were getting further & further out of touch with students. (IMHO) I think with CEOs it means that they drift farther from the rest of the staff, age-wise, and from the general population. In both cases it means that decisions that are made don’t necessarily reflect the best interest of the “customer.” (member, student, etc.)
Or at least it takes more work.
By Elaine on Oct 11, 2007
That is an awesome page! Almost exact what I was looking for! The average Trey would have been born in 2006, the average Robbie in 1965ish, and Gene in the 1920’s.
By Robbie Wright on Oct 11, 2007
Yikes! Looked at my wife’s name Marjun and it isn’t there. Youngest son Nils isn’t there. Oldest son Fleming peaked in 1880’s, nothing from then on. What does that mean Robbie?
By Gene on Oct 11, 2007
Robbie, my Grandma’s name is Marjorie too! I thought she was the only one!
The average Matt, by the way, was born between 35 B.C. and 2007 A.D…
By Credit Union Warrior on Oct 12, 2007
Gene: IIRC, it doesn’t cover every name; there’s some cut-off level of popularity. Unfortunately, I don’t remember what that it, and it doesn’t seem to say anymore.
By Elaine on Oct 12, 2007
You know what’s interesting… “O” names… really popular around 1800s and early 1900s and then they totally drop off in popularity until recently. And that’s my totally random thought for the day…
By Josh Jones on Oct 12, 2007