Name Letter Branding - Valence Transfers When Product Specific Needs Are Active

Aug 23, 2026

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Name letter branding research examines how unconscious self-related processes shape consumer decisions. The study reviews evidence for a “name letter effect,” then proposes a two-stage mechanism: active self-enhancement need increases the positive valence of one’s name letters, and that valence transfers to product-specific attributes. Brand preference emerges when respondents form consumption goals and activating a product-specific need strengthens the influence of transferred name-letter positivity, resolving inconsistencies across mundane and interpersonal preference findings.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

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Pages11

Reading Time28 min

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The Name Letter Effect: Preference for One's Own Name Letters

Name Letter Branding: Choosing Name Lettered Objects

# Name Letter Branding:Valence TransfersWhen Product Specific Needs Are Active C.MIGUEL BRENDL AMITAVA CHATTOPADHYAYBRETT W.PELHAMMAURICIO CARVALLO* Imagine asking a friend named Dennis whether his de-Lcision to become a dentist could have been influencedby the similarity of his name to the word dentist.The vastmajority of people whom we have approached with this ideahave brushed it off disdainfully.Yet,according to archivaldata,people named Dennis are,in fact,overrepresentedamong dentists (Pelham,Mirenberg,and Jones 2002).Theseauthors also found similar correlations among other profes-sions,as well as the cities and states in which people chooseto live.For example,Louises are disproportionately likelyto move to Louisiana.Presumably,objects that include theletters from people's names absorb some of the positivevalence that people associate with these letters. We were intrigued by these findings because they suggestan influence of unconscious processes on major decisions.However,with any correlational research,third-yariable ex-planations cannot be completely ruled out,and indeed adebate to that effect has ignited(Gallucci 2003;Pelham, *C.Miguel Brendl is assistant professor of marketing at INSEAD,Fon-tainebleau,Boulevard de Constance,77305 Fontainebleau Cedex,France(miguel.brendl@insead.edu).Amitava Chattopadhyay is the L'Oreal ChairedProfessor in marketing innovation and creativity,NSEAD,Fontainebleau,Boulevard de Constance,77305 Fontainebleau Cedex,France(amitava.chattopadhayay@insead.edu).Brett W.Pelham is associate professor of psy-chology at the State University of New York at Buffalo,Departnent ofPsychology,Park Hall,Amherst,NY 14260-4110(brettpel@buffalo.edu).Mauricio Carvallo is a PhD candidate in psychology at the State Universityof New York at Buffalo,Department of Psychology,Park Hall,Amherst.NY 14260-4110(mrc22@buffalo.edu).Correspondence:C.Miguel Brendl.We thank Caroline Leygue,Julie Paole,Liselott Pettersson,and Julie Ro-guet for serving as experimenters and/or coders.Part of this research waspresented at the 2002 annual conference of the Association for ConsumerResearch in Atlanta. Respondents in five experiments were more likely to choose a brand when thebrand name started with letters from their names than when it did not.a choicephenomenon we call "name letter branding."We propose that during a first stagean active need to self-enhance increases the positive valence of name lettersthemselves and that duning stage 2 positive name letter valence transfers to prod-uct-specific attributes (e.g.,taste of a beverage).Accordingly,when respondentsform a brand preference (e.g.,of beverages),activating a product-specific need(e.g.,need to drink)boosts the influence of this(transferred)valence. Mirenberg,and Jones 2002).Even if we accept Pelham andcolleagues'findings at face value,research examining moremundane preferences report mixed results.Hodson and Ol-son(2005)examined the role of name letters in attitudestoward,for example,food and leisure activities and foundthat their “data identify some limits of the name lettereffect—in particular,it does not appear to generalize toeveryday attitudes”(22).Indeed,at first we experiencedsimilar difficulties when studying mundane choices of per-fumes.Yet in very recent work on interpersonal preferences,Jones et al.(2004)found that respondents judged a persondepicted on a photograph more positively when that person'sT-shirt displayed a number that had previously been pre-sented subliminally in conjunction with the respondent'sfirst name(see also Gamer 2005 for a study with fullyoverlapping first names of respondent and target person).The purpose of this article is to resolve this apparent dis-crepancy by specifying clearly when(i.e.,given which mod-erators—and how(i.e.,based on what mechanism)—nameletter preferences should be expected to influence con-sumption preferences.We begin by reviewing research onliking for name letters themselves. ## Th

FAQs

What is the “name letter effect” and how is it explained?

People show greater liking for letters contained in their own names than for other letters. The effect is explained by implicit egotism, where people gravitate toward things resembling the self.

How does the article define “name letter branding”?

Name letter branding refers to choosing brands whose names begin with letters from the person’s own name. It distinguishes liking letters themselves from choosing objects that carry those letters.

What two-stage mechanism does the article propose for brand choice?

Stage 1: activating a need to self-enhance increases the positive valence of name letters. Stage 2: that positive name-letter valence transfers to product-specific attributes, boosting preferences when product-specific needs are active.

Aug 23, 2026

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