告訴我你的名字，我就能猜出你長什麼樣子。聽上去和算命一樣玄乎，但這是有科學根據的。研究人員發現，你的名字所附帶的社會成見會影響並逐漸改變你的容貌，所以，父母們給孩子取名字時可要多長點心啊！
Choosing a name for a child is often a headache for parents, but new research shows that picking well could be more crucial than previously thought. 為孩子取名字對於父母而言通常都是件頭疼事，但是新研究發現，取個好名字比你原想的還要重要。
Academics have found that your first name actually changes the way you look, a phenomenon dubbed ‘The Dorian Gray’ effect, after Oscar Wilde’s eponymous hero. 學者們發現，事實上你的名字能改變你的長相，這一現象被稱為“道林•格雷效應”，得名於奧斯卡•王爾德筆下的小說人物道林•格雷。
Just as Gray’s wicked deeds were etched onto the facial features of his portrait, so the cultural stereotypes linked to a name come to be written on the faces of their bearers. 正如格雷的樁樁惡行記錄在了他的肖像畫中，和一個名字相關的文化成見也會表現在名字主人的臉上。
For example someone called ‘Bob’ is expected by society to have a rounder more jovial face than a man called ‘Tim’. That expectation eventually leads ‘Bobs’ to become more gregarious and jolly, while ‘Tims’ may appear more pinched and reserved. 例如，社會期待一個名叫“鮑勃”的人比名叫“蒂姆”的人臉更圓更樂呵。這一期待最終會導致叫“鮑勃”的人更合群更快活，而叫“蒂姆”的人顯得更縮頭縮腦、更保守。
The connection may be linked to the 'bouba-kiki' effect which suggests that across languages, more bulbous smoother objects are labelled with rounded 'bouba' sounds, while thinner spikier objects have 'kiki' sounds. 這一聯繫可能和bouba-kiki效應有關，根據該效應，各種語言中更圓更光滑的東西的名字的發音都更“圓”，與bouba的音相近，而更細長更尖的東西名字發音和kiki的音相近。
The late Bob Hoskins and British astronaut Tim Peake
Likewise ‘Winstons’ are perceived as fairly glum, while ‘Marys’ are considered to be moral, both traits which may alter countenance, and over time, change face shape. 同樣，名叫溫斯頓的人會被認為是一個憂鬱的人，而名叫“瑪麗”的人則被看作是道德高尚的人，這兩種品質會改變一個人的容貌，時間久了，還會改變臉型。
And a woman named ‘Katherine’ is considered to be more serious and dependable than a girl named ‘Bonnie’. Such cultural expectations may encourage ‘Katherines’ to be more studious and academic, which could gradually influence the development of facial muscles, perhaps through increased concentration. 而一個名叫“凱瑟琳”的女人則被認為比名叫“邦妮”的人更認真更可靠。這樣的文化期待會鼓勵名叫“凱瑟琳”的人更勤奮、更熱衷學術，並會逐漸影響臉部肌肉的發育，這也許是長時間集中注意力的緣故。
"Prior research has shown there are cultural stereotypes attached to names, including how someone should look,” said lead author Dr Yonat Zwebner, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 該研究的首席作者、來自耶路撒冷希伯萊大學的約拿•齊維布納博士說：“先前的研究顯示，和名字相關的文化成見一直存在，這其中就包括叫某個名字的人應該長什麼樣。”
“For instance, people are more likely to imagine a person named Bob to have a rounder face than a person named Tim. We believe these stereotypes can, over time, affect people's facial appearance." “例如，在大多數人的想象中，名叫鮑勃的人比名叫蒂姆的人臉長得更圓。我們相信，時間久了，這些成見會改變人的面容。”
To find out if face shape was linked to name, researchers conducted eight studies to see it was possible for strangers to correctly identify the names of people simply by looking at their faces. 為了弄清楚臉型是否和名字有關聯，研究人員開展了8項研究，看陌生人能否只靠看臉就能準確把臉和名字對上號。
In every experiment, the participants were significantly better (up to 40 percent accurate) at matching the name to the face than random chance (20 - 25 percent accurate) even when ethnicity, age and other socioeconomic variables were controlled for. 在每個實驗中，即便是在種族、年齡和其他社會經濟變量可控制的情況下，參與者的配對準確率（40%）比隨機配對的準確率（20-25%）明顯更高。
"Together, these findings suggest that facial appearance represents social expectations of how a person with a particular name should look. In this way, a social tag may influence one's facial appearance," said co-author Dr Ruth Mayo. 共同作者露絲•馬由博士說：“總而言之，這些發現告訴我們，容貌可以代表社會對某些特定名字人的期待。通過這種方式，社會標籤可能會對一個人的容貌造成影響。”
英文來源：每日電訊報翻譯&編輯：丹妮