My grandfather's name was Vern, and he married a woman named Verna. They were together for more than 30 years until she died. Then he married Elvira. That's them (and great-granddaughter Nora) off to the right. They were together another 20 years. Yesterday we profiled a couple named Ben and Bernice.
Is it a coincidence that these happily-married couples each had similar names? Are people more likely to marry others with first names similar to their own? If so, was this phenomenon something that was more common decades ago, or does it still happen today?
We just might be able to find out. In today's study we'll ask you for your first name, your partner's (or most recent partner's) first name, and your grandparents' first names. We'll also ask how long you (and they) stayed together.
The survey is brief, and should only take a couple of minutes to fill in. You'll have until Thursday, October 23 to respond. There is no limit on the number of responses.
Next week I'll have a challenging bit of data analysis as I compare not only the grandparents to our respondents' generation, but also to randomly-selected names from the phone book, so please do come back to see the results.
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