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A simpler name helps you get ahead

Could your easy-to-pronounce name help you get ahead at the office?

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This final note today courtesy of our friends at Freakonomics. And which, I must say, I can relate to.

There's a study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology that shows people with easier to pronounce names get ahead more than, you know, those of us without.

They studied law firms and found "lawyers with more easily pronounceable names occupied superior positions within their firm hierarchy." That's independent of name length, unusualness, and foreigness.

My boss's name, by the way? Deborah.

Her boss's name? J.J.

Doesn't get much easier than that now, does it?

About the author

Kai Ryssdal is the host and senior editor of Marketplace, public radio’s program on business and the economy. Follow Kai on Twitter @kairyssdal.