Two doctors in Detroit say the letter “D’ foreshadows death:
“Athletes, Doctors, and Lawyers with First Names Beginning with ‘D’ Die Sooner,” Ernest L. Abel and Michael L. Kruger, Death Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, January 2010 , pp. 71-81 The authors, at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, report: “a possible explanation for the association between names and longevity may be the influence of names on self esteem, which in turn can affect health and well-being…. Two additional possible explanations are related to socioeconomic status. One is that parents from low socioeconomic status backgrounds may be more likely to give their children names beginning with D than are parents from higher socioeconomic status backgrounds, and that the differences in longevity associated with names are due to these differences. The other is that parents may give D names to their less healthy children.”
BONUS: “Ernest Able’s opinions”