London: Damien, Myra and Carrie are Britain's most feared and mistrusted names due to superstitious and dark associations, according to a survey on Monday.
The poll of 2,000 Britons -- commissioned by Warner Home Video to publicise the release of television series Supernatural Season 4: Volume 2 on DVD -- showed the effects of television and fiction on the way that people view names.
Damien topped the poll with nine out of 10 respondents uneasy about the associations with the devil child from the 1970s film The Omen. Myra, was the next most feared and distrusted name at 83 per cent, potentially due to associations with British serial killer Myra Hindley, the survey said.
That was followed by two other prominent horror film names Carrie (a 1976 film starring Sissy Spacek), Rosemary (Rosemary's Baby, directed by Roman Polanski) and Judas, who the Bible says betrayed Jesus Christ.
Three quarters of respondents said they would avoid dating someone with the name Damien and 66 per cent of women said they were superstitious about naming a child after someone they hated at school or an ex-boyfriend.
More than a third of respondents said they believed that teachers gave higher marks to children with attractive names and 70 per cent of people said they would pass judgement about a person's lifestyle and character based on their name.
- A top 10 list of superstitious names follows:
- 1) Damien - 90 per cent
- 2) Myra - 83 per cent
- 3) Carrie - 76 per cent
- 4) Rosemary - 73 per cent
- 5) Judas - 69 per cent
- 6) Adolf - 65 per cent
- 7) Pandora - 63 per cent
- 8) Regan - 60 per cent
- 9) Samara - 50 per cent
- 10) Boris - 41 per cent
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