What's in a name? How our lives are influenced by what we are called

If your name is Gary or Deborah chances are you live in a house, drive a Citroen Picasso and are in the 45 to 54 age group

What's in a name? Quite a lot according to new data analysis which reveals how much our lives are influenced by what we are called.

If your name is Gary or Deborah chances are you live in a house, drive a Citroen Picasso, are in the 45 to 54 age bracket and holiday in Jamaica.

But your name is Joan or Ronald, you're more likely to be a pensioner who lives in a bungalow, drives a Honda Jazz and enjoys a cruise in Norway.

Joan and Ronald's grandchildren are likely to be called Daniel and Emma - who live in a flat and drive a Peugeot 106, according to analysis of the records of more than one million UK customers of insurers Aviva.

The research found that Emma, Daniel, Matthew and Rachel are the most popular names among the 18 to 25 age group, while their parents' generation, aged 45 to 54, contains half of all Garys, Deborahs, Nigels and Alisons. And three quarters of people called Ronald, Joan, Joyce and Jean are in the over 65 age group.

They found that 18 to 25-year-olds are most likely to live in a flat and travel to the "party" destinations of Amsterdam and Ibiza while 35 to 44 year olds, most commonly called Darren and Joanne, are likely to live in a terrace house and take trips to more family friendly destinations such as Menorca.

Aviva's marketing director Heather Smith said: "The past decades have been a time of great change and it's fascinating to see these differences between the generations. As trends have come and gone, we have whole age groups identifiable by their name, where they live, what they drive and where they holiday.

"It shows a remarkable progression through life as we change from wanting lively holidays and nippy city cars to going on child-friendly beach breaks and driving family run-a-rounds, to preferring the quiet life with a cruise and a hatchback."