A study by Professor Jeffrey Zax and graduate student Alexander Cauley found that the first letter of a person’s last name can influence their academic and life outcomes due to a phenomenon called “alphabetism.” Students with last names at the beginning of the alphabet are more likely to be identified as outstanding by teachers, while those with names at the end of the alphabet are less likely to receive such recognition. This bias, observed in a longitudinal study of 3,281 males from Wisconsin, results in a 10% lower probability of being designated an outstanding student for every 10-letter gap in the alphabet. However, these effects dissipate by mid-adulthood, around the age of 35. To mitigate this bias, Zax suggests teachers call the class roll in reverse order and advises students with late-in-the-alphabet names to find other ways to distinguish themselves.