It actually does seem farfetched. You know how famous quotes get assigned to various other people than those documented to have said them? Half of the claims that a given historical figure carried out this experiment are probably just misattributions of the Herodotus story.
Doesn't seem farfetched to me, it's one of those obvious questions people frequently, spontaneously, ask themselves. Another is whether we both "see" the same colors associated with the names.
I'd be surprised if someone in our history didn't conduct this experiment. Ancient times had infanticide, slavery, and other terrible behaviors. This experiment is tame compared to many of those.
