Every morning, I drive to Starbucks and get my coffee from a boy named Dakota. He’s not a boy, really, but a young man who is attending college and looking towards the future.
- I wonder, what does the future hold for a boy named Dakota? Or Tarragon? Or a girl named Nevaeh?
Naming a child is such a personal, cultural, and psychological process. I’ll never experience it, but I’m fascinated by the process. We live in a country governed by a man named Barack Obama, but I’ve never worked for a CEO or VP who didn’t have a traditional name. Some questions for you.
- Does your child’s name influence her career options in life?
- Did you intentionally choose your child’s name to influence her career choices?
- Do you work for anyone who has a non-traditional name?
I’ve read Freakonomics and I understand the socioeconomic implications of baby names. I wonder if you have any insight into the possibility of a woman named Roshanda or a man named DeShawn being hired as the CEO of your company? How about a boy named Dakota?
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I was mulling this subject over not so long ago (http://people-everyday.blogspot.com/2009/05/never-judge-book.html)
Personally, I chose my son’s name because it was a traditional and classic British name and so I knew (or hoped) that in 20 years he would not be back with a black trenchcoat, a dull look in his eyes and the smell of a single bedroom about him…..
I do, however, think there are major cultural differences here and with greater international mobility we will start to see a more diverse range of names in different social positions.
Prince William and Princess Britney? Maybe its just a tad too soon for that.
Let’s see, daughter’s name is Kate, which I don’t really think opens doors or closes them regarding future career opportunities. My intentions for her name centered more around SIMPLICITY because it is highly annoying to have a traditional name spelled in a non-traditional manner. A royal pain in my ass.
Instead, I now deal with, “Oh, is her name just Kate?” or “What is Kate short for?” So, perhaps I’ve created just a different kind of monster.
I’ve never worked for a boss with a non-traditional name: Alan, Ken, Glen, Jeffrey, Dan, Marilyn …
I work with children as a counselor, and have been fascinated by the evolution of names over the past 15 years. Honestly, Dakota and Britney are more common names these days than Lisa and Jim, the prevailing names for children when I was growing up. The name Jason was unheard of not too man years ago, yet that is the name of the man who just engineered the acquisition of this blog by Recruitingblogs.com.
I do not see that the name Dakota will interfere in any with this young man’s career pursuits. I do worry about children whose names are filled with nonsensical apostrophes and spelling aberrations that seem to be the result of parental dyslexia.
Ultimately, it is the person, not the name, that makes the impact. Some names may give negative associations that can be distracting (remember how Barack Obama’s middle name was purposefully misrepresented), but a strong individual can overcome it.
A study by UBC (can’t find the link, but it went flying around our office a few months ago) found that names on resumes DO make a difference, specifically ethnic names. A fully-ethnic name was less likely to get called for an interview, all other things being equal. A half-ethnic name (anglicized first name, traditional last name) was also less likely, but not nearly as badly. I don’t know if untraditional names count as ethnic, it is probably very context-dependent and as the little Neos and Trinitys and DeShawns and Condoleezas grow up that context will change, I’m sure… but I’m sure it has some impact.
Dudette, you have a cat it is not any different..
@Renee – That research has just been replicated in the UK. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/oct/18/racism-discrimination-employment-undercover
My son is Dominican-American and we live in Germany. I had to pick a name that worked in Spanish, English and German. Here there are boundaries as to how you name your child. For example, if you are Moroccan and give birth in Germany and want to give your child a traditional Moroccan name, that name must be registered at the Moroccan consulate in Germany and the spelling must match the ‘officially registered’ name. I chose a name that I liked and that was understood in more than one culture in case my son wants to live/work in another country.
We didn’t really think of those implications when choosing our little one’s name. We looked at it every which way to be sure there was no way for her first name, middle name, last name, initials, etc. to be fodder for playground torture. (My husband’s family name was Sex – not kidding – until his Dad changed it when his brother was born – so we have some family history, here)
I was surprised to learn, though, after she was born what Freakonomics says about her name. And in hindsight it is absolutely accurate in our case…Julia -(something like) typically white parents who are well educated and middle to upper class.
Truly my goal was:
1) no teasing
2) a name I could call and 20 kids wouldn’t come running
3) classic but not overly popular
And I have worked for a company with a foreigner at the top…so yes, odd name…but not in Israel or when it was Anglicized.
Three no’s for us culturally or politically – in this country that is. Have no idea what the context would be in another country, as in the Germany example above.
The acceptance of “ethnic” names has evolved dramatically in the U.S. – our president for one – but we’ve still got a long way to go in the corporate world, baby.
When I was pregnant with my son I had all sorts of names picked out and his father woudl not agree on any of them, then he came up with a name that was not in the book of 20,000 Baby Names and I had actually known someone with this name and so I agreed. We gave him a “normal” middle name in case he one day decided his name was too weird. He is 16 and he likes his name and everyone seems to think it fits him well.
I named my daughter after her Uncle, it is a (or was) an unique unisex name. He was the only person I had known with the name, after I named her a popular pro football player with the same name popped onto the scene and now there are tons of little boys and girls with that name (I am sure you can all guess it!). She too has a nice solid middle name that she can turn to if she decideds she does not like her name.
This post reminded me of something that happened to me about 25 years ago, when times were very different for women in the workplace. I was promoted from Compensation Manager to Manager of Compensation and Benefits in 1985. At the time Hewitt Associates had a great one week program called “Benefits University” that gave a total overview of employee benefits including all of the regulations, design, and administration.
One of the first speakers was an older gentleman who was the long-time CEO of Hewitt. I can’t remember his last name, but believe his first name was Thomas.
In his opening remarks to the class he spoke about how times were changing. He said one day we might even have women CEO’s…Can you imagine? And then he wondered aloud how we could have a CEO with a name like “Debbie”. As someone named “Libby”, short for Elizabeth, I vowed that if I ever became a CEO, I would stay “Libby”.
We now have CEO’s named “Debby”, so I suspect one day we will have CEO’s named Dakota…just like we have a president named Barack instead of “Barry” Obama.
Heres to being who you are and celebrating the name you are given!
I have a step son with a very simple name, Ryan. I’ve worked for one woman with an out of the ordinary name; Damita.
You’ll find some off the wall names in Birmingham. A lot of people like to put La or Ra in front of normal names. I never understood naming a child after a car though. While I myself like cars, I would never….never name a child Aston Martin or Mercedes.
My sincerest hope is that people will name their children for other reasons than what will play as the name of a CEO. Should we not name children ethnic names because of what the research and Freakonomics says? We would be a pretty bland (and racist/classist) world if we did.
I am the CEO of my fledgling company, and my name is BZTAT. Ever heard of THAT before? NO? That’s one of the reasons I chose it as my self-given monicker.
@JohnC –Love “dudette”! My greeting to my cats (3 males, 1 female) when I get home from work–DUDES! DUDETTE!
I like different names. I think a full name can make a traditional first name totally different. For some reason I find names that are not traditional to be more mysterious, and if the CEO of my company had a mysterious name I would want to know more about them.
When screening resumes, I have had hiring managers gawk at different names. When I sent a resume for a Shanekwah to a hiring manager—he thought it was a joke. Really? Why would that be a joke? Unfortunatley some people make such general assumptions about a person based on their name; that they never get to find out what the person is all about.
Something not considered is there are probably a lot more strippers named Candy than CEO’s, but you have to consider the type of parent that would name their child Candy. Probably not middle-class educated parents, thus less likely regardless of their name not going to be a CEO.
Unfortunately, demonstrated over and over ethnic names in a blind pick (like looking at resumes) don’t do as well as non-ethnic names, but I wonder if that will change as the white majority shifts to a minority. If I were a poor uneducated minority parent whose child was already statistically disadvantaged, I would try pretty hard to choose a name that wouldn’t hinder my child.
Having done data entry before and seen all kinds of names, I do understand why some countries have lists of names you must name your child from.
Great post, and I must admit I trolled throught the comments looking for the people who would accuse you of being racist. Well, don’t worry, it’s coming.
It is possible to triumph over a bad name, though. A friend of mine had the unfortunate last name of “Willfahrt” and started a band — “Bruce Willfahrt and his band will play”
adowling, “Mercedes” is actually a woman’s (women’s?) name. The car came after the name. The Portia/Porsche difference is another issue.
I can’t see a “Tiffani” or a “Brandi” as the VP of Finance. Pole dancer, yes. Executive, no.
I do understand why some countries have lists of names you must name your child from.
My friend Laura was born in Cuba. Her parents wanted to name her “Ceres,” but the government said that name was “counter-revolutionary” and they couldn’t do it. Not the function of government to tell parents what to name their kids as far as I am concerned.
I think it’s sad that people with names that don’t “sound white” come up against this, but it absolutely happens. I had a hiring manager return cover letters/resumes to me because he claimed that the grammar was painful. It wasn’t. It was obvious that the applicants weren’t U.S. born and English was their second language. All the grammar was correct, they expressed themselves succinctly, but in simple sentences. So what? We’re not hiring people who need to write articles. I had a discussion with him about this, but I’m not sure he’d make different decisions the next time around.
As for the trend for creative names, I don’t think that’s such a big deal. I think it’s more of a big deal when the names are spelled with excess vowels or like a page from Hooked on Phonics. It kinda makes you look like you don’t know how to spell or that you’re way too cutesy. For example, Steffinee or Zackaree.
Of course, everybody thinks they’re coming up with a creative name for the kids until they get to school and find 3 other kids with that supposedly unique name.
@TheHRD I wonder if a classic British name will work against your son as the population continues to grow more diverse in the UK?
@Lyndsay I’m a Lauren, but I go by Laurie. People write Lori, Lorrie, Laura, and all sorts of versions of my name. Now, as I get older, it’s easier for me to go by Lauren — but only my family and select friends call me Lauren. Most call me Laur. So Kate will have this problem her entire life. She’ll be called Katie, Kat, Kit, and so on. People are dumb.
@BZ Oddly enough, I think Jason is a 70s name. I don’t see it much in the younger generation. I hope Dakota can be a CEO or whatnot. I also hope DeShawn can be a CEO. I’m sick of working for Jeffs and Peters and Davids and Carols and Kens and Williams.
@Renee Sometimes I wonder, “Who the hell names their kids after characters in the Matrix movies?” Then I meet my former 90s faux hard core punk rock friends and realize, oh yeah, my peer group does that kind of shit. Trinity. Sheesh. That’s not a name I care for…
@JohnC Yes I do. My cats all have human names except for Scrubby, who was named Scrubs by the vet tech because he needed surgery. So he’s officially Scrubs Scrubby Scrub-a-dub Big Beef N Cheese Ruettimann.
@ICANHASLINDA Shoot, that’s a lot of thought into a name. It’s so funny how you gave him a name that totally fits him, too. Do we grow into our names? I wonder about that, sometimes.
@Leanne It’s weird — no matter how much you avoid taunting, some stupid kid comes up with a taunt. That’s how kids work, which is why I have cats.
@Kevin So true. Diversity is okay in Hollywood (sorta) and on the playground, but it hasn’t translated to the boardroom.
@HRU It’s so funny how life works out. Also, what kind of name isn’t in the baby name book? When I fostered cats, I used a baby name book to pick out names for the kittens. Every single name is in that book (it seems).
@adowling My name starts with La(urie) and Ru(ettimann)! When I was married, my wedding dress pushed up my boobs to my chin and I really looked like Chesty LaRue!
@InkedHR I’ve had hiring managers shirk at names, too, and make assumptions about getting praise for making a “diversity hire” based on names. I’m like, “Did you just say that to me? Take it back.” Christ, I’m not politically correct but just because you interview someone with an non-traditional name doesn’t mean you get a gold star.
@Almost I know, I know. Anyone who accuses this post of being racist, though, misses the point. I’m pro-diversity and inclusion and I’m asking what others think about the subject. If this were my column on AOL, though, people would be all over me like a rash. That’s why I like my readers. Also, I have two babies in my family named Rhiannon, a nephew named Kai, and another named Devin. The 21st century names in my own family are different than the previous century where we had James, Edwards, Katherines, Carolyns, Angelas, Sarahs, and Christines.
@Class I wonder if a name that ends in an “i” skews pornographic?
@HAria I really wonder about this phonetic trend, too. I think it’s so silly and pretentious. I really like gender-neutral names but I once remember a teacher calling out Lauren, on the first day of class, and asking, “Lauren, are you a boy or a girl?” I raised my hand and said, “I’m a girl. Right here. There are no boys who are named Lauren.” She said, “You’re wrong.” I was wrong! This was 1979, so who the hell knows, anymore.
@Laurie – No moreso than calling a middle class white boy Sajid or Leroy I hope……
I don’t have children yet but have thought of many different things regarding naming my future children. Their career was never one of them but it will come in to my thinking now. Dakota is not a “different” name to me because I grew up and went to school with a guy name Dakota. He is very successful now, not a CEO yet, but very successful. My mother has told me that she always wanted to name her first daughter Abby Dawn. Well, obviously when she saw me that name didn’t fit me, so I became Sara Beth. Even though I have not had children yet, no matter what name I have picked out, it may not fit my child when he or she is born. I believe there is a name for every child that fits them. I am thankful everyday for my name and believe me Abby would NOT fit me today at all.
I’ve never worked with anyone with a weird name that I can recall. If I did, it wasn’t so weird that it made an impression on me. LOL!!
I never thought about whether my kids’ names were CEO material but I made sure my daughter didn’t get a stripper name. I used to work with a woman named Misty. Very difficult to be taken seriously the good ol’ boys club when your name is Misty. I felt sorry for her. No one ever said anything to her face but lots of jokes behind her back.
My husband used to come home with tales of unique names he’d encounter at the hospital he worked at. One woman named her baby Cocainia. No way that girl stands a chance at becoming a CEO.
I guess Trish could also be a poledancer but happened to be COO of a financial services firm.
As a child of the late 60′s/70′s who thought the world had been changed by the hippies, when I first started interning during college in the early 80′s I was appalled at managers who openly screened out resumes by zip code, ethnic names, etc to get to the candidates they wanted to work with (people just like themselves).
Sadly today there are still managers who do as people described above, send back resumes commenting, “I can’t have someone named “….” talking to clients, on the phones, in my team”, etc. However I believe these managers who make poor decisions are becoming the minority instead of the majority – at least in companies I’ve worked with lately.
At this stage the companies who continue to keep people like this in positions of management will not flourish long-term as the population is becoming more diverse and people who cannot appreciate the value of diversity will lose out to the companies/managers who welcome it.
People with truly unique names usually have some obstacles to overcome as a child with their name that many times it is one of the things that makes them a more empathetic person. Or in the case of “A Boy Named Sue” – bitter and bullying. There is always the case of the extreme.
My ex named our daughter a different sorta name but its not one that will exclude her from anything I think. And i’m seeing it more and more these days. My son is named a more traditional name. I always went for “fit” over “unique”. I never picked out names before I saw my babies for the first time… I had ideas and then chose one based on what I thought they most looked like.
I personally don’t like the name Dakota– guaranteed the guy’s gonna be in some god-awful rock band or something close to that. Writes bad poetry for sure.
I came across the name “Manmeet” the other day– LOL!!! he was of indian origin— so he probably wasn’t beaten up alot. It might mean “Crazy” or “strength of a thousand tornadoes” or something in India– who knows–
I know people who have screened out resumes based on names. Not even looking at the qualifications. If the name was not remotely white/anglo or not easily pronounced, the resume was scrapped.
That made me so mad/angry.
I pronounce names incorrectly on pretty much a daily basis. I just start with, “Gosh, I’m sorry I’m probably going to butcher this name, but I’m looking to speak with (insert difficult name)?” – usually people are cool with that.
My stepson is named Forrest and when the movie came out he got a rash of shit from kids at school. So you just never know…I went 30 years with what seemed to be a perfectly OK name that was not common but not super unusual, then a movie came out about someone with the same name (It was the title!) and since it is not terribly common I get called that all the time now. There is just no safe name!
I worked at a shelter and there were at two different times women how had little girls named “Princess”. Princess Diamond was one and the other was Princess Chamonix.
My kids are Michael and Robert both CEO names I think but I chose them for family reasons and because I like more traditional names. I frequently wonder about the kids named Dakota, Montana, etc. However, my kids don’t think those names are unusual. By the time those kids grow up, I think that they will be hired by people who also don’t think those names are unusual. I was born in the early 70s and named Abigail. My mom received multiple comments about my old-fashioned name. I don’t think it ever held me back, but it was considered old-fashioned in classrooms full of Jennys and Tracys, etc. Now, look how popular the name is!
I forgot to add that I once worked for a woman who named her children specifically, Jacqueline and Jeffrey because she thought they were power names. She was in upper management at a bank and I guess it was important to her.
Oh, by the way, I had three grandfathers with the names Newt, Olen and Elmer – and this morning Willard Scott wished birthdays to Halkaline and Vivah. All of these folks being 100+ years old and all being white folk.
Never found them on the corporate letterhead.
I always laugh when someone says they waited to see their child to name him or her. If this were really true, there’d be tons of kids named ketchup bottle head running around. Also, what was the book when the mother was trying to name her child and looking at the tag on her nightgown decided on “Rayon”. My mom had a friend name Chalice who LOVED her name. She married an OB who suggested it to all the undecided moms he encountered.
So funny. I’m a Muslim- but when I tell ppl my name over the phone and I just give my first and last, and not middle name, people automatically assume I’m one way. When they see me, it’s an entirely different story. Some don’t do a very good job and hiding the expression on their face when they see this woman of East Indian descent with a headscarf- i find it amusing
Thankfully though, living where I do, names and such so far don’t seem to hamper progression or movement in the private sector. In the public/government sector however it’s a different story believe it or not.
My way-out-yonder in middle America in-laws committed what I consider to be one of the mortal sins of naming: Tom (dad), Terri (mom), Tommy, Tony, and Timmy (three kids). What the hell?!
My hubby (Tommy)’s first name is actually Emmett, so once he entered his professional life, he made the switch. People often comment on how much they like his name; even superiors at work and those that hired him for his current job (architecture firm).
I went by Ali for most of my life until I became an adult and switched to Alex (full name is Alexandra). I like that Alex is a little ambiguous…slightly more assertive-sounding. We chose carefully when we named our daughter Elliott. We’ll see what happens, I suppose…
@Laurie as you know, my wife is named Kyle. This often leads to confusion, and occassional speculation about which of us is which.
It didn’t deter her. She built a million dollar a year small biz (revenue, not profit) and is pretty damn cool too!
I think it’s really sad that anglo-saxon names are still considered “traditional.” Mind you I’m an Ann Marie so what do I know. My last name is Irish but comes from the Cherokee side of my family. THey adopted it while they pretended to be white for over 100 years after the Trail of Tears. Yeah, it’s just sad.
Does your child’s name influence her career options in life?
***Statistics say it does without a doubt.
Did you intentionally choose your child’s name to influence her career choices?
***No, but we did exclude two names that were on the table because of their potential to be twisted around and ridiculed by other children.
Do you work for anyone who has a non-traditional name?
***No, but I think that kind of underscores the point. I WOULD work for a cool person at a great company whether their name was Jack or Jackass. I’m just afraid a guy named Jackass would have a hard time ascending the corporate ladder to a place where I’d have the opportunity to accept that offer. I’d like to believe that what you do matters more than where you’re from or who your parents are, but it’s undeniable that typecasting people with certain kinds of names creates obstacles for those individuals that the Johns, Janes, Bills and Beths of the world will never have to overcome.
I say that, but he best name I’ve ever seen a person carry is Monsterville Horton, IV. He’s a successful wine merchant in one of the snootiest sections of Houston. Houston is not known as a bastion of liberal/progressive thinking, yet this guy is growing a high end business during the worst recession in recent memory. I wonder if he’d be as successful as he is if his name had been “Frank.”
I really wanted to name my son Berserker after the song in Clerks. I think that it would also be a kick @ss CEO name because who’s going to mess with a guy named Berserker? How afraid would you be about having to negotiate with a guy named Berserker?
My son is also extremely active so it would be a perfect name. Fortunately, my wife has more common sense than me and he has a conventional name.
@Laurie – yeah but your name is La – some other stand alone name like LaApril
@class factotum – I did not know that, cool. I did see LaPorsche today; honest I swear on my best boots that I did. I almost spit out my kit kat because I instantly thought of this post.
I get so tired of spelling my name ALL the time. So I endeavoured to choose common names that are (hopefully) fairly easy to spell.
However, having read a fair bit of literature of preferential treatment of children in classrooms, based on names alone, my husband and I wanted strong, classic names. If name-based discrimination/preferential treatment starts as early as school, how can it not affect the corporate world as well?
So we chose….Alexander (Alex) and Stella.
My 5 year old niece is named Zuzu Petals. That is her first and middle name. I imagine a “Zuzu Petals” to be someone who is artsy and creative, but she is the most serious little thing. I have often wondered what her life will be like when she enters the professional world. Will she be a lawyer? Will she be a teacher? Will she be an artist? Will name peak the interest of a hiring manager or will they think it’s a joke? I’ll know the answer in about 15 years!
Laurie, I have had so many conversations in my family about this subject. We live in Argentina currently, but I’m from the U.S. and my husband is Argentine. Our baby arrived a month ago and I felt it was important for us to pick an “international” name for our baby. We chose Julia because it works in Spanish and English and it’s not overly popular in Argentina. I was worried about issues concerning prejudices as Renee pointed out in the UBC study or people making assumptions about her background in the future that would be put her at a disadvantage in the job market in an English-speaking country. Some people told me thinking like that is totally bogus or in 20 years from now things will be very different, but I’m just not convinced (especially if I told you some of the names my husband tried to talk me into!).
@Sara My father wanted to name me Roberta and call me Bobbi. Thankfully, my mother intervened.
@Suz Misty can be an unfortunate name, but I can see the appeal. It’s pretty, romantic, and sentimental. I know lots of Mistys who take on the world. That’s too bad.
@Trish You’re only a poledancer if you’re Trishi. Also, that’s such an interesting perspective because you’ve seen, firsthand, the red-lining of resumes. Such bullshit. It still happens, but in much more subtle & private ways. Or not, if you see Meredith Elaine’s comment. I love your link between a unique name and perseverance and empathy. Totally agree.
@Teresa Wow, you never picked out a name beforehand? You are very chill. If I had kids, I would spreadsheet out the names and take polls.
@MattyMat You are manmeat. Hahahahahahaha.
@MeredithElaine Boy I hate people. Grrrr…
@HRU I call my cat, Emma, the Poonchie Princess. Not related to your comment but she’s on my lap, right now.
@Abby Your name is so popular, right now. So is Emma, which always sounded like an old-fashioned name to me. I grew up with lots of Jennifers in the 80s. Lots of Lisas, too.
@Carol Rayon? I have no idea. I have a friend who’s parents didn’t give him a middle name. For his 18th birthday, he was allowed to pick one. Last I heard (16 years ago), he was leaning towards Fish.
@Karen Whoa, that’s an awesome comment. Thank you for sharing that.
@Alex I know lots of girls named Elliott, Eliot, Elliot, & so forth. I love the name — just wish we could agree on how to spell it.
@Michael Kyle is cool and smart. I dunno. I see Kyle as a gender-neutral name. Maybe I’m crazy?
@Mouse I’m with you, it’s lame but true.
@Scott Monsterville Horton, IV? OMG, wow. I just saw a boy interviewed on the local TV station who was named Ayatollah. That was his first name and he was a Junior. They interviewed little Ayatollah about getting a computer and focusing on his education. Then they interviewed his father, Ayatollah Sr! I loved how the name broke all the stereotypes. Bad ass name, educated kid, loves computers. I’m rooting for him.
@Deadhedge Berserker? No. No. No. It’s punk rock, yes, but not very practical.
@Nerine Stella is making a comeback as a name! You’re on the cusp of a trend.
@Natalia I saw that band in concert in the 90s. Crazy.
@Lindsay I think you should do a blog post (or maybe you did?) about all those crazy names. I bet some of them seem perfectly normally to your readers and some will seem downright crazy. I wonder if you can predict responses? Here’s what I’ve learned, today: naming your child = you’ll never make everyone happy.
Laurie,
I think another interesting angle of this story is that certain names can date a person. For example, my name, Barbara, was very popular in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s but it is hard to find a Barbara now who is under 30 years old. Some job seekers feel that certain names potentially tip off their age and can lead to bias when a hiring manager considers their candidacy.
As for my kids, they both have unusual names and complained for years that they couldn’t get those cool pencils with their names printed on them at the local toy store. I keep telling them they will thank me one day for giving them names with great SEO potential. Nice post!
Ayatollah? Parents who try to make statements through a baby upset me. A white supremicist couple on the east coast got into a big ACLU battle (aclu was on their side) over naming their kids Himler and Hitler a couple of years ago. That’s a lot of baggage.
Monsterville is the 72 Dolphins of names. I just think it’s awesome. What’s even better? Three people have been named Monsterville previously and so enjoyed the experience that they chose to pass it on to the next generation. I hope there’s a Monsterville Horton the 16th.
http://www.houstonpress.com/2006-03-09/dining/monsterville-on-washington/
@Barbara Thanks, I know what you mean about names & ages. My mother-in-law is named Joyce. That’s a different generation. I wonder if Lauren will seem old, one day?
@Scott I agree with you on political names (lame). There was a spout of girls named Regan and Reagan in the 80s — not from The Exorcist movie, either.
OK. I just have to comment. As a black girl growing up on the streets of Detroit with the name Peopleshark….mwaaahh
Seriously, someone wrote this:
“If I were a poor uneducated minority parent whose child was already statistically disadvantaged, I would try pretty hard to choose a name that wouldn’t hinder my child.”
I’m sure this person meant well, but I want to punch them.
Poor mothers, name your child whatever you want. Employers, hiring managers, voters, corporate board members, merchants, etc, etc. do not make decisions/take actions about based on a first or last name.
I have long thought that ATS systems should obscure names until skills have been reviewed. A while back, someone training me on an ATS system advised me to skip past the Indian-sounding names, “because they’re just looking for visas”. Again, I wanted to punch her (I didn’t).
@carmen I’m not sure I want to punch anyone, but I understand why you feel that way. The debate gets frustrating and focused on names instead of behaviors. I want to take Ayatollah and every other boy and girl with a ‘funny name’ and show them Barack Obama. And then I totally want to advocate for your ATS idea because you’re 100% right. I also want to scrap behavior based interviewing and cultural fit. I’ve ranted on this before. Who’s culture? What fit? What garbage!
Yeah: “Congratulations, you fit with our horrible, dehumanizing, stifling office culture. Welcome!”
I do not think my children’s names influences their career choices. One is 16 and realizing that her choices about school has already influenced her choices for colleges. She is concerned she will not get into the school of her choice becuase her grades are not high enough. She has always been an athlete and less focused on school work. The other needs to survive middleschool to have a career choice.
I choose the names based on family names and names I liked. My daughter, Julia, is named for my Aunt Julia. She had this awesome blond beehive hairdoo that never went out of position…even after 5 martinis. And she was always laughing…She was a dental hygentist…my Julia wants to be a teacher or a physical therapist. Aaron is named for his uncle who was his father’s closest brother. He wants to be a drummer in a heavy metal band…and he is already on his way there. His uncle that he is named for is retired from the Marine Corp…I do not see Aaron going that way at all.
The most non-traditionally named person I have ever worked for is a lady named Ginger. Her personality matched her name…spicy.
What is the first thing we look at on a resume? The name.
adowling, I think any name is acceptable as long as there is a “La” in front of it. “LaAudi?” OK. “LaVolkswagen?” Why not?
I think “Mercedes” means “Mercy” in Spanish.
I have witnessed name discrimination in action. When I used to work in staffing, I submitted to a company the resume of a young lady whose first name is somewhat unusual and they did not want to see her. I then submitted her resume using her middle name, and not only did they interview her, they hired her and she’s been a valuable employee to them ever since and has even been promoted. There was nothing different on the resumes except for the name – same background & experience. They almost missed out on a great hire because they thought she had a strange name. Ridiculous. In hiring/employment, a person’s name shouldn’t matter but, on a subconscious level, it’s nearly impossible for people to put aside their prejudices; even though on a conscious level they may realize that acting on them in the workplace is inappropriate.
Everyone’s commenting that the waspy names are favored. Has anyone else noticed a trend in favor of certain ethnic names? At my current employer, anyone with a Chinese or Indian name on resume is almost guaranteed an interview.
@Renee Exactly. Or worse. “You don’t fit in with our shitty, dehumanizing culture. You’re not good enough.” WTF?
@Beth It’s amazing how personal accountability and responsibility factor into our successes in life.
PS — I almost named my cat Ginger, but she’s not orange/red and Ken vetoed and named her Molly. They’re in love, so what could I do?
@Class LaScrubby? I don’t think he would approve.
@TMR Whoa, I believe it. Thanks for sharing that story. It’s good to be reminded that we’re not a post-racial country, just yet.
@Suz Hmmm… I have no experience with that. Let’s see what other people say.
I think you will find that many of the stranger names are isolated to individuals from the same socioeconomic background. For example, I’ve noticed here in the southern United States that many lower middle class and working poor white people name their kids after Indian tribes. Dakota, Cherokee, etc. It is odd. An example of this in the news recently is balloon boy, whose name is Falcon.
What an interesting topic! I’ve found myself wondering something like this before too. Unusual names seem to do well for musicians and professional athletes, but for CEO’s? I wonder if 10-20 years from now the person that aspires to be a C-level executive with an unusual sounding name won’t change it?
@Alex I meet lots of Bobbys and Rays and Jimmys in North Carolina. I’m not sure it’s strange — but in the words of Liz Lemon, “If you’re called Jimmy when you are 55, that’s a dealbreaker.”
@Joan I wonder when people will start naming their kids LR1259 or something akin to computer/email names?
Sorry I missed this while I was traveling last week. As you can see, I might have an opinion! China has been a great name and I have been a President. Twice! At pretty young ages. It’s short, rememberable and doesn’t conjure up poles, or anything else untoward. And as I’ve moved around geographically a great deal in my career, people can always find me, as in “how do I get ahold of that woman with the funny name? Where did she go?” Another plus was that when I was selling, I really believe I got more call backs from cold calls because they were curious about my name. The only downside is when I’m actually in China. When the interpreter introduces me, there’s a moment when the audience thinks I may be making fun of them… Otherwise, it’s been a perfect name! (Except for my best friend in high school’s mom. She couldn’t remember anyone’s name. So she remembered this: my name was a country name and it started with “Ch” — so I was always “Chile” to her!)
Woo Hoo, my name and My daughters name were mentioned. IM the mom of one of the Rhiannons. Her middle name just happens to be Lennon. I wanted something slightly different but not too out there. Most times people think i am saying Bri or rianna- but i spell it out. I had one rule when we were picking names- that was too make sure it didnt sound like a stripper name.
and Laurie we did take a poll- thats why she is Rhiannon Lennon and not Lennon Rhiannon.
@China Awesome. Glad you weighed in on this one: you have a different name, you travel globally, and you work in HR. An expert!
@Katie Remember how Carolyn’s cousin named her baby Rhiannon at the same time? So now when Carolyn and I talk, I have to ask, “Which Rhi?” Also, I liked Leni (aka Lennon) but my friend Jason Seiden named his dog (a girl) named Lenny so that will have to do.
This is why God won’t give me any girls. I wanted to name our daughter (never got one) Cosette and call her “little baby CoCo” but no dice. We have a Jackson (Jack) Quinlan (Quin) and Finnegan Rockford (Rocky Finn). My name is Maren and I love that it’s not common. But it doesn’t really sound super ethnic either. I’ve always wanted to stand out in a stack a resumes, rather than blend in I guess. I can’t imagine not interviewing someone or promoting them because of their name.
When I was a teenager I was helping hire new servers at a restaurant where I worked and one of the applications had the name “Candy” on it. I joked about not needing some blonde bimbo working there. When I met her, she was smart, beautiful, intelligent, had a tremendous work ethic and I was frankly ashamed of my stupid and immature remarks. So I sort of got over preconceived notions about names.
My opinion matters little though because I’ve never worked for a Fortune 500 and never want to.