The name of your child can make or break their career.?

Question

There was a tv news article. 12 people interviewed for a job. Don't remember how it went but the names that were COMMON
Tom, Dick, James, Mary, etc, names got the jobs. Sawanna, Tmeeka, Eureka, etc sounding
names DID NOT get the jobs. What do you think?

Answer 1

I believe that is so true! Some names look completely unprofessional. I don't know why parents don't think about these things before they name their children.

Ie just the simple choice between Matthew and Matty even makes a big difference. Matthew is going to be considered more mature and responsible that Matty.

People, pick good, decent names for your children please!

Answer 2

I definitely think that a name says a lot about you. Also, people associate certain names with people they liked or did not like. There seems to be a competition on these days of who can come up with the most creative/unusual/original name for their child. Celebrities do it all the time! Parents need to think about the long term impact of unusual names. It's cute now, but is Apple, Banjo or Denim a name you would associate with a professional. The up side is that you can change you name if you don't like it.

Answer 3

I never really thought about it but can see how it would make a difference. I can think of jobs where a "Candy" might not even get an interview and others where a "Barbie" might get a interview over a "Jane". And I guess racist people might discriminate against people with ethnic sounding names (but why'd you want to work for a racist anyway).

I generally aim for different enough to be remembered, but easy enough to avoid confusion.

And, names can be changed (see Hollywood).

Answer 4

people with the names Tom, Dick, James, Mary are not as memorable to me unless they did something extremely important or stupid names like Sawanna, Tmeeka, Eureka i remeber more! so i could care less about that study

Answer 5

I know it's easier to get a summer job (I"m a substitute teacher) with a more common last name than with my ethnic sounding maiden name. I've also heard that about ethnic sounding first names. I like older names that aren't heard on the playground much, and I love the name Hazel, for the person who thought that was weird. It's an older name with class!

Answer 6

I think if that was the case, was it researched to see if Tom and James had better qualifications then Eureka and Ezekial? I read somewhere in school children with unique sounding names and spellings were graded lower then children with common names, but who knows.....i think it would be to bad to judge someone based on name alone. Don't know if that really answered a question though.

Answer 7

It could be discrimination...a lot of black people have distincitive names and some employers could be weeding out minority candidates that they don't want based on names. I have an unusual name, and I've never had a hard time finding a job, I think its helped me actually. Anyways, I've always heard that its a person's looks that ultimately can make or break the decision. Either way that's not right!

Answer 8

Sad but true. I saw a study on this before and individuals with names such as Mary, Ken etc. applications may be looked at more closely than someone with an more ethnic name like the ones used in your example (Sawanna, etc.).

Answer 9

I'm a hiring manager and I don't base that on anything yeah it can affect it but there are many other things that we look at. They dn't rally want those jobs anyway because people who hire just because of names ar going to be horrible jobs. Maybe if the ame is is simple lik 2 sylabbles or less will help

Answer 10

Employers need to focus on the person's qualifications, work experience, references and the extent of their education. What someone is named should be irrelevant to any job they wish to acquire. My name is Astrid, which is quite uncommon, but I love it and I've never suffered any bullying or trouble because of it. It's just a shame people can be so narrow-minded quick to judge. It's what inside that counts.