I’m just wondering what people’s opinions are on the value a name holds. I found this article on business insider How Your Name Affects Your Success - Business Insider
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen some of these statistics and one of the things I found most interesting was that more common names are more likely to be hired and uncommon names have links to delinquency so I was just wondering what everyone thought and if it has ever influenced your decision making process?
I do think that an uncommon name has been/will be affecting your child less and less as nowadays the variety of names used is much bigger than it was 50 years ago when every other kid was named [name_f]Mary[/name_f] or [name_u]Michael[/name_u].
Still I think that especially misspelled and certain word names will affect the person’s ability to get a job negatively. Of course, if they are the most qualified person, they’re still going to get the position, but if the employer has 20 people that are equally qualified for the job, I do think that Maehgaen might not have as good of a chance as [name_f]Megan[/name_f] does as one name looks professional while the other looks, well, misspelled.
I don’t think that matters as much in an office job, sitting in front of the computer all day as it does if the job involves a lot of communication with customers or clients.
Companies do get more modern and have started using first names much more than a couple years ago and if you have to decide between having your employee’s name mispronounced and misspelled all the time (by your own people and companies your work with) or employing a person names [name_f]Anna[/name_f], it seems like the easier choice to go with [name_f]Anna[/name_f].
@opheliaflora hits on all the major points pretty well. It’s not to say that someone with an unusual name can’t be successful in life or receive good opportunities, it’s just that they might have a harder time of doing so than a person with a more standard name might. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, there’s still a lot of racism and prejudice in this world. If you want proof, just look up what Raven Symone said about hiring people with “black” names. That’s just one of the more blatant cases, but the main point is that names are judged just like every other part of your person.
[name_m]Just[/name_m] like hiring agents can reject a person for having visible tattoos or having facial piercings, they can reject a person based on their name, which is a permanent part of your person. Is it right? No. Does it happen anyway? Yes. Does a name alone describe a person’s work ethic or what kind of person they are? No. Does that mean all companies and hiring agents are completely fair and free of bias? No! They’re humans too.
I do think it depends where you live/what type of job you want. A person with any name can be successful if they work hard enough. As for my own favourite names, I do put some stock into what the future might be like for a person with said name, but honestly I’m more likely to knock a name off my list for being difficult to spell/pronounce in general than I am to obsess over what a future college or job recruiter might think of it. More and more parents are taking their naming inspiration from various places and backgrounds, so I think parents can get away with a lot more than they could 20 or 30+ years ago.
More [name_f]Anna[/name_f]'s, [name_u]Michael[/name_u]'s, and [name_f]Sarah[/name_f]'s might get hired because those names are arguably more popular than [name_m]Fox[/name_m] or [name_m]Bodhi[/name_m], the latter of who are pretty much part of the recent trends (thus, not of a hiring age). As @vestigesofsummer said, there could be some potential racism or prejudice at play when it comes to hiring, as well. It happens. Arguably everyone will have to get hired at some point, whether they are a Jazzmyne or a [name_m]Frederick[/name_m]…and I think that the more ‘suit-and-tie’ the position, the more likely they will hire someone whose name is a bit more professional. Idk. My nurse last year was named Tweety, after the yellow cartoon bird, and she said that she usually receives laughs about her name, but got hired based on her experience level…There is no clear-cut answer to this.
Honestly, though, I personally do put some thought in how my child’s name could impact his or her future. My name tastes tend to be very traditional, so I wouldn’t be going for something like [name_u]Fable[/name_u] or [name_u]Winter[/name_u] anyhow, but I pay attention to how the names I like are spelled, sound together, appear on paper, and would sound at graduation/marriage ceremony/etc. Spelling, like I said, is very key to me. I think it is odd to spell [name_u]Cade[/name_u] as [name_u]Kade[/name_u] or Kayd, or find a “new” spelling of an -aiden name, because you are still naming them the original name and people are not going to see the “unique” spelling unless they see your child’s name written down. It’s loads easier to stick with something normally spelled, especially if you are going for a word name or rather ‘out there’ name.
I don’t try to project my hopes and dreams for my kids on them with their names. I wouldn’t give them an artsy sounding name just because I’d like for them to be calm and see the beauty in things, etc. We are naming little adults, not extensions of our own interests.
I think it really depends on the uncommon name too. For example, the name [name_f]Tina[/name_f] was given to only 156 girls in 2015, but I doubt it would really hold her back. They use [name_m]Ivan[/name_m] as an example of an uncommon name, but [name_m]George[/name_m] was ranked lower. I would put a lot more emphasis on spelling and pronunciation than popularity.
I still consider it, which is why I would be a lot more conservative if I was naming actual children, but I don’t think it’s enough to avoid using a name you love. There are people that have done well with unique names ([name_f]Aphrodite[/name_f] [name_m]Jones[/name_m], [name_m]Wolf[/name_m] Blitzer, etc) and there’s more of a push towards unique names. What might be the case now, may not be true in 18 years.