Could employers judge people by their names?

Nurses Career Support

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I really should be in bed right now. But after talking to other new grads in my area that are also jobless I just wanted to get some opinions. Do you feel that people's names may prevent them from getting them a job as a nurse? I know we've all heard, silly names before and I'm just wondering would say, "Ms Poppy Sunflower" be offered a job? Or would a recruiter look at the name and be like, "heck no, trash bin"!:jester:

I'm just curious and this is not a slam to anyone who has a name that is different. Shoot my name is completly, better yet, extremly hard to prononue.:lol2: But even though my name may be hard to pronouce its not silly or childish sounding. I'm wondering would Bambie buttercup :lol2: find it easy to find employment.

I know this seems like a weird topic (blame it on sleep deprevation). But after talking to some friends about issues that they believe might be preventing them from getting jobs. I just started thinking about how names can effect landing a job as a nurse. My friend was saying her obviously ethnic name might be keeping her from employment because it might be preceived as ghetto. I usually roll my eyes whenever anyone starts swinging the golden race card(you know that card that has the innate ability to seem to be the cause of whatever the user wishes it to be. No matter even if the said offender is of the same race). :rolleyes:

But it got me thinking do we really view people by their names. I used silly examples here but is say Jennifer Rose seen as more dependble or gentle towards patients? Would Poppy sunflower be viewed for a job as maybe childish and unreliable. Would Cu'nae Alize' be percieved as ghetto and unprofessional?

Sorry for the long post. But I am curious to what others have experienced relating to this topic or stories they may have heard. I guess I should have not read the silly children's names post tonight either. :)

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
I think it does happen, but I also think it's becoming so common for "unusual" names to be the norm, that it will happen less and less.

That's what I think. I suppose there will aways be a few bigots out there somewhere, but hopefully, we are becoming a little more comfortable with diversity than we used to be. Or at least ... employers will look past the name and look at the person before making a final decision.

As a NICU specialist for many years, I was often amazed at what people would name their children -- as if they never thought about what it would be like for the kid as s/he grew up with that name. Sometimes, we'd think, "Oh that poor kid, s/he is going to be teased about that name."

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
wonderful references he received, his resume and cover letter, he did not understand why he was not even interviewed. I asked him to show me the resume, and when I saw the coverletter, his 'professional' email address was something similar to "[email protected]". Almost fainted.

Our hospital recruiter tells me she gets applications from people with "questionable" e-mail names all the time. Her favorite example was one from someone who applied to our children's hospital with an e-mail name that was something along the lines of "Ih8kids". She also cautions about phone answering machine messages. Employers also notice when those seem inappropriate.

Specializes in Psych.

The book "Freakonomics" contained a study that when two equally qualified candiates went into an interview, the guy name Bill overwhelmingly got the job over a guy name Anfrony.

Well if you WILL call your kid Chardonnay Chavtastic don't expect the HR departments to be fighting over her :)

Do Americans know what a chav is?

Specializes in Plastics. General Surgery. ITU. Oncology.

Probably not.

It was just a daft joke anyway.

Probably not.

It was just a daft joke anyway.

You should explain! I live in the US and they don't understand "daft" either - it's a totally different language over here!

I bet there are a few girls called "Chardonnay", especially if that's what the mother was drinking when she conceived! I have to agree that people may be judged by their names. I know a few people with minority sounding last names who have been specifically considered for jobs to satisfy diversity requirements.

You should explain! I live in the US and they don't understand "daft" either - it's a totally different language over here!

Does daft have a meaning other than "stupid; inane"?

For the record, we do speak English in the US. Some of us are pretty familiar with the language and have a vocabulary that consists of more than 6 words. Daft is not some sort of British colloquialism unique to their island only.

Does daft have a meaning other than "stupid; inane"?

For the record, we do speak English in the US. Some of us are pretty familiar with the language and have a vocabulary that consists of more than 6 words. Daft is not some sort of British colloquialism unique to their island only.

"Daft" may not be a British colloquialism, strictly speaking, but it just isn't used very often in the US. We're far more likely to say that something is crazy. You can be highly educated and still not have struck up an acquaintance with the word.

So, for the record, "daft" = soft in the head, crazy, inane, insane, loopy.

As for "chav," you can Google that and find all kinds of interesting definitions.

Specializes in Plastics. General Surgery. ITU. Oncology.

:) SO interesting are the definitions of "chav" that I thought better of posting a link.

Never mind. English sense of humour. I apologise for it if anyone took offence.

I did not mean to offend, nor did I suggest that Americans have a limited vocabulary - quite the contrary.

However, there are words used in the UK that are not used in the US and vice versa - especially slang. Daft is a British colloquialism, with Old English origins, but as you have pointed out, it is used elsewhere. I guess I should have qualified my comment by stating that I have not personally met anyone who understands the word.

Anyway - this is off topic.

I work on a postpartum unit and have a nice, thick callus on my tongue from biting it when people tell me what they're naming their kids. Names so long the mother has to pull out a piece of paper to spell it for me (what is a poor kindergarten kid supposed to do five years from now?), names with apostrophes and hyphens, names that have seven vowels and two consonants, names that relate to alcohol or cars or rock music or geography, names that no one else on the planet has, names that six kids in our nursery have, and the list goes on.

I do wonder what the future holds for some of these children.

On a similar but separate note, even though it may not be right, kids with black-sounding names (Devontay, Shaquandra, Ja'verian, Nyesha) could find themselves with an extra hurdle to climb over.

I remember reading an article many years ago that said the mini-series Roots started a trend toward naming black children with pseudo-African names. These were names that sounded ethnic but were invented by the parents. Roots was first aired back in 1977, so now, many of the mothers on my unit have this kind of name.

I don't know if this has hindered their educational or employment status, but I have wondered. I don't feel this is an "askable" question as it could easily be interpreted as a negative comment on their name or the name they have chosen for their child. But I still wonder.

Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.
I'm an African-American female who was born and raised in California. Here's my father's rationale for giving me a "mainstream" sounding name: "We didn't want you to have one of those crazy-sounding made-up names."

Names are also generational. I was born in the early 1980s, which was a time period when parents were naming their daughters Amanda, Nicole, Jessica, Alexis, and Jennifer. My name was popular during the Baby Boom period of the 1950s when people were naming their girls Linda, Norma, Shirley, Debbie, and Judy. Therefore, a hiring manager who discriminates against older employees might assume that I'm a middle-aged Baby Boomer by looking at the name on my resume when, in fact, I'm in my late twenties and happen to be the offspring of two Baby Boomers.

I'm a Baby Boomer and my first name was unusual at the time but has become more common among Gen X and Millennials. Because of that, people who don't know me often assume that I am younger than I am. I definitely see that as an advantage and while I prefer that my friends use a derivative of my first name, I sometimes go by my full name in professional situations.

However, when I was growing up, I would have loved to have been named Linda, Debbie, or Judy. When I was a teenager and someone heard my first name, they'd always say that it was "weird". I hated my name when I was a kid but now....thanks, Mom! :)

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