Jayden

Rabbit It's often a case of 100+ CVs and 8 interview slots though.

I would hope an employer would interview John and Jayden, its not all about paperwork.
Two people can never exactly match in person seriously I'd be interested to find out two candidates are exactly the same after meeting.

Jayden isn't a name I like much, BUT I think Jayden Joseph go well together and I have no difficulty in imaging a Judge Jayden.

HTH

Given two or more impeccable CVs, employers tend to choose John over Jayden. This is fact.

What you decide to do with that fact is up to you.

Maryz please come back and explain what it was that you think I just said.

CV?

I just don't believe that a person who has an impeccable CV in front of them would just throw it in the bin because its the 'wrong' name. I would like real life examples of this, because the Sharon's and Tracey's of my acquaintance are doing very well.

DD has a posh name - with connotations of the U/C - ha ha. However, her CV presumably will have her address and her (state) education on it, which will be a give away that she is not...What then? Will her C be chucked in the bin too?

.....because Maryz people didn't stop racist and sexist and sectarian hiring practices just to be nice - they did it because they were forced to by equality legislation.

"I look forward to anyone wanting to call their child Mohammed being told that it will limited their job prospects"

Here you go:

It will limit their job prospects and make his life difficult while boarding planes ("random" search, they call it ) and crossing borders.

HTH.

Why do some people assume that everyone wants to be 'middle class', like middle class people are some kind of gods that we should all aspire to be like

Feckled I see what your saying, but the difference to me is that when you leave your job interview you can change your clothes, you can leave a church service and have fun afterwards.
Your name is your name you take it everywhere at all times forever it should be who you are.

"People are twats and judge people based on one experience with the name. So the answer to that is to advise anyone who likes the name to avoid it?"

Err... yes.

Except it is not "one experience with the name". It is the general perception of the name.

You might like the name Chardonnay, for example, but I'd certainly hope that someone would let you know how that name will mark your DD before you burden her with it.

It shouldn't have to be outlawed, Fideline.Did I really have to say that? Is it ok to discriminate against people who are working class just because a law hasn't been passed against it.

Of course I didn't say it is okay!! Did I really have to say THAT?

You think everyone will just stop being prejudiced? Just wake up in a state of enlightenment?

But everyone has to alter their behaviour to some extent in order to get through life. If you have a job interview, you dress smartly and answer politely. If you're in church, you bow your head and stay silent when praying. If you're at Ascot, you shout loudly when your horse is racing. If you meet the Queen, you address her as Ma'am and curtsey.

Of course, you could ignore all of the above - turn up to an interview in a tracksuit, chew gum and swear, or talk through a church service, but you'd hardly get on in life.

"I always thought it was a good thing to challenge discrimination in any form and not just accept that is how it is."

Challenging it is not the same as saying it doesn't exist in the first place.

"And I don't like the idea of having to name children according to which "class" they are, or which class their parents aspire to be is ludicrous"

There are plenty of perfectly nice names that don't fit into class categories - parent's don't 'have' to do anything, it's a question of taste and choice.

Maryz all the types of discrimination you name can (and have been) legislated for. Do you really see class prejudice being outlawed in the UK any time soon?

all the baby names threads have lead me to think that the best policy is not to ask on MN what people think of your names! God, DD's name (both her first name and first-middle name combo) is regularly derided on MN as being too common popular, but we think it's beautiful and that's all that matters, frankly. I have no idea if it'll mark her out as a future judge, nurse, teacher, archaeologist, dustman, whatever. I do hope it won't get too dated, though now I realise how popular it is perhaps it will, but hey ho. It's got one spelling and one pronunciation which is handy (I saw that as someone who has a less-usual spelling of a classic name and I spend my life sending back documents to be redone - thanks parents!).

"Aren't we supposed to teach our children that the world is at their feet and if they work hard and have a good work ethic and ambition then they can achieve great things?"

In an ideal world this would be true.

But it's not an ideal world. I prefer to help my children deal with the world as it is, not how I would like it to be.

Like don't have a tattoo on your face. It will hold you back. Whether it's right or wrong for people to have prejudices against those with tattoos on their faces doesn't really matter.
They do, so we have to deal with that.

I am very sorry you feel slighted by me. I would be a fucking idiot to look down on the WC given that I am but one generation and one university degree removed from the WC. I and my parents benefitted from a degree of social mobility that now seems denied to my daughter's generation and I think this is a wicked shame and waste of people's lives and talents.

Interesting you should say that. My parents only got their degrees because the existence of Birkbeck University meant they could study at night, one of my grandparents signed their marriage certificate with a cross, two of my great grandparents were born in a workhouse. I have been allowed all sorts of chances.

Maybe I feel the fragility of the progress I too. Maybe I am not very bold as a result