Do you think your name helps or hinders you in life?

Helps.

#1 most popular girl name in the 90s. I work in a ‘if your face fits’ career. I think having an obvious white middle class name contributes to ‘my face fitting’. No one at my level is unlike me which is disgusting tbh.

Mine is very pretty, have actually never met another person with my name, but its diffiicult to pronounce at first glance for people who arent a speaker of the language of origin. If they ask how to pronouce it, I tell them and then its done. Never hindered me, its always a talking point as someone always says how lovely it is. It does get pronounced wrong but to the point it hindered me? No, but im very patriotic and proud of my name 🥰

I do feel for ladies call Karen these days though, every Karen i know is lovely and its a shame that so many people now hate their name because of the association and jokes made about it. Also knew a lady called Isis which is a beautiful name with a gorgeous meaning but obviously has connotations now too which caused problems for her with silly people who judged her.

I like my name. It’s often mistaken for two other commonly used names (for my generation) which I get called all the time. MIL calls me by one of those names! But my name is neither too pretty nor too harsh, it’s not well-used. It’s a nice name. I’d say it was a help, as it’s definitely not a hindrance.

Neutral

Mine is a classic, pretty but thoroughly out of fashion and not yet coming back. I’ve never felt it helped or hindered me but I guess it is more “posh” than not.

Hinders. It's totally dated (80's).

Neither really, my first name does date me to a certain period, but my surname is foreign so the 2 together make for an extremely uncommon name.

Very common name in my home country so no fewer than six of us in my class all through primary — it took me until I was living in my mid-20s in another country to actually respond if called, as I was so used to it being someone else. Unfortunately it then attracted xenophobic ethnic slurs in the UK, but that’s not on my name.

I’m curious as to what a “lower class” name is?

Are there any similar to yours that you can share?

Helped 😁 Or at least has never caused me any issues. My name is classic and popular enough that most people never comment on it. Everyone knows how to say and spell it ( there’s loads of examples of my name in songs, books, films etc) and its well used in many countries - yet I was the only one in school (as it’s only occasionally made it into the very lower end of the top 100 in the UK - so it’s not that popular and is fairly timeless/ non- dated).

In fact, I feel so lucky my parents chose the name they did that I really struggled to name my own DC as it was quite hard to find a name that had all those qualities! 🤣In the end I gave my DS a name that is more popular than might be ideal, but is still at least timeless and international, everyone knows how to say and spell it, lots of pop culture examples etc (think Thomas, William, Alexander type name). Time will tell whether he’ll be bothered that they’ll likely be at least another couple of boys with the same name at senior school.

My name is Alexandra. I regularly get called “Alexander” in doctors/dentist waiting rooms, over the phone, in work emails. It’s infuriating.

I go by Alex most of the time and a new starter at work asked if my name was “Alec”. I replied “As in Baldwin?” Felt mean but it just riled me up. It’s not a difficult name to get wrong 😂

My name is Elizabeth but always refer to myself as Lizzie. Get actually really annoyed when people use the wrong name!!

I like my name. It's unique but not totally unheard of. I think it suits me. I don't think I could have been called a Laura or Sophie for example.

I can only think if you have a bad name then it must be a hindrance; I've come across a Destiny and Cherry, both working professionals but their name doesn't match their profession as such. It sounds judgey I know, but very hard to take legal advice from a Destiny.

My son's dad is Northern European and my son is probably the only one in the uk with this name combo. He's forever spelling both names but it's a cool name. He's got a compelling personality but his name makes him stand out too. He in his 20's

Sounds like it @SteggySawUs !

I like my name, it's classic, easy to remember, has lots of nickname opportunities and is very rarely misspelled or mispronounced. I knew one other girl with the same name in school but it didn't matter that much, certainly didn't hinder me in any way.

Likewise. I wonder if we have the same name! It's generationally 'wrong ' for me and people make assumptions about my age/type of person just based on the name. Hate my name 😓

Mine is a classic, been in the top 50 since I was born in the 80s right up till now.

Only issue is there are always multiple wherever I am. There are 5 at my current workplace plus 4 with a very similar name, (Louise/Louisa tupe names) which gets confusing. For this reason at work I'm often addressed by my last name which is the kind of name that lends itself to being used in that way iyswim. I'm not keen on that as my last name is horrible!

There are 8 Claire/Clares, 5 Matts and 4 Daves too though so it's not just me!

I wouldn't say my name has either hindered or helped me, and I really can't see how a name could do either? Mine is more usually a male's name so I have had letters and emails addressed to Dear Sir, but that doesn't bother me at all, and I love my name.

Neither, its so boring and average that its a nothing name which is fine

@theduchessofspork , mine's very unusual, so it doesn't compare.

Why would that hinder you?

I have a v average name, certainly no disadvantage.

FFS forgot to say, my name marks out my age instantly. I tried to avoid that with my DC, 2 out of the 3 have timeless names, The other became popular just after naming him.

I hate my name and was given a shortened version at the age of 16 by my boss, which I was fine with and which most people know me by. The only people who use my "Sunday name" now are my Dad and my sister. I have an assumed name which I love which was given to me by friends many years ago and may change my name to this or something else by Deed at some point in the future.

Never liked my name, typical 50s/ early 60s, unlikely to return type name. I did prefer my middle name but never got into using it as an alternative.

I've always loved my name. Ahead of the times when I was born because there are much younger girls with the name now. Mine was given due to historical connection whereas others just like the name.

There is obviously unconscious and conscious bias with names! At school, on CV's, in the workplace etc. Unusual spellings, difficult to pronounce, not a known name where the child grows up or perceived 'foreign' can all play a part whether it helps or hinders someone.