Do you make assumptions about people based on their names?

[SaraHoliday]

Do you make an assumption about someone based on their name?

I'll start on the next post....

Is also quietly and devotedly in love with the vicar, but wouldn't admit this under pain of death.

And you would judge them for that?

Thats judging the parent not the bearer of the name.

I try not to but my Mother does it with children as a former teacher she often thinks she can predict a childs behaviour based in their name. Liam, Jamie and Poppy are allegedly the naughty children. Matthew, Laura and Sarah are the good ones.

But, as a teacher, I wouldn't judge the child purely on the basis of their name.

Alexander MacDonald: probably wears tartan at weddings.

That's about as far as it goes.😂

All bar one of the Sallys I’ve met are so lovely. Lovely people with a lovely name. Wish I had changed my name to Sally years ago. Too late now…

I have a friend (ironically called Sara) who talks about 'blue' jobs and 'pink' jobs around the house to differentiate between eg: the person who drills holes and puts up shelves, and the person who does the dusting and arranges ornaments afterwards. You can guess which is which.

I do but I wish I didn’t. I also wish I wasn’t usually right. I’m a teacher, so I try really hard not to but my heart does sink when I look at unique names on the register.

Yes, BUT poor child doesn’t get to choose their name, so I wouldn’t judge them for it. If anything, I’d judge the parents giving their children bizarre or made-up names. Like the example above, Chardonnay, or one I genuinely saw on an episode of Border Force: a man named Dazzeling. 🫣

I also think unusual names are almost a luxury when you’re extremely wealthy, because your child is far less likely to have to worry about how their name will be perceived in a conventional workplace. Take the Kardashians/Jenners, for example: North, Saint, Dream, Stormi. Or Molly-Mae calling her daughter Bambi 😬

When you’re born into that level of wealth and privilege, being called something unconventional can become part of your “brand.” For an ordinary child who’ll eventually be sending out CVs, attending interviews and trying to be taken seriously professionally, a very unusual name could potentially affect how people perceive them. whether that’s fair or not. That’s why I think parents should consider the fact that they’re naming a future adult, not just a cute baby.

The teachers on this thread judging kids by their names are in the wrong job.

I think it’s just adding to an earlier thread about Darren, Lee and Mark . Last time I looked that had remained fairly lighthearted …. (Although it may have ended up as a bunfight and deleted - you never can tell!)

I love that kind of name. But I do picture a family with an ‘alternative’ lifestyle and not a teacher, doctor or solicitor. So it’s true there is some judgement going on, even if that judgement isn’t negative.

Sarah, lovely lady and a good friend.

That’s Sarah with an H 🤣

I think it’s more about painting an imaginary picture of the person and their background, rather than judging them to be good or bad.

As someone who has the name that is still being dragged and ridiculed through the internet, I think this is a very nasty post. Name stereotypes can be very hurtful and do lasting damage.

I got married in the same church on the same day as somebody called Fenella Double-Barrelled who was marrying a similarly double-barrelled fiance. Apparently they were going to join forces and had decided to have a very long quadruple-barrelled surname. I wonder how that turned out.😂

My assumptions are usually about age.
Steve, Bob, Bill, Susan, Angela - around 65 to 75

Judging from the contacts I had with other businesses before I retired, there are a surprisingly large number of people called Karen in accounts departments.

Of course! I assume someone with a name like Ptolemy is more likely to come from one part of the city, whereas someone with a name like Madeson-Leegh is more likely to come from another, and have parents who have a certain level of education compared to Ptolemy's. Jaxxon is more likely to be a bit spirited, as are his parents, for example, whereas Elowen is more likely to be from a family that forages walnuts and cycles everywhere. It's more the parents I make assumptions about, and of course they then raise their children in a certain way - which is how the assumptions about names come about.

These are all extremely funny and extremely accurate but Jamie actually made me gasp. 😄

I think you should be hired to write an addendum to all baby naming books everywhere.

I'm glad to hear it! I did feel mean after I wrote that. All kids deserve a chance.
My late mum told me that, as a young woman from a rough background, she started going to church and there was a guy there who knew her father (in business). She overheard this guy saying to another church-goer, "How can anyone decent come from that family?" But she was decent.

I have friends with 3 of the names you’ve listed and they don’t fit your unflattering descriptions at all, OP.

This kind of immature ‘lighthearted fun’ might be mildly amusing between good friends in complete confidence for about 30 seconds but actually I find it pathetically childish and quite worrying from someone who works in HR. I’ve read that some teachers make the same kinds of assumptions. I have been a Cub Scout leader for years so the same names often reappear when new children join but I’ve never been so bored or petty to look at a name and decide that I know exactly what the child is going to be like.

’Only a bit of lighthearted fun’ is the usual defence of a bully, in case you didn’t know.

And yes, I am ‘great fun at parties’ before some wise-guy comes back with that predictable response.

I once had to interview someone called Barbie, not short for Barbara, she was American and Barbie was her full name. I did have to remind myself that she was not responsible for her parent’s choices!