Outgrowing names

[Happydoingitjusttheonce]

In dentist waiting room yesterday and dental nurse calls "Alfie". A near 6ft 16 year old with a tracksuit and key wig rises from his seat. He probably made a cute Alfie when he was a toddler. Do kids outgrow cutesy names?

That's actually a very good idea Banned. Some recruitment agencies do actually send in anonymous cv's so you've no idea of name, sex or specific age. But we only use prof agencies for certain roles.

So if someone introduced themselves as Cathy or Kate or Liz would you call them Catherine or Elizabeth? Nicknames and abbreviations are 2 different things. A nickname is buttons or pickle, an abbreviation is just a normal name.

Edmund Hal is a short form of Henry. It's short for Harry which is short for Henry... So Mr Cumberbatch's son has a name that's only half a name.

I feel like that with Poppy's it's cute for a little girl and even a teen but a 30year old Poppy sound ridiculous to me, I can't imagine a Poppy having a high flying career, it's so silly because it's just a name.

I think it's as much the pet thing as a class thing. I know 2 dogs called poppy, 2 Alfie, 1 Teddy, 2 Freddie, a milly, a molly and a daisy. But I do also know dogs called Terry, John and Mike!

Agree with op.
I know a few toddlers called Bear.

That won't end well

Not my idea - it comes from anti-racism research where it was found that identical CVs with names taken from Black culture got far far fewer interviews than CVs with WASP names - this was fun the States.

But I bet it would work in other ways too. I've got a cute/formal nickname/name painting IRL and I don't use the cute one, which I'm known by, on formal documents.

Just read the link about ket wig. Seriously, OP that's such a shitty thing to write about someone. Alfie is a very popular name so I wouldn't even think twice about it.

I lived in a small village with lots of Italian and Portuguese roots so to me Alfie is a perfectly reasonable name for a man or child. but it's all relevant to the age of the other person. I would still call a 16 year old by his child hood moniker but would call someone much senior to me Alfred, Alfredo etc. (unless I would honestly botch up the pronunciation).

Totally agree with OP. I think girls/women can get away with it more easily than boys/men. I can imagine a lawyer or politician called Rosie or Poppy getting taken seriously, but not a Charlie or Freddie.

Oh FFS a person's name should not have any bearing on their competence at a job. Remind me not to apply at your company.

toffee1000 absolutely. I'm quite shocked at the discrimination being openly admitted to on this thread. You'd never think it was ok to discriminate on the grounds of gender or ethnicity or age (though I'm sure all those happen, sadly) so why is it ok to admit you discriminate by name?

I know a Chrystal-Diamond aged 3. I'm hoping she changes her name to something a bit less stripper like when she comes of age.

But there is a huge difference between Alfie and Katie/Bunnie and Bear lunch. Two are names/shortenings, two are animals. I suppose Cat falls into both categories...

Is this though because we tend to associate those names with toddlers?

Just like you might think 'how can someone look at baby and call them Colin, Jeffery or Derek'. Those sound like grown up names because they are the names that we only know grown up with.

I don't really like names that are shortened versions of full names and once expressed this loudly in the company of my parents having never realised that my name is a shortened version on a longer name!

It shouldn't matter but just like age, disability, gender etc, names have bearing on jobs.

Ket wig is the vernacular Shadow, the lads who have one use the term themselves whether they use ket or not. One thing this region can do is poke fun at itself. The lad had a ket wig. He spoke openly to a friend on his phone before seeing the dentist. He wasn't a cute little Alfie.

Musicposy - a name is not a protected characteristic under the Equality Act

I'd guess he's probably Alf to his mates. Yanbu.

Just a thought OP, how would you feel if someone didn't employ you due to your regional accent?

I thought name blind recruitment was fairly standard practice these days. I admit to having been a bit about its efficacy, but having read this thread I see the need now.

It's shameful.

It's like Katie Hopkins (see? another shortening) not allowing her kids to befriend those with names like Tyler or Charmaine. Your name helps form your whole identity. It reveals a lot about you; gender, ethnicity, often your class status. So discriminating based on names is a very slippery slope.

how would you feel if someone didn't employ you due to your regional accent?

I wouldn't employ the op if I heard her admit to sifting out applicants based on their name.

I think you're right - there are so many names out there which are adorable on a cute 3 year old, but are going to seriously lessen the likelihood of that person being taken seriously as a 30 year old. I'm scared to give examples and upset the parents of those examples - but they undoubtedly exist. But then again the world would be a lot more dull if everyone was give strong, serious, non-flowery names.

I don't have one nodogs, just flat vowels. The first CEO I worked for had the broadest, was an oxford graduate. I think the combo proved intriguing. But in my line of work, I wouldn't expect to have got to where I have done with a strong regional accent.

Unlike race, age and even accent to a large extent, names can be changed. I would absolutely question the judgment of someone who went through life with a stupid name without changing it, and their lack of good judgment would affect the overall opinion I'd form of them when making recruitment decisions.