Names and Careers

[Glindathegoodwitch]

I often read on here & see people commenting on the posts along the lines of

'He/She would never get taken seriously in the professional world'
'Imagine Dr Such and such name'
'Imagine going for a job interview with that name'

Are people genuinely serious when posting this? Or is it just a jibe they feel that they can use at a name they don't personally like?

If I were in a position to interview somebody, which I have been in the past, it wouldn't even be on my radar to take their name into consideration. I mean, I may raise an eyebrow at a name, pull a face (in my head) at a name or more than likely it would intrigue me. But never in a million years would I stop a clearly capable person or perfect candidate for a job on the basis of their name that they didn't choose for themselves? A name doesn't define character or capability surely?

And if Dr Princess Consuela Bananahammock wanted to save my life or someone close to me's life by performing open heart surgery, I wouldn't say 'Sorry. No, I just cant take you and your name seriously!'

In equal measure, I would not name a child 'Richard', 'Bill' or 'Alan' presuming that will mean they will become a multi billionaire entrepreneur....

I just want to know if people genuinely believe what they are saying???

It's not just the judgement of others as an adult but also you're experience as a child. Bullying, or lots of reference to have a princess/chavvy/studious/cool name etc can also become part of your identity and how you see yourself. Like if you're called darcy after the dancer then your more likely to think of yourself as good at dancing and this put more effort in at it and have more confidence.

Your

I can't see what's wrong with Lilly-Mae or Gracie-rose

For a baby / child....nothing. But for an adult, everything!

you have to know what you're doing with hyphenation. If it's French or Catholic, it's ok. ie, Anne-Sophie, Marie-Elle = acceptable

Lily-Mae, too cutesy, too on trend. Obviously this is just my opinion and worth no more than one opinion.

Its a certain social group that are likely to rent rather than buy in the first place, so its not the best reflection on social mobility.

That's not true in all countries - there are parts of Europe where practically everyone rents, rich or poor, especially in cities. I don't know if Denmark is one of them but it wouldn't surprise me.

Really simply, yes, I think it's possible that giving your child a name that marks them (or realistically, you) out as a member of the lower-educational attainment/socio-economic stratae of society has the potential to disadvantage them.

Now, I have interviewed/ selected candidates for interviews etc, and I would like to think that their name is not something I particularly care about.

HOWEVER, I work with a number of older, more conservative (snobby?) types, and in fact, in my industry, they make up a significant proportion of the higher ranking management. The same is true of many other industries - law, medicine etc.

There is a woman I work with whose name is a mispelling of a type of sweet. Think something like Cherberrt. She's an accountant. She's lovely and her name is neither here nor there in her ability to do her job. However, I have heard more than one senior member of the team at work sneer "Cherberrt?? Is that really someone's name in accounts? Good grief!". Now, given that these people are happy enough to voice their prejuduces so openly, what if she had been applying for my job? WHere they would have been the people interviewing her. I guess it's not too much of a stretch to say they might have given her a harder time, or taken more to be coonvinced by her than by me, with my safe, classical Greek name.

Oh dear such snobbery, I'm sure one of you is Katie Hopkins....who wants to have a name that was top 10 the year they were born?! Not me! And although Lilly-Mae or Gracie-rose aren't my cup of tea naming a child is down to personal taste and as they get older they can bloody well be Lilly or grace....who cares?! Maybe if people were less judgemental and stuck up it wouldn't matter if you were called John or jed or Jesus it's a name, it's a first impression but it doesn't therefore define a person. Mumsnet =judgy yucky snobs.

Oh dear saying the whole of mums net is judgy yucky snobs is itself extremely judgemental when only a handful of users have commented on this thread.

From what I've experienced so far that has been the case, I'm sure that not everyone is like that but it's put me off, isn't is supposed to be a friendly lighthearted site?

I read the Freakonomics book. They talk about the guy with name Loser who does extremely well and his brother called Winner who struggles to achieve anything. I thought authors were saying both forces are at work, people can certainly overcome the disadvantage of a funny name but it may not be easy.

Seems to me that as funny names become more common then people will care less about them.

IMO, the colleagues sneering at Cherrbert's name are the ones with the problem, not Cherrbert herself. We shouldn't choose our children's names based on avoiding such judgemental twattery. Better to roll your eyes at the judgemental twats and move on.

lullabelle85, you need to take your personal emotions out of this subject for a minute! Names and who chooses them and why and their cycles and usage in different countries is a fascinating subject. To write off any interest in name usage as ''yucky snobbishness' or whatever you're doing here is incredibly simplistic. You're taking people's interest in a fascinating subject and giving it the most negative and judgemental interpretation possible. So, em, pot = black

I think it's down to a class thing in this country.
Different names are popular amongst different groups so you are more likely to have a heart surgeon called William than say Mason because parents who are likely to have a heart surgeon son are choosing different style names than the parents of say a brick layer.
I don't mean to offend with these views but I think it's the family from which you come that determines your likeliness of becoming a HCJ etc and those families simply have different taste/naming style

urbanefox has nailed it lullabelle I'm afraid.