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

[BrickPoet]

Hindered in primary due to too many with the same first name

Common name for my age.
I get called by my surname.
Or say I was Lisa ... I would be Lisa x.
Never bothers me.

I'm happy with my name. I was the only one at school. Strangely I don't meet others but in one job I had there were 3 of us! Before and since I've not met another. It's a nice enough name. Short and easy. I think it's deemed as a classy name. Given the option I wouldn't change it.

Something to consider: We have a surname that starts with a Z. My children all SWEAR that this disadvantages them at highschool because everything is done alphabetically and they get missed off because time runs out.

• Sit at the back of the classroom because they are asked to sit in role order. Less teacher attention.
• Don't get feedback on work because time runs out and they're always last on the list.
• Last on the list for voting (standing for school elections etc)
• Lower grades and harsher feedback because the teacher is tired and irritable by the time they finally get to the last few papers.

My eldest has genuinely considered changing her last name to my family name to be near the front of the alphabet.

@Mushroomwithaview my maiden name started with a v. I agree with your dic however it taught me a great deal of resilience and work that bit harder. In the end it was a massive advantage!

There was that research that showed that a massive percentage of professional athletes have their birthdays in he first half of the year because the kids who are older in their year at school tend to be bigger and better at sport > therefore make the first team early > therefore get the better coach and better opportunities etc.

I wonder of there is similar research to see if successful people tend to have early alphabet names!

@Mushroomwithaview dh is an August birthday, ds a December birthday. They are both very sporty. DH trialled for the County; DS did not quite make the cut.

OTH dd and I are May and July. Who knows if we would have made the cut if we were sporty. We aren't. It's genetic rather than birth month.

@Mushroomwithaview one has to make the best of what is dealt.

I love my name now (derivative of Rose), hated it growing up because of a certain puppet TV programme. I feel like it's reasonably classic, not common or over used, it's nice to see it still being used now. My maiden name, well let's just say I was glad to see the back of it because I had to spell it to every single person I ever spoke to!!

Not hinder, but people assume with my name I am posh. I swear I was thrown from a showmans caravan as the circus left town and I landed in my mother's arms 😆.

I’ve got a name (nothing like my username!) which can be pinpointed to a decade or two but I really don’t like the non-standard spelling and, if you ask me, the spelling perhaps reveals my working class roots. (I’m not saying what it is though and I’m aware that’s so annoying!) My name is quite middle age, middle class if spelt correctly. I didn’t love this as an early twenty something year old interviewing alongside and trying to blend in with middle class colleagues. Towards my thirties, and as I grew up and became far less insecure, I then kind of leant into my working class background and it shaped my interests which became my strengths at work. I was the only person with my background in my team and I learned to embrace my name along with where I came from and how my experiences growing up were wildly different to most colleagues. (Previously this embarrassed me when younger.)

Having said that, we still discussed unconscious biases when naming our DC. My DH also cared about this as he has an obviously ‘foreign’ name. He thinks it’s held him back in some organisations he’d rather not work at now he’s older and more choosy but that it helped him progress in others where diversity was really valued. It’s depressing that this even crossed our minds of course. Our DC have ‘foreign’ names though and a big fuck off to any organisation where that’s a hindrance frankly.

I don't think my name has hindered me so maybe by default, it has helped me. It's a name that was popular in the late 70/80s so there are lots of Rebeccas around but it's not a name that feels overused or tied to a specific era. Interestingly, when I was at primary school I didn't know of a single other Rebecca but we moved house a couple of hundred miles away and at secondary school I ended up in the same class as one Rebecca and the same swimming lessons as another.

Having a fairly classic, but ordinary, name that's recognisable to most people has its uses. My DC have names of a similar ilk.