Just to keep it fair, we also mock celebrities that come up with odd and unusal names for their offspring.

Wait, what about "Laveranues Coles"? He is still in the NFL...

And LaDainian Tomlinson?

There are reasons why we may name our children "funky" names that eventually become common place: such as JaLisa, Tomika, or Kenya...

But hey, it is America last I checked. And the Constitution and Bill of Rights says I can name my kid a name whenever and whatever I want. It can be a jacked up name or a more "appropriate" name that lacks creativity.

My mother's name could be viewed a "ghetto" because her mother could not spell...

I don't know why you keep throwing out the names of football players.

....and I am perferctly well aware that you can name your kid whatever you want. That is totally besides the point.

You can obviously name your kid whatever you want. The point is that you're usually not doing them any favors if you name them something off the wall.

Whoa. People can name their kids anything they want; I certainly don't dispute that. I haven't outlined anything as essential for "your" names. I just pointed out the results of a study about resume screenings; I didn't screen the resumes.

I joke around about naming my kids after characters in Shakespeare, but I think they'd take a lot of extra teasing for it, so I don't think I really would.

So I wonder if you know that giving your child a certain kind of name will close doors for him or her, why would you do that? Is your answer "just because we can"?

Oh so like "Moon Unit and Dwezil Zappa" don't have any favors? Or Angelina Jolie?

Doors are closed for people for any given reason. The way names are spelled to their looks or what interviewers are looking for in a candidate. That is the nature of jobs and careers in this country (I am unsure how is it in other countries).

If people want to be prejudicial regarding names, then let them say it and relish and bask in their bigotry.

But some people make a ton of money based on their weirded out name and that becomes all relative...

You think the kids who were named after the first gulf war: Bush and Saddam are having issues?

Hayle, I knew kids named after Marc Antony and Cleopatra and they were anything but Black...

So, yes, Black names can get wild and out, but so do other names and the everyone wants there child to be that one child who will change the world and become unique.

Too bad they didn't tell them it has more to do with actions than names...

Once again, you're referencing abnormal circumstances.

If a person of normal means did that then no, thats not doing them any favors. What is interesting or appealing in the entertainment or sports world very likely might not work in most other contexts. Take away the celebrity status and you've just got a weird name.

On a side note, I think its stupid even for Hollywood kids to be named weird things. Its setting them even more apart from the general public. Hollywood is messed up and stupid enough as it is, I wouldn't want my kid to have a dumb name to boot. It seems like parents are sometimes setting their kids up to follow in their celebrity footsteps, which is the complete opposite of what I'd want. I'd want my kid as far away from that scene is possible, hoping that maybe they could grow up to be a respectable and minimally scarred individual who may make it through life without 3 divorces, a drug problem and criminal convictions.

Their dad was Frank Zappa......one of the 100 greatest music artists of all time. I'm pretty sure they don't have to worry about anything financially, work related, etc. Now if they were normal, run of the mill kids....then no, their parents naming them that wouldn't be doing them any favors.

...and Angelina Jolie? Once again, her dad is Jon Voight. C'mon, sure you realize how referencing these types of names are not doing anything for whatever argument you are trying to make.

I think the bias against unusual names isn't an area in which people recognize their own prejudice, so there's no way they are knowingly "basking in their bigotry." (although that's a cool turn of phrase)

My point, and I only kind of have one, is that this if I were going to knowingly choose to do something that would run the risk of stereotyping my hypothetical kid, I wouldn't want the stereotype to run to "ghetto" or redneck, so I guess Brandie Sue* and Traquanda* are both out, not that there's anything wrong with those names in the abstract.

I also intend to avoid trendy traditional names if I can because I'm sure people never anticipated the day when five girls in class are named Katie or boys are named Corey, not that there's anything wrong with those names, either.

One other drawback as I see it is that when there's not a strong relationship between the pronunciation and the spelling, the first day of school is bad for everyone.

* If you are named either Brandy Sue or Traquanda, I apologize.

Uh wow - you even quoted the study . . . I mean, Occam's Razor here, killer. Black-sounding names get fewer callbacks - but you're convinced and sure there's no "basking"? I don't get it.

That is so true....unfortunate but true.

I guess Condoleezza Rice better be happy she made it, because I'm sure her app would have gotton looked over if she were not in the position she is in today.

Eventhough I do have to freedom to name my children (whenever I choose to have them) whatever I want; knowing that applicants get passed over because of how their name sounds I would not put them at a disadvantage.

How hilarious is this...

Oh well...

Sorry, you all, I was trying to emphasize the "knowingly" part.

I think the study revealed a bias that the screeners likely weren't even aware of. I don't think the screeners had the intent to remove everyone of color, if for no other reason than it would clearly be illegal.

I didn't mean they weren't biased; of course they were. But if you don't even know you are doing it, it will be even harder to correct, but of course, no less real in terms of harm.

This was the part I was trying to respond to. My impression, and it's a pretty dim memory, is that the resume screeners didn't know until it was pointed out what they had done, so they couldn't have declared what they were doing with relish and basked in it.

Sorry for being unclear.