Job search harder with "black" name
 

FROM THE CHICAGO SUN TIMES. What do you think? Although I love Afrocentric names, some of the more "interesting" invented names may hinder our kids more than help.

Job search harder with 'black' name

January 14, 2003

BY DAVE NEWBART STAFF REPORTER Advertisement



When sending out resumes, it helps if your name is Kristen or Brad.

If your name is Rasheed or Aisha, don't expect too many callbacks for interviews.

In fact, white-sounding names routinely elicit 50 percent more callbacks than black-sounding names, a new study done by a professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business found.

While resumes with better credentials resulted in 30 percent more callbacks for whites, they did not significantly help blacks, the study found.

"If you have an African-American name, it's a lot harder,'' said Marianne Bertrand, an associate professor of economics at U. of C.

Bertrand, along with a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, sent about 5,000 resumes in response to 1,300 want ads in the Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune between July 2001 and last May. The jobs were in sales, administrative support, clerical and customer service at various companies.

To determine which names to use, the professors analyzed birth certificates for names distinctively used by African Americans and ones used by whites.

They sent four resumes for each posting, two high-caliber applicants and two low-caliber applicants. One high-caliber applicant and one low-caliber applicant had a black sounding name, while one high-caliber applicant and one low-caliber applicant had a white sounding name. The professors compared the callback rate for each applicant. Callbacks, for the purposes of the study, included responses by telephone, letter or e-mail.

Resumes with "white'' names had a 10.1 percent chance of getting a callback, while "black'' names had a 6.7 percent chance. In other words, whites received a callback for every 10 resumes mailed, but blacks had to send 15 to spark interest.

"This represents a difference ... that solely can be attributed to name manipulation,'' the authors wrote. "Our results so far suggest that there is a substantial amount of discrimination in the job recruiting process.''

Companies that purported to be "equal opportunity employers'' were no more likely to respond to black resumes than other businesses. The two industries where blacks received more callbacks were transportation and communications, the authors found, but Bertrand said the difference was not significant enough to show a trend.

Dorris Roberts, president of the South Side branch of the NAACP, said the study's results were "disturbing, absolutely.''

He said companies often send job postings to his office soliciting minorities, when they have selected a white candidate for the job.

Carolyn Nordstrom, president of Chicago United, which seeks to increase corporate diversity, said the study shows the need to educate those who make hiring decisions--regardless of how many minorities are on staff. "We like to believe that this has changed, but this is evidence that it hasn't,'' Nordstrom said.

The Chicago Sun-Times provided a copy of the study to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, which represents 2,600 businesses in the area, but officials declined to comment.

I heard about this on the radio this morning. It's just one more reason why affirmative action is needed in the professional world

Not just the professional world, but in the educational world also. My name sounds nothing like an African- American name. When I applied for HBU my senior year I was accepted without interview. I came to move into my apartment on campus, and the young lady said that she was not expecting an African - American and asked for my identification. Now if that don't beat all. I was not only offended, but highly curious as to what the racial ora was of the University. Lets just say I am in the process of moving back home to SHSU.:rolleyes:

Maybe now people will think long and hard about the names they choose for their children! I swear I was in Wal-Mart one day and they paged an employee by the name of Tequila:eek:

Sad but true.......................
 

I've been in the HR field for awhile. First in corporate HR and now in the Staffing industry.

On the staffing side, I have seen highly skilled individuals passed over based on their names. I can almost see my customer's face cringe :( when I send some of the resumes over for consideration.

In cases where I think the applicant may be receptive, I will gently suggest that they use an initial and middle name or simply their middle name.

I will also tell you that some recruiters will not call an applicant (no matter the credentials) if they can't pronounce the name. (That goes across the board, no matter the ethnicity).

On a side note, we had a Caucasian young lady come in yesterday and when I read her application, I smiled a bit at her name (now you know I can't use the real one) was Sara Latifah :eek: Donovan.

No Surprise
 

I'm not surprised in the slightest.

While I may not like it, I'm grown up enough to realize that it's the way the world works.

If I had an "afro centric" name I might even go so far as to change it so that I could level the playing field.


Theresa

I too am not surprised by this. It's been going on for quite a while.
My name is very ethnic...not ghetto, mind you...just ethnic. I no longer relax my hair. If I were planning to work in mainstream or corporate America, I realize I might have trouble getting a job. It's a shame people like me have to work so much harder to find work without having to conform. Then again, some companies who are looking for diversity will call people back based on names. The corporate world is just not me and I know I'd go against the grain. Thankfully, I won't have that problem because I plan on being a teacher and later a professor in an African-American studies department so I doubt name discrimination will be a problem for me.

What exactly is a "Black" name? Is it Leroy Jones? Jahiem Washington? Tanya Wilson? Vanessa Brown? Do these names connote a lack of intelligence or work ethic? Is something inherently wrong with having a name that is more commonly associated with AA's?.

We must be aware of cultural assassination and the inferiority complex/white supremacy that it engenders. If we were robbed of our names when we were brought here against our will, will we also be robbed of our uniqueness, our culture, to please the unpleasable. If white hiring managers want to eliminate you, they will do so at any point in the hiring process, be it at the resume screening level or the final interview. As President Bush has proven with his brief to the Supreme Court, the equal access barrier is far greater than a "Black" sounding name.

I'm not a fan of the homemade, scrabble word game, just came off a crack binge, ghetto names that so many of our children have but I'll be damned if I kowtow to white, institutionalized racism and saddle my child with a caucasian friendly name for the sake of looking good on a resume or the patronizing approval of a hidden bigot. No Sheneneh, no Heather, no LaQuita, no Meaghan...

It's not so much as people will think longer and harder about the names that they chose. For me in general, Most of the educated AA's that I know that have children have, white sounding names, example, lauren, meagan, Christian, Leann etc..

Now my friends who only have a high school education(and are not goal oriented, and take life as it is thrown to them), they are the ones that have given their children the ridiculous sounding names. I have no choice but to shake my head and laugh,sometimes I am embarrassed for them, because I feel like, The NAME is what can at least, get their foot in the door. It's bad enough sometimes we don't even stand/GET a chance, AND NOW, before they can even get a good start, those children are already being discriminated by their NAME.

Name discrimination is not new to me, that was something I always thought about in HIGH SCHOOL. TO me, this article is just a way of letting us know that we are slacking. HONESTLY, this is really nothing new, it's been going on for years, I think the media, just finally thought about letting us in on something they thought was a secret :rolleyes:

I'm just proud to say that my child's name, is already mistaken as a non African American name. At least I know, (and I planned it right), she'll atleast get call or be considered, (if the decision were to be based on name sake). My momma would've slapped me into the middle of the next year had I named my child bonquisha renee, or some alcohol beverage. Hell I couldn't even live with myself if I did.

I bet that the prejudice revealed by this study would apply to girly-sounding names across the board.

A lot of white parents, as well as black, are giving their daughters froufrou names that I think are going to hold those young women back in the long run. It is always difficult for women to be taken seriously in male-dominated fields; why make it even harder on your daughter? Have you ever met a brain surgeon or physics professor named Brandee or Tyffani? Of course, some individuals are so motivated and talented that nothing can hold them back...but I honestly don't think it's a coincidence that our two female Supreme Court justices are named Ruth and Sandra.

Ivy

See, I disagree. Brandi or Tiffanie are not froufrou names, especially since there are quite a few successful women with those names.

Froufrou names that come to mind are (and I have actually reaad, met, or heard these names):

Princess
Buffy
Muffin

On another note....

People should be mindful that names, whether so-called "black names" or otherwise should be chosen carefully and with great thought. A person's name in a sense gives them meaning and identifies who they are.

There is nothing wrong with giving a child the name Latifah or Biko, just like its ok to name your child Christian or Rebecca.

There is however a problem naming your child after an alcoholic beverage though......I can't get with that.

Well, we agree about that. A white Harvard student I know of accidentally got pregnant before her sophomore year and named her daughter Bailey because too much Bailey's Irish Cream led to the surprise conception. :rolleyes: You would think she wouldn't be proud of that, but she told it to a national magazine in an interview. (She became famous because she had an interstate custody battle over her child.)

Ivy

Sho' nuff!! Our HR department hollered after a woman here named her daughter Alize last year. I have a cousin who named her first daughter TaKeela (tequila spelled phonetically).

What about people named after drugs
 

How is then, that one of the most popular White House news correspondence reporters is named COKIE Roberts.

Granted, that is not her birth name (her full name comprises of SIX different names), but how can you be the daughter of two prominent Congresspeople and have a "stage name" after a freaking drug??!! When I first heard that name, I was like, What the Heck? I thought she was Tony Montana's long-lost daugher, or something like that.

On another note, I have noticed that quite a few so-called Black names are being adopted by White girls, so knowing a race based on the name will probably fade before too long.

I went to high school with a white Jerishia, and afterwards knew a white Tanisha and Keisha. Go figure.

Can a Black-Sounding Name Hurt Your Career Prospects?
 

The Name Game

Aug. 20, 2004 — It's the first major decision new parents face, and their choice will stick with their child for a lifetime: what to name the baby. And today simple is out and variety is in, especially for many black Americans.

Many African-American parents say they're returning to their roots by choosing names that sound uniquely black.

For some a unique name has been an asset. For stars like Oprah Winfrey or Shaquille O'Neal or Denzel Washington, a distinctive first name can become a unique, identifiable brand, almost a trademark.

But some ordinary folks say being different is just too difficult.

Tiqua Gator says people just can't seem to get her name right. But she says her real burden runs even deeper. She's concerned about getting a better job, and sees her name as a potential handicap.

"Something that was supposed to separate you from everyone else is now at the same time hindering you," she said.

Gator has come to believe she'd have an easier time lining up a job in her chosen field of marketing if she had a plain name like Jane.

"I think that they feel that they can identify better with a Pam or Amber rather than a Tiqua," she said.


The Résumé Test

And Gator may be on to something. A recent University of Chicago study, "Are Emily and Brendan More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal?" by Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan, found that people with names like Pam or Amber got 50 percent more callbacks for job interviews than applicants with similar résumés and names like Lakisha and Shaniqua.

Even though the study looked at 5,000 résumés, a group of young professionals didn't quite believe the name on top of their résumés could make that big a difference. The skeptics included Carita, an attorney; Tavoria, a law student; Orpheus, an educator; Arsenetta, a statistician; Tremelle, a financial adviser; and Ebony, an M.B.A. student.

http://gsb.uchicago.edu/pdf/bertrand.pdf

20/20 featured this very topic last friday (Aug. 20, 2004). It bothered me that some African-Americans feel that they shouldn't give their children "colorful" names.

I was given a name that until I became an adult I thought I was the only black person with the name. According to my father my name was suggested by some white woman in a hospital elevator:mad: . No real thought was put into my name. And as a result I have what I call the whitest name in America.

Although I don't know when I'll give birth and have to name my child I know for sure that they will not have a Eurocentric name.


Peace, Power & Luv

I saw that special, and it disturbed me. (Well, that's the nice way of saying it.) I have one of those names that lots of Black parents thought was so cool in the '70s; it has -ell(e) as a suffix. Danielle, Chevelle, Ladelle, Donnell, and Cherelle are examples. Does that mean that some HR people automatically toss all of us "ell(e)" names into the reject pile because of their assumptions? Affirmative Action would be the ideal resolution, but these ideas of who can be considered viable candidates need to change also. Just because Kelly is black and has a simpler name does not mean she does a better job than me.

Meanwhile, if I have children, I've already decided on a common first name, but the kids will be called by one of their middle names. It's a trend in my immediate family anyway. So, I could have a son named Robert Marcel or a daughter named Jessica Tahira. (I will not be raising Hennessey or Chablis.) They'll get an explanation on the reasoning in their adult lives.

Ok I'm hollering over here! I would have started doing the pee-wee herman dance and everything if I had heard that, lol!

Te-qu-ila!:D

Just wanted to get in on the conversation
 

This is definitely an interesting topic. One, I must say I've had an experience with. My cousin and I are a year apart, she, one year older than me. One summer we were both home for college and trying to find jobs just for the summer. Well a lady at our church told us to call this company that she knew was hiring. My name is definitely a more mainstream name, whereas my cousin's name would be identified as black. Not ghetto, just black. Kind of how the name "Tomeka" is simply considered a black name. Either way, we both called on the same day, ironically from the same telephone number. They only asked us about our education and if we were looking for summer employment only. Needless to say, I got a call back and she did not. My cousin and I talked about it afterwards, when we found out that I got a call back and she did not. I never really thought more about it after that. Funny thing is four years later, my cousin had a baby girl. She named her, what I would call clearly a white sounding name. I even picked at her about it before she had her. My cousin told me she did it on purpose, so her baby wouldnt be looked over for a job based on name alone. I didnt even know she remembered that event. But I guess you always remember your personal prejudice incidents. So, all that to say this. All the qualifications and intelligence in the world gets you nothing if you cant even get the first interview. Unfair, but true.

I think a better alternative is naming your child a more "racial neutral" name. I will not name my child "marquisha", nor will I name her "Megan".

I will give my children names from the East that have a meaning and sound that I like. For instance, I like Leilah which is Arabic for Black Beauty. I like the sound of it and since the original people in that region were Black and spoke Arabic, I feel that this is a name that is part of our heritage before coming to this country.

The bottom line is that since I am pro-Black, I will give my children names that are related to our history as Black people before we sank into this craziness in the U.S.

It pains me to think that Black people are running out trying to find "white" names in hopes that it will help their children assimilate when that Black person may not even really like the name "Meaghan." I guess that I would be a little more ashamed to explain to my child that I intentionally tried to name her a name that is traditionally given to a group that has been seen historically as superior. I guess I would not want to inadvertently send my child the message that the other folk's ice is colder and you must bow to and try to become that in order to make it in life. Maybe I'm too naive but my approach is to give my child the name that I want and to work to remove the inequalities - basically doing things on my terms, not other folk's terms.

***I would also like to encourage us not to be so quick to correlate the words "Black name" with some name related to alcohol or some other negative connotation. Why is that the automatic assumption that is made? Positivity people!! :) I associate "Black name" with names that are related to our cultural heritage and our cultural heritage has nothing to do with alcohol or any of the other negative things that people associate with being Black.***

Ok, off my soapbox :D
SC

Amen Summerchild.

Why should we-black people, always bow down or assimilate into a society that will never fully allow that to occur?

I've been looking for a job since last August. I have two degrees and a very white name. When I do get that interview, I can tell that they are surprised when they discover that I'm a black female AND I have locks.

I've been told that I need to get a perm; that I won't get a job until I cut my locks. I am so tired of that bs. It may be true, but I am a firm believer of "to thine oneself be true" and "Know thyself". I did the perm/curl thing for a total of 10 years and frankly perms burn and are painful (for me). I felt free when I wore a natural and feel free with my locks.

I wonder if Asian, Latino and Jewish cultures feel the need to give their children Eurocentric names.

To me it's another form of genocide. They've been changing our names since we came over here so they can feel comfortable. I refuse to name my child "Toby" to appease some keeblers (white folks ;) . We need to MAN UP and to thine ownself be true.

Sorry to crash your board, but most Asian families actually DO give their kids European-based names, but also give them names from the culture as well. Usually, the child's middle name is from the old country's culture. First names tend to be more traditional and not "hip", especially for the first generation and immigrants educated in English immersion schools. If you see an Amber, Ashley or Britney Wong, then her parents are probably western-born themselves. You are much more likely to hear Andrea, Katherine, Elizabeth and Jennifer for girls and Edward, Andrew, William, and Michael for boys. You might also hear nicknames such as Billy, Katie and Jenny. That is something I am dead against, as the official name, anyway. I mean, who do you think is going to be taken more seriously? Kitty or Katherine?


-Cynthia

Soror, I don't think people are questioning genuine African names. I think people are questioning buck wild names of the Boomquisha and Quantaquavious ilk.

Oh ok Soror. Thank you for clarifying that for me. :)
Yes, I have no idea why people want to get supercreative with names but I have noticed that it seems that the lower the economic status, the more supercreative the name. I wonder if our people are feeling that this is one gift that they can truly give their child in a world in which they will be able to give so little due to their economic status (and often) limited outlook on possibilities of life.

Do you all think that that might have some merit? Has anyone ever asked a parent who has named their child with a supercreative name why (in a nonhostile way)? I would be extremely interested in understanding the thinking.

Then again, I think, why not? Yes, it sounds ridiculous to me but maybe I'm just being limited in my views of how many syllables a name should have at max. :D

SC

cosign.

My cousin is biracial, and because of the confusion of her youth, she named her children Ebonee, Shakiel, and Tirah. I like the names, but I could scream for how she spelled them!

Here's another article related to names and career success. It doesn't really talk about black names, but it is an interesting article nevertheless.

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/care...&sc=JbdvcndTps

hijack
lol at Keeblers
end hijack

When I was deciding on a name for my daughter, I thought about about this topic. My name is not common, nor is it "Black" sounding. My daughter's first name is common, and her middle name is Swahili (Imani). My ex wanted to name his son the Russian word for King, or ruler.

I think people can be true to their ethnicity and name their child original names. I just wont be naming my chile Alize (b/c you know someone was watching Steve Harvey and thought Lovita Alize was cute), Tequila, Shenehneh, boomshequea, etc.. that is just me..to each his own..but think about your child's future

Sorry for the crash, but I have some related discussion....

My fiance is Mexican, and from what I can tell, the Mexicans in this country (at least the ones I've met through him) tend to stick with Hispanic names. This, however, it easier to do and stay in mainstream culture. Since most Latino cultures speak the Castillian Spanish that originated in Spain, many of the Hispanic names are by default Eurocentric, although in most cases pronouced different here in the US. (My fiance's brother's name is Daniel, however in Spanish it's pronouced like "Danielle", but here in the US he uses the normal DAN-iel).

I am having this same debate though with my neighbor over my daughter's (due Oct. 5th:D :D ) name. We are planning on naming her Mariana Arcadia. So, will having a Hispanic name hurt her chances in the business world? It would be nice for them to repeat the study using White v. Hispanic, Black v. Hispanic, White v. Asian, Black v. Asian, etc...

One other name point to ponder (if you care to...). I feel semi-disadvantaged (for now) being that my name is Jessica. I feel that a potential employer picks up my resume and can immediatly tell that I'm 21. I'm sure I'll feel differently in a few years when all the rest of the 1983 Jessica's and I are at a more desirable hiring age (I know many people feel 21 is still too young/irresponsible to take seriously for a job). And I'm sure it will become an issue again when the Jessica's become to "old" to be a desirable hiring age. How do you feel about naming your baby the "trendy" names that this happens to?

Apologies for crashing again, but won't people have a rough idea of your age from looking at your graduation year?

Yes, that is true, but when you're going through 6,000 applications you see the giant:

Jessica L. Mylastname

at the top alot more prominant and noticible then the Notre Dame High 1998-2001 under education...when you're scanning through apps you're more likely to look first at "Did this person GO to school?" more then "What years?"

HIJACK
You're not crashing as long as you respect the site's TOS and this forum's policies. :)
END HIJACK

Speak of the devil...
 

Black parents torn over ethnic names

By JUSTIN POPE
Associated Press


When Vonnessa Goode of Boston gives birth in a few weeks, one of her first decisions could be among the toughest: whether to give her daughter a distinctively black name.

On the one hand, Goode and the child's father don't want their
daughter "robbed of her ethnicity," she said. On the other, she
believes a distinctively black name could end up being an economic impediment.

"I do believe, now when a résumé comes across an employer's desk, they could be easily discriminated against because they know that person is of African-American descent," she said. "It's a difficult decision."

Minorities of all kinds have wrestled with whether to celebrate their culture by giving their children distinctive names or help them "blend in" with a name that won't stick out. Thousands of Jews have changed their names, hoping to improve their economic prospects in the face of discrimination, as have Asians and other minorities.

Blacks have chosen increasingly distinctive names over the past
century; the trend accelerated in the 1960s.

Researchers who looked at census records have found that 100 years ago, the 20 most popular names were largely the same for blacks and whites; now only a handful are among the most popular with both groups. Names like DeShawn and Shanice are almost exclusively black, while whites, whose names have also become increasingly distinctive, favor names like Cody and Caitlin.

Two recent papers from the National Bureau of Economic Research draw somewhat different conclusions about whether a black name is a burden.One, an analysis of the 16 million births in California between 1960 and 2000 (including me -- ST) , claims such name choice has no significant effect on how someone's life turns out.

The other, however, suggests that a black-sounding name remains an impediment in getting a job. After responding to 1,300 classified ads with dummy résumés, the authors found black-sounding names were 50 percent less likely to get a callback than white-sounding names with comparable résumés.

If nothing else, the first paper, by the bureau's Roland Fryer and the University of Chicago's Steven Levitt, based on California birth data, provides probably the most detailed snapshot yet of distinctive naming practices. It shows, for instance, that in recent years more than 40 percent of black girls were given names that weren't given to even one of the more than 100,000 white girls born in the state the same year.

The data do appear to show that a poor woman's daughter is more likely to be poor when she gives birth -- but no more so because she has a distinctively black name.

Fryer said the study shows that black parents shouldn't fear ethnic names and that they don't have to change their culture, but should push for greater integration.

The University of Chicago's Marianne Bertrand and MIT's Sendhil
Mullainathan, however, appeared to find that a black-sounding name can be an impediment in another recent National Bureau of Economic Research paper titled "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal?"

The authors evaluated the content of 500 real résumés taken from online job boards, as objectively as possible, for quality, using such factors as education and experience. Then they replaced the names with made-up names picked to "sound white" or "sound black" and responded to 1,300 job ads in the Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune last year.

Previous studies examined how employers respond to similarly qualifiedapplicants they meet in person, but this experiment tried to isolate the response to the name itself.

White names drew about one callback per 10 résumés; black names got one per 15. Carries and Kristens had callback rates of more than 13 percent, but Aisha, Keisha and Tamika got 2.2 percent, 3.8 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively. And having a higher-quality résumé, featuring more skills and experience, made a white-sounding name 30 percent more likely to elicit a callback; black-sounding names were only 9 percent more likely to draw one.

Michelle Botus, a 37-year-old student at Massachusetts' Bunker Hill Community College whose children are Asia, Alaysia, Khalima and Denzil, said she would advise mothers to choose names they like, then make sure their children get the education they need to rise above any discrimination they might face.

"The fact you didn't give the child the name you wanted -- your
regrets could be manifested in other ways later on," said Botus. "I
would say, go for it. Just the fact that the mother would have the
insight to have a dilemma, that means she's thinking, and that's one of the most important skills in parenting."

Which way is Goode leaning? She says her daughter likely will end up with a "neutral" name -- Naomi or Layla, perhaps -- that won't signal her race either way.

This is a topic that rally bothers me. I think that any parent, when they name their child, should think about the child's WHOLE life, not just when they are a baby. They have to live with that name forever, unless they go to court and change it. But they have a minimum of 18 years to have that name.

I personally don't like when people name their children baby-ish names like Susie, or Becky, or anything -ie or -y. That sounds so young to me. My mother's name, while kinda grown for a child, is just right for an adult (even though folks butcher it-Valencia).

People have always messed up my name, even though its straight forward. My name has become a common "black" name, even though its actually a European name in origin (Tiana means "princess" in Greek :D). My mother herself though she was being original and created it :rolleyes:. But people mess up by spelling it any ole kinda way (I've even seen Tiyuonna, pronounced the same as mine, tee-AH-na :rolleyes: ).

Spellings of names can mess folks up to. I spelled my daughter's name differently, but I've seen recently the same spelling, but its almost always been with someone of a different culture. I spell her name Jazmin.


http://www.behindthename.com/

http://www.americanbaby.com/ab/babynames/

Real "Black" names

Why did I just go to www.behindthename.com, typed my name in the search engine and the meaning of my name or the name they think it was derived from means "white, fair, blessed." :o See I knew I had one of the whitest names in America.

Since I was in junior high school I've wanted to change my name legally. You know how some people say, "your name fits you"? Well my name doesn't fit me and I'm on a quest to change it.

However, I won't be changing it to Boonqwisha, Alize, Hennessey, Bailey's or Lexus. ;)

LOL. I always wanted to change my last name because I don't think it goes with my first and middle names. But of all my mother's children I have perhaps the easiest name to pronounce.

So right, So true. I think I've posted this before, but I'm an Amber and happen to love that name. I don't believe it sounds white, just sounds like a nice name.

I do believe your going to have to watch your childrens name. I understand there are those on the board who does want to name their children ethic names and that is fine, but don't go overboard. But there of us who are mixed with many races so we just pick names that sounds nice.

not surprised
 

My name, the way it is spelled, is a common Italian name. Yes you heard me right italian. But I know for a fact, my baby cousins have alot of ethnic names and they will find it hard when they get older in the corporate world. My uncle hated me when I said that. But its true. I see it everyday. After college, though my name in spelling is popular for italians, I spent a year out of work. I went on interviews and they thought I was italian when they saw I was black, they were shocked. I went through the interview knowing I will not get a call back.

Wierd world we live in....

When I was recently involved with hiriing at my firm, we talked to a variety of people, and there were some whose names were discussed b/c we didnt know how to pronouce them. Some people really do their kids a disservice by giving them a name that no one can say right. We also had a kid that was from the Check republic, and no one could say his name right. In the end we hired 4 different people, it was kind of like the UN. But, after all that rambling, my point was - we did consider people's names. It was not the only factor, but a unique name catches people's attention, for better or worse.