Can a Black-Sounding Name Hurt Your Career Prospects?

[Steeltrap]

Originally posted by The Truth
I don't see what the big deal is. If a name is that bad just use initials instead. Making sure you are educated, prepared, qualified for the position is the bigger concern. Shoot if they really want to call you by your name do 'em like Janet did and give that Ms. *insert your last name here* (if your nasty!)

Which is a good point. I also remember a woman whose name was Talisha going by "Leigh" when she entered college.

[keji_2]

That happen to my friend.
I’m not going to type her name but it was s_____qua Johnson.
She graduated from a tier 1 law school and could not even get an interview. She change her resume to S. Johnson and started getting calls.

I think it might work for white people as well. I don’t know if I would look twice at a resume if the name on it was Moon Unit Zappa or Rainbow Love Smith.

Sidebar: One of my 5 percenter peoples name his son.
Magnificent Johnson.
and his daughter Royal Queen Johnson. LOL

[Dollebabie]

Has anyone read this article or heard about this saying that children with Exotic names do not do as well as African-American children who don't have exotic names. I don't agree with the article.

http://www.wftv.com/irresistible/4482169/detail.html

[christiangirl]

A girl in my class works in HR at a company and she said she is more likely to call somebody for an interview if she doesn't have to stumble on their name. She doesn't want to embarass herself by mispronouncing their name on the phone, so even if they are qualified, she won't call them back and a lot of her co-workers follow the same procedure.

[Eclipse]

Originally posted by christiangirl
A girl in my friend works in HR at a company and she said she is more likely to call somebody for an interview if she doesn't have to stumble on their name. She doesn't want to embarass herself by mispronouncing their name on the phone, so even if they are qualified, she won't call them back and a lot of her co-workers follow the same procedure.

That's interesting that you say this because just the other day I got a call from a recruiter who had my resume and wanted an interview. Her first words were "I don't know if I am pronouncing your name right, but...." and then she attempted to pronouce my name. (Yep she got it wrong!)

[NinjaPoodle]

Originally posted by Dollebabie
Has anyone read this article or heard about this saying that children with Exotic names do not do as well as African-American children who don't have exotic names. I don't agree with the article.

http://www.wftv.com/irresistible/4482169/detail.html

I disagree with the article on that point also but what I have noticed also (which was pointed out in the article)
this...

"And it could be that teachers start to make inferences about a student's parents, the parent's education level and the parents' commitment to their children's education based on the names the parents give their children," he said.

Figlio found that poorly educated black women overwhelmingly gave their children names that begin with certain prefixes, such as "lo," "ta" and "qua," and certain suffixes, such as "isha" and "ious."

and this

Names are important because they can reveal a parent's educational level and parental aspirations, and help to mold a person's identity, becoming information that people use in forming expectations about a child, Figlio said.

"On one level, people are aware of this because the No. 2 segment of the book sales market is baby name books, after Bibles,"

[christiangirl]

Originally posted by Eclipse
That's interesting that you say this because just the other day I got a call from a recruiter who had my resume and wanted an interview. Her first words were "I don't know if I am pronouncing your name right, but...." and then she attempted to pronouce my name. (Yep she got it wrong!)

Well, congratulations! A lot of people have trouble pronouncing my name, too, though I don't see why, it's spelled almost phonetically and it's only 2 syllables. I think it's just b/c if you're not an AA, then you've probably never seen it before.

Oh, btw, I just noticed my mistake, I meant to say "a girl in my class."

[StrangeFruit]

A friend of mine is having a baby and I asked if she and the father were thinking of names yet? I told her also about the concern over "exotic" names and the job situation.

Her response was profound and I admirable. As an entreprenuer herself she said, "I'm not concerned about that b/c we are going to be raising an entreprenuer."

Good idea I thought. Especially since I'm on the road to self-employment.

[Exquisite5]

Originally posted by StrangeFruit
A friend of mine is having a baby and I asked if she and the father were thinking of names yet? I told her also about the concern over "exotic" names and the job situation.

Her response was profound and I admirable. As an entreprenuer herself she said, "I'm not concerned about that b/c we are going to be raising an entreprenuer."

Good idea I thought. Especially since I'm on the road to self-employment.

Did she consider that the same reservations that people have hiring someone with an "ethnic" name might make them hesitant to associate their business dealings (read purchase from, sell to, enter into contracts with) with the 'ethnicaly' named person as well? Her perspective is interesting to me because it completely misses the ROOT of the problem.

If people think "ethnic" names denote "Ghettoness," or whatever they think they denote -- wouldn't the same reluctance to hire transfer to reluctance to enter business? I mean if Tashika is too whatever to hire, wouldn't she still be too whatever to support/use/patron/contract with/etc... her business?

[EuSchel]

My name ends in the famous 'isha' and I think that we as a people have to work together to let people know that our names do not always reflect us. Just because my name ends in 'isha' does not mean I'm ghetto, or not a hard-work or whatever. I know girls and guys with what would be considered not ethnic names who are exactly what majority of employers are trying to avoid hiring.

If we support our own business we won't have to worry about other people not supporting us because of our names. If I come to your store regardless of your name, but just because you are a Black person and I want to supprt you rather than the Asian, White, Indian, Persian, Hispanic, or whoever down the street, people of those same ethic backgrounds will soon disregard the owners name as well.

How can we expect others to disregard our ethnic names and support us in our business endeavours when we do not support ourselves.

[southernelle25]

Originally Posted by EuSchel

My name ends in the famous 'isha' and I think that we as a people have to work together to let people know that our names do not always reflect us. Just because my name ends in 'isha' does not mean I'm ghetto, or not a hard-work or whatever. I know girls and guys with what would be considered not ethnic names who are exactly what majority of employers are trying to avoid hiring. ....

I agree, but I think we have a generational gap developing here that is adding to the problem. Many of us have traditional "ethnic" names that were given us by educated and socially conscious parents. Whether our parents were simply pro-Black or pan-African in their youth, they gave us names with meanings – meanings they knew and understood the history and origin of. Those names were beautiful and, though “ethnic”, they were spelled properly and were usually pronounceable.

Since that time, though, we’ve seen these ‘traditional’ ethnic names replaced by 'new school' names, names of vehicles, fashion houses, alcoholic beverages, and made-up words from rap songs or slang. I know this is an old thread, but in addition to this, some parents are now giving their children grossly misspelled traditional Afro-American and European names (including basic English words).

Is this going to hurt their employment prospects? Unfortunately, I can't see how it wouldn't. Employers know 'our' names, but they don't know "Choclit".