ABC News 20/20 Report: White and Black Names

[epchick]

Originally Posted by xo_kathy

True story from when my now husband was looking for an apt.

xo_kathy calls rental company: Hi, my boyfriend saw the ad for the 1BR.
Rental company: OK, we'll have someone call him back. Name and number please.
xo_kathy: Orlando <super Latino last name>, 555-1234
Rental company: Ok, thanks.

3 days later after no call:
xo_kathy calls rental company: Hi, I saw the ad for the 1BR.
Rental company: OK, we'll have someone call you back. Name and number please.
xo_kathy: Kathy <super WASPy last name>, 555-1234
Rental company: Ok, thanks.

30 minutes later - Ring Ring!
xo_kathy: Hello?
Apt. super: Hi! I'm calling you back about the 1BR.

And I'm pretty educated on this stuff, but I guess didn't think it happened so much until I experienced it myself. So I guess it's good that it's in the news again. Maybe some people will learn something new...

Its sad that this stuff still happens.

Your story reminds me of a commercial of a man that kept calling about an apartmnet, and he would sound like a different ethnicity over the phone. At one time he was hispanic, then african-american, then jewish, arab, etc...until finally he sounded "white" on the phone and he actually got an answer.

At first glance, i don't look like your typical Mexican. I'm a lot lighter skinned than the rest of my family...and I get treated differently. I don't even have a mexican last name. But once someone finds out i'm truly Mexican, their perception and their attitude changes.

But I don't understand the name thing...its just a name!! Dang man.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by epchick

At first glance, i don't look like your typical Mexican. I'm a lot lighter skinned than the rest of my family...and I get treated differently. I don't even have a mexican last name. But once someone finds out i'm truly Mexican, their perception and their attitude changes.

But I don't understand the name thing...its just a name!! Dang man.

You can understand the lightskinned Mexican without a Mexican last name thing but you can't understand the name thing? Same isht, different toilet.

[epchick]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

You can understand the lightskinned Mexican without a Mexican last name thing but you can't understand the name thing? Same isht, different toilet.

No...I understand the name thing. I just meant I don't understand how people can base things off of a name. To me, a name is just a name. It doesn't define who you are. And to think that someone could have a job withheld from them because their name was hard to pronounce or their name sounded "too black" or "too hispanic" is crazy.

Did I make more sense now

[shinerbock]

Consider it from a business standpoint...Which sounds better, "hey this is our new Director of ______, David Smith" or "hey, this is Sen'Derrick..." Just do your kids a favor and give them a reasonable name...or don't, but they may pay for your decision.

[epchick]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Consider it from a business standpoint...Which sounds better, "hey this is our new Director of ______, David Smith" or "hey, this is Sen'Derrick..." Just do your kids a favor and give them a reasonable name...or don't, but they may pay for your decision.

I could honestly care less about the person's name....its the work ethic and what they put into the job. David Smith could be a crappy worker, and Sen'Derrick could be a phenomenal asset to anyone's team. You don't know based on their name.

[_Opi_]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Consider it from a business standpoint...Which sounds better, "hey this is our new Director of ______, David Smith" or "hey, this is Sen'Derrick..." Just do your kids a favor and give them a reasonable name...or don't, but they may pay for your decision.

I think I have a reasonable name. Very easy to pronounce. Only 4 lettered name. And some folks still trip over themselves trying to pronounce it. I sure as hell do not want to be named "amanda" or "elizabeth" when every other person has that name, you know. No offense to women with those names --just pointing out that common around these parts.

[shinerbock]

I think there is something to be said for having a non-standard name, but naming your son Jamison or Payton is different from naming him Sen'Derrick or Latron. I'm not judging a person by their name, what I was saying is that businesses have to have their interests in mind when hiring...which will often lead to them hiring a person with a more traditional and professional name. Makes sense to me.

[Taualumna]

I legally went from Cindy to Cynthia a few years ago because I thought that Cindy was too cutesy and I wouldn't be taken as seriously had I kept my original name.

My parents claimed that they called me Cindy because it was easier for my non-English speaking relatives to pronounce.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

I think there is something to be said for having a non-standard name, but naming your son Jamison or Payton is different from naming him Sen'Derrick or Latron. I'm not judging a person by their name, what I was saying is that businesses have to have their interests in mind when hiring...which will often lead to them hiring a person with a more traditional and professional name. Makes sense to me.

Based on white America's standards of tradition and professional. That's why this topic is salient. The decision makers in this country tend to be whites and particularly white males. There are smaller instances where racial and ethnic minorities are in hiring positions. Some of these people choose to discriminate by name, but this happens much less often and for very different types of jobs.

I'm not for naming children after cars or bottles of liquor. However many names that are known as "black" in North America have roots in Russian and other cultures. Not all of them are from the African continent or made-up. My names are Swahili and they also have translations in East Indian and other African languages. I love my names and names like mine. I'm not in a career field where discrimination by name is common (with the increase in women and various races and ethnicities in my field over the past 10-20 yrs, there are fewer older white males making all of the decisions).

However, I have had people wonder why my parents gave their children Swahili names (it was the 70's for goodness sake). Blacks have a harder time pronouncing my name than whites do but I have had whites who have tried to assign me nicknames. Some blacks have tried to assign me a nickname but I find that blacks generally understand how offensive it is to me to shorten my name into an "Americanized" version of it. Blacks' nicknames for me tend to still be very "ethnic" but just a shorter version of my name. Either way, I don't do assigned nicknames. Learn to pronounce my name or don't call on me at all.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Consider it from a business standpoint...Which sounds better, "hey this is our new Director of ______, David Smith" or "hey, this is Sen'Derrick..." Just do your kids a favor and give them a reasonable name...or don't, but they may pay for your decision.

Never met anyone named Sen'Derrick. A person given such a name might go by "Derrick," anyway.

For an increasingly diverse industrialized nation in this global economy, it is funny that "David Smith" still sounds better and creates images of competency and professionalism. When I call Microsoft's helpline I get connected to a support group overseas, I don't hear any David Smiths or talk to anyone who remotely SOUNDS LIKE a David Smith. I guess that's fine as long as the big time decisionmakers in the boardrooms are still David Smiths.

[Exquisite5]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Consider it from a business standpoint...Which sounds better, "hey this is our new Director of ______, David Smith" or "hey, this is Sen'Derrick..." Just do your kids a favor and give them a reasonable name...or don't, but they may pay for your decision.

You only think it sounds better because its what you're accustomed to. I was guilty of the same thinking at a time.

When Secretary Rice first came to national prominence I though to myslelf, "what is Condoleeza- where the heck did her parents get that from?" However, now, I know its from the Italian meaning "with sweetness" and I don't even question it. To me, its now common to hear of a woman named "Condoleeza," and never would I say that it would sound better to say Secretary Connie Rice vice Secretary Condoleeza Rice.

Just like I don't think it "sounds better" to say Justice Thomas Marshall than it does to say Justice Thurgood Marshall or Stanley Robinson than Spotswood Robinson.

Now, I still won't advise anyone to name their child a made up name of the Shakalamarshandria sort, simply because as shinerbock is proof- some people can't get past it.

[Exquisite5]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Consider it from a business standpoint...Which sounds better, "hey this is our new Director of ______, David Smith" or "hey, this is Sen'Derrick..." Just do your kids a favor and give them a reasonable name...or don't, but they may pay for your decision.

I stand corrected, you didn't say you couldn't get over it, but it seemed implied from this post.

My apologies- if you can get over it, I applaud you. Nevertheless, all of your posts seem like it would be an issue to you/your family/whomever.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by Exquisite5

I stand corrected, you didn't say you couldn't get over it, but it seemed implied from this post.

My apologies- if you can get over it, I applaud you. Nevertheless, all of your posts seem like it would be an issue to you/your family/whomever.

In all fairness, it's the topic of the thread, and therefore it's going to come across more stressed then it actually is.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by epchick

No...I understand the name thing. I just meant I don't understand how people can base things off of a name. To me, a name is just a name. It doesn't define who you are. And to think that someone could have a job withheld from them because their name was hard to pronounce or their name sounded "too black" or "too hispanic" is crazy.

Did I make more sense now

Well, your skin color is just a skin color. Your last name is just a last name.

If people can judge you based on those factors and change their tune when they realize that you are Mexican, you can understand why a "name isn't just a name."