ABC News 20/20 Report: White and Black Names

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Yeah this job discrimination based on name thing was uncovered over a decade ago.

It's become a story again over the last 5 or so years, especially adding the names of East Indians and Hispanics because of the New Immigration.

Yeah this is way behind the curve - there's reputable academic research that proved this decades ago, and has been replicated successfully since.

The "asshat corollary" doesn't really fly as causation - some of the names used were as simple as Dexter Jackson in the initial studies. The original studies selected out these problems very effectively.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

The "asshat corollary" doesn't really fly as causation - some of the names used were as simple as Dexter Jackson in the initial studies. The original studies selected out these problems very effectively.

I was talking about a separate study. I can't find the link to it now, but it wasn't specifically about race-it was about names that were difficult to pronounce. You can be white, and have a name that people don't know how to pronounce, such as a guy I went to highschool with, who's parents name him Celly. I saw it, and assumed it was "Sel-ly", but it was really "Kelly" - but since his last name started with a C, his parents decided to be cute and spell "Kelly" with a "C".

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I was talking about a separate study. I can't find the link to it now, but it wasn't specifically about race-it was about names that were difficult to pronounce. You can be white, and have a name that people don't know how to pronounce, such as a guy I went to highschool with, who's parents name him Celly. I saw it, and assumed it was "Sel-ly", but it was really "Kelly" - but since his last name started with a C, his parents decided to be cute and spell "Kelly" with a "C".

Kelly with a C.....pretty idiotic.

[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...

[f8nacn]

The list that they have suck! Where did they get that list of "black" names for girls and boys!!!! I've met caucasian people and other minorities with those names and what is so hard to pronounce about those names....

OMG people give me a break!!!!

[macallan25]

I have never met a white guy with these names:

DeShawn
DeAndre
Marquis
Darnell
Terrell
Malik
Trevon
Tyrone
Willie
Dominique
Demetrius
Reginald
Jamal
Maurice
Jalen
Darius
Xavier
Terrance
Andre
Darryl

Or a White Girl with these:

Imani
Ebony
Shanice
Aaliyah
Precious
Nia
Deja
Diamond
Asia
Aliyah
Jada
Tierra
Tiara
Kiara
Jazmine
Jasmin
Jazmin
Jasmine
Alexus
Raven

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by macallan25

I have never met a white guy with these names:

Trevon
Willie
Reginald
Maurice
Jalen


Or a White Girl with these:

Asia
Jada
Tierra
Tiara
Kiara
Jazmine
Jasmin
Jazmin
Jasmine
Alexus
Raven

I recall whites with these names or names very similar. However, 95% of the time people in this society with these names are not going to be white.

Regardless of what people think of these names, the issue of discrimination is a serious one. Whether it's discrimination by race or by a proxy for race (i.e. social class and names), it's tragic because people are making assumptions of you and influencing your life chances.

[xo_kathy]

Originally Posted by macallan25

I have never met a white guy with these names:

Willie - plenty of Williams go by Willie
Dominique - very French name, there are white people in France ya know
Reginald - Elton John's real first name is Reginald - popular in the UK
Maurice - see Dominique
Xavier - Xavier Roberts, inventor of Cabbage Patch Kids
Terrance - betcha Terry Bradshaw's full name is Terrance
Andre - see Dominique
Darryl - a white boy in my grade growing up in Michigan had this name

Or a White Girl with these:

Jasmin - I've run into a good handful of young white girls - around 8 years old - named this
Jazmin - see above
Jasmine - see above
Alexus - I've run into WAY more than a handful of white girls named this!!!

See my notes above. These are just quickly off the top of my head. If you ever head out of the south you would see all of these and then some as "white kid" 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

[Taualumna]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I was talking about a separate study. I can't find the link to it now, but it wasn't specifically about race-it was about names that were difficult to pronounce. You can be white, and have a name that people don't know how to pronounce, such as a guy I went to highschool with, who's parents name him Celly. I saw it, and assumed it was "Sel-ly", but it was really "Kelly" - but since his last name started with a C, his parents decided to be cute and spell "Kelly" with a "C".

I wouldn't want to be a guy named Kelly these days...nor would I want to be a guy named Ashley.

Why is it that so many formerly guys-only names are slowly becoming women's names?