ABC News 20/20 Report: White and Black Names

[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.

[Munchkin03]

There's a little-known book called Freakonomics that came out last year with an entire chapter devoted to this topic! Apparently, women more likely to saddle kids with certain names tend to be young, unmarried, non-college degree holders, poor, and they usually have a name like that themselves! Imagine that!

I probably wouldn't name my child any of those names, but I probably wouldn't name my kid any of those redneck stripper names that some Southerners hold so dear either.

[Jimmy Choo]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

There's a little-known book called Freakonomics that came out last year with an entire chapter devoted to this topic! Apparently, women more likely to saddle kids with certain names tend to be young, unmarried, non-college degree holders, poor, and they usually have a name like that themselves! Imagine that!

I probably wouldn't name my child any of those names, but I probably wouldn't name my kid any of those redneck stripper names that some Southerners hold so dear either.

I read that book!!! It was very eye-opening!

[shinerbock]

Otter, I'm not sure what you're saying. If they're equal applicants, and the both speak well, present themselves well, etc...I have no idea who I'd choose. Probably whoever went to a college I don't hate.

[OtterXO]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Otter, I'm not sure what you're saying. If they're equal applicants, and the both speak well, present themselves well, etc...I have no idea who I'd choose. Probably whoever went to a college I don't hate.

I was trying to flush out what you were saying. You said that in your family experience you found that the well qualified minorities don't present themselves well. So I asked if you were presented with two equally qualified applicants (just the resumes) would you assume that the "Brad/Larry/etc" would present better than the equally qualified minority?

ETA: I was just curious. People's thought processes are interesting, especially in that situation. My boyfriend regularly receives resumes from people whose names he can't pronounce. (Often east indian people since he works in IT) They receive the same consideration as other applicants. The only problem would be if there's a severe language barrier.

[shinerbock]

What I was saying about my family was that some Atlanta minorities, despite being well educated and intelligent, don't see anything wrong with continuing to act and dress along the lines of popular black culture..thus my father has come across several qualified applicants who he simply can't hire because they don't come across in a professional way. That being said, he has several black employees who are very intelligent and professional.

[TonyB06]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Otter, I'm not sure what you're saying. If they're equal applicants, and the both speak well, present themselves well, etc...I have no idea who I'd choose. Probably whoever went to a college I don't hate.

SB,
I haven't seen any of your subsequent responses mention the "comfort level" you initially alleged was so critically important to clients. I looked for your answer to my hypothetical to offer some justification for what you'd said earlier, a showing that the "comfort level" would overcome the "name" issue as a reason for hiring the lesser qualified but "better-named" candidate.

Interestingly enough, you talked about requirements, (loosely) skill sets, all the things that are important. No judgements here, but it seems as though your rhetoric and and your reason were on different tracks.

[adpiucf]

Originally Posted by 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.

I thought about this a lot when I was younger, too, but in the end I decided to keep my "nicknames." Both my first name and my middle name are a derivative of longer names. My dad dropped his middle name, and my mom has a longer first name that she never goes by (hence my pre-shortened names).

[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.

[AlphaFrog]

For the record, people do this to themselves, too. It's not just parents.

I worked with two CNAs from Africa. Their African names were unpronouncable to most Americans, so they changed their names. One changed her name to "TutuGirl". The other changed his name to "Blamo". Not joking.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

For the record, people do this to themselves, too. It's not just parents.

I worked with two CNAs from Africa. Their African names were unpronouncable to most Americans, so they changed their names. One changed her name to "TutuGirl". The other changed his name to "Blamo". Not joking.

Idiots aside, this topic is not just about people being given funky names.

It's about the outcome, which is what discrimination is based on. Outcome and not intent (since we can't prove people's intents).

[Taualumna]

Why is it perfectly acceptable for a person of east Asian descent to have a name like Jennifer (almost every Jen in my grad class in high school was Chinese) or Michael, while people of other ethnicities have to have a name that "reflects their culture" and that it's "wrong" not to do that?

[adpiucf]

Originally Posted by Taualumna

Why is it perfectly acceptable for a person of east Asian descent to have a name like Jennifer (almost every Jen in my grad class in high school was Chinese) or Michael, while people of other ethnicities have to have a name that "reflects their culture" and that it's "wrong" not to do that?

Good point-- I have seen a lot of ethnic minorities with Westernized nicknames at school, but their legal names are very different! But there's a difference when Ahn Ng is going by Ann, and Julie Chan is really just Julie!

[shinerbock]

I'm really surprised some of you can figure out how to turn on a computer.

"people like you"--Are you kidding? I simply said businesses will likely hire people with safe names becase customers and partners are more comfortable with them. Simply because someone decides to name their child Letravious doesn't mean the rest of the world needs to rush to accept it as normal.