So, um, Tarpal, what do you think when you see a name like “Rivkah Feinstein” or “Aaron Goldberg”? Do you steer them to the accounting department because their people have a reputation for being good with numbers and money?
What do you think of an Ivan Romanevich or Renata Kowalski? A Maria Gonzales or Jose Fernandez? Are they OK based on their names, or do they get buried, too?
How about a Ali Mohammad or Hammad Al-Habib? Do you trash their resumes because they might be terrorists? (If my large and internationally well-known company went by that standard we’d be missing 1/3 of the accounting department in our Chicago office)
What about Hiroko Muramata? Do you assume she will be a “team player” based on her name? How about someone with a last name of Nguyen? Or Cheung?
This story would smack of a Snopsing, but I can top it -FIRST HAND. My wife teaches.
She had a girl enter her class quite a few years ago. This girls’ name was ** BAGINA**. My wife pronounced it on the first day as " Bageeena ", believing that it was the logical choice, given the alternative.
This sweet little kid piped right up with,
My wife simply refused. This is 3rd grade, this child is already the object of intense verbal abuse that is hidden by USING her own name.
So, you tell me…what in the heck were this child’s parents thinking, using a name with that spelling and enforcing THAT pronounciation???
Forget white. Forget American. Forget the argument about ‘normal and exotic’. This child was for all intents and purposes named after the female genitalia.
I’m waiting to see where the ethnic pride is in all of this one. I met this child, this is a first-hand tale folks. I watched her stand on a stage and sing in the chorus.
Mystifying. To me, it’s passive-agressive child abuse.
My mom, thoroughly caucasion, was named at birth Beatrice Henspeter. To hear her tell the story, the first thing she did upon turning 18 was to change her name to Catherine Peters. She was really sick of being called Beet-rice and all the various lewd incarnations of Henspeter.
Myself, I was named Kent at birth, despite the protestations of my older brother & sister. Kent is too easily associated with Kent cigarettes. That’s not so bad, but Kent is also very easily repronounced as cunt, which was the name given me by my classmates throughout most of my school years. It wasn’t just the occasional “bad name”. It was my main name. You think I didn’t have to try harder to fit in and get called my real name? In TV & movies, how many “Kents” have been portrayed in a positive light? Not many. And don’t EVEN mention the Clark Kent thing, without giving me $.05.
I don’t give a crap what you’re thinking when you name your kids. Give them a normal name & they’ll have at least a slightly easier life. Who cares what you think? Think about your kids & what they’re going to have to go through. I could proudly name my kid Dipshiteesha. You think he wouldn’t grow up catching a lot of hell? He would.
Might I suggest you keep all your cultural, political & ethnic ideals in check when selecting your kid’s name? You name your kids something funky according to the society they’re growing up in, they are the ones who are going to have to live with it. If you really want to give your kid a funky sounding & hard to spell name, make it their middle name at least. I’ve got two middle names, and I ain’t even gonna tell you what they are.
I know a lot of Chinese with unpronouncable names who regulary adopt normal sounding western type names when they come to the West. It makes life easier. So what?
In college I was always interested in international students. Once, when meeting the new crop of incoming Finns, I asked one if his name meant anything in Finnish. I cant remember the name now, but he said “well, its actually a slang word for ‘toilet’”.
In that case, Mister Astute Businessman, I offer you a challenge. Call your state’s Labor Board, give them your name and the name of your company, and describe to them your screening process exactly as you’ve described it here. Since you are so certain that your astute business practices are neither racist, classist, nor illegal, I’m sure you’d love the opportunity to have that verified by the people who would know best.
Don’t do that! Be more careful resurrecting old threads that has a Mark Serlin sockpuppet posting in them. For a minute there I thought the fataphobic “scientist” was back.
But what difference does it make how an applicant’s mother was educated? LaQuerty Jones might have put in 110% effort all through high school, college, and a graduate program, at the urging of her mother who wanted her daughter to have more and better opportunities than she did. All that sacrifice just to have tarpal turn up his pointy little nose.
I mean, do you really do that, tarpal? You don’t ever check for qualifications after you see a name you don’t like? What kind of positions are people applying for when they send their resume to you?
Not so fast there. Although the meaning of the name Elvis is unknown, it is possibly a form of the first names Alvis or Elwin, or it might be derived from the surname Elwes.
I had a friend named “Elvys.” He was much older than Elvis Presley, and was not southern by birth. He was not a Southern Baptist, either. Explain that, Jomo.
Well I’m a big turd. Thanks Rilch–there was a thread of similar title resurrected here in GQ that had RainbowCSR in it. I went back to post after searching and making sure he wasn’t active–and checking to see th OPs date–but I went back to the wrong thread. :eek:
Common names American WHITES now give their babies include such ridiculous monikers as:
Madison
Mackenzie
Austin
Destiny
Haley/Hailey/Halley/Halie
Makayla/Michaela
Trinity
In the United States in 2001, more than 25,000 baby girls were named after made-up names from popular movies (“Madison” from Splash, and “Trinity” from The Matrix.) Those babies were, in the vast majority, white. Almost 4000 baby boys were given the horrific name “Dakota.” How are “Madison” and “Trinity” any less stupid than “Laqesha”? At least “Laqesha” isn’t taken off a crappy Ron Howard flick.
So is it that you’re admitting that they are? If so, doesn’t that bother you? Or do you consider yourself and/or your company to be above the law?
And if you do, do you believe that that’s because the law has no right to determine what you do, i.e. discriminate against people because of superficial characteristics such as names, whether or not they are actually indicative of socioeconomic background and/or race?
