What’s in a Name?
Where I work, we have a computer database with the names and case information for all of our clients. When I need to look up a name, I am always grateful when the name is unusual so that I don’t need to spend a lot of time sorting through hundreds of names.
When naming children, it is common to use a name of a beloved ancestor, or the name of a person or character in popular culture. It might be a name that has a strong ancient meaning, one that is meant to confer the virtues of the name on the person to whom it is bestowed.
Sometimes names are given to make a point, like naming your children Dweezil or Moon. Thanks, Frank Zappa. Or we give our children more common names, but then attach a nickname that follows/haunts them for the rest of their lives. I have a nephew who goes by Football. He is a grown man, father and grandfather now. Still Football.
Some names can carry some emotional baggage and might be rejected. A friend once dug up all the iris bulbs in her garden because of ill-treatment by her mother-in-law who, you guessed it, was named Iris.
Sometimes this can happen with strangers. We meet someone who bears the same name as someone we dislike, and we connect that dislike to the stranger. It can be an individual thing; we had a mortal enemy named Roger and therefore have an automatic disdain for anyone named Roger. That would not be helpful if you were the Human Resources director and scanning resumes and the finalists were John, Cathy and Roger.
You laugh? Really, studies show that people with certain names or types of names have a significantly reduced likelihood of being given an interview for a job across a variety of companies, large and small. Tests have been done where resumes were sent to dozens of employers with virtually identical educational and work histories with the notable exception of the person’s name. Common, Euro-centric names were called for interviews while names that were more common among African-Americans were not. Time and time again. Whether the decisions were made by human beings or algorithms written by human beings, the results were the same.
So, should we all be forced to use Euro-centric common names? I hope not. It would cost me way too much time finding the correct person in a database. Perhaps we should be more aware of our biases and then open ourselves to people based on the content of their resumes, or character, or something more meaningful.
Welcome Roger. And Ahmed. And Shanika. You are welcome here. Because we know what’s in a name. A person.