The Most Hated Baby Names in America

[Blondie in Spokane]

I am, as a rule, not fond of people naming their children after varieties of cheese.

Until I read your post I had totally forgotten that we used to live near a neighbor boy named Colby. I could never say his name without thinking of the cheese. That name always annoyed me!

 

[Evan's Mom]

Until I read your post I had totally forgotten that we used to live near a neighbor boy named Colby. I could never say his name without thinking of the cheese. That name always annoyed me!

Lol, nobody in my family is allowed to eat colby cheese because when we were younger, my sister had a bf that dumped her while she was pregnant to marry a girl named Colby. That happened almost 20 years ago, but it came up again recently when my bf and I were deciding on what cheese to get in a bogo offer. He picked the colby cheese and I told him no, he had to put that one back because of the colby rule unless he wanted to call Jill and ask her permission.

 

[MsRyber]

I'll admit it. I work in HR. If I can't pronounce your name on your resume and someone with the same qualifications has a phonetically proper name, they get the interview first.
That may sound harsh and unfair, but then you have 50 resumes with the same skill set and you can only interview 10, that's what inevitably happens.

My son's are Linden and Brennan, and my daughter is Charlotte.
And people think THOSE names are weird.

 

[WhyaDuck?]

I'll admit it. I work in HR. If I can't pronounce your name on your resume and someone with the same qualifications has a phonetically proper name, they get the interview first.
That may sound harsh and unfair, but then you have 50 resumes with the same skill set and you can only interview 10, that's what inevitably happens.

My son's are Linden and Brennan, and my daughter is Charlotte.
And people think THOSE names are weird.

Is that legal?

 

[Daisyjane]

I like girls names that have something to do with nature:

Summer
Heather
Rose
Dawn
Jasmine
Lily
Autumn

BTW, I chose my screen name from the SONG 'Daisy Jane' by Seventies soft rock group America.

 

[Melanie]

Same thing here. Some names I won't even give one of my cats! Last year I adopted two male kittens and trying to think of what to name them, chose two names from one of the cases I have been following here - Joey and Gianni.

Bet I can top that - LOL. We named our cats Luke and Leia after the Star Wars charachters. My son and DH are loopy over those movies. I in turn, call them Lu-Lu and Lei-Lei. The youngest one, I call te-te when she's being a terror!

Mel

 

[Melanie]

Is that legal?

Good Lord, I would think not. Just because you can't figure out a name doesn't warrant a person not receiving an interview. EGADS!!!

Poor Trixibell - she's gonna have a hard time finding a job with that company!

I really am in shock, as I've been called MelAnie, Mel (no worries), Melannie, melony (as in bologna) -- so many different variations. Come on people it's easy m-e-l-a-n-i-e. If someone can't figure out a name, then maybe HR isn't the appropriate department!

MOO

Mel

 

[panthera]

Bet I can top that - LOL. We named our cats Luke and Leia after the Star Wars charachters. My son and DH are loopy over those movies. I in turn, call them Lu-Lu and Lei-Lei. The youngest one, I call te-te when she's being a terror!

Mel

Too cute! :heartluv:

 

[Nova]

Is that legal?

Just because something seems unfair doesn't mean it's illegal. To be illegal there has to be discrimination against members of a protected class; the "oddly named" are not protected, to my knowledge.

I'm not a lawyer, but you might make a case against MsRyber if you can show that discarding resumes with unusual names has the de facto effect of discriminating against certain ethnic groups (even though that isn't her intent).

To take but one example, since Roots was shown in the 1970s it has been the custom for African-Americans to give their children unusual and/or unusually spelled names rather than names formerly associated with slave owners (i.e., Anglican) names. So perhaps you could argue that her policy discriminates against blacks. (This is assuming she finds those names unpronounceable; in fact, I don't know what names confound her.)

But good luck proving it.

(ETA just to be really, REALLY clear here: I am NOT calling MsRyber a racist. I was only giving an example of a set of facts that might be actionable. In fact, I have no idea what names she finds difficult or which resumes she discards.)

 

[Melanie]

Just because something seems unfair doesn't mean it's illegal. To be illegal there has to be discrimination against members of a protected class; the "oddly named" are not protected, to my knowledge.

I'm not a lawyer, but you might make a case against MsRyber if you can show that discarding resumes with unusual names has the de facto effect of discriminating against certain ethnic groups (even though that isn't her intent).

To take but one example, since Roots was shown in the 1970s it has been the custom for African-Americans to give their children unusual and/or unusually spelled names rather than names formerly associated with slave owners (i.e., Anglican) names. So perhaps you could argue that her policy discriminates against blacks. (This is assuming she finds those names unpronounceable; in fact, I don't know what names confound her.)

But good luck proving it.

(ETA just to be really, REALLY clear here: I am NOT calling MsRyber a racist. I was only giving an example of a set of facts that might be actionable. In fact, I have no idea what names she finds difficult or which resumes she discards.)

As a person who is unemployed I take great offense in finding out that my resume may or may not be tossed aside because someone cannot pronounce my name. It seems the interviewee wants to make themselves look in a better light to pronounce Mike instead of Michael. KWIM?

Just MOO -- I'll move on.

Mel

 

[Melanie]

I'll admit it. I work in HR. If I can't pronounce your name on your resume and someone with the same qualifications has a phonetically proper name, they get the interview first.
That may sound harsh and unfair, but then you have 50 resumes with the same skill set and you can only interview 10, that's what inevitably happens.

My son's are Linden and Brennan, and my daughter is Charlotte.
And people think THOSE names are weird.

ermmmm....then LEARN how to pronounce their name before calling them in. I've worked in many HR departments. Learn via a phone interview, learn through the HR representative. In the telecom company I worked for, I had a gazillion indian names that I had to procounce correctly. I did it -- with a few minor exceptions. Is this the problem in America?

Sorry...now I'll move on

Mel

 

[Melanie]

Just because something seems unfair doesn't mean it's illegal. To be illegal there has to be discrimination against members of a protected class; the "oddly named" are not protected, to my knowledge.

I'm not a lawyer, but you might make a case against MsRyber if you can show that discarding resumes with unusual names has the de facto effect of discriminating against certain ethnic groups (even though that isn't her intent).

To take but one example, since Roots was shown in the 1970s it has been the custom for African-Americans to give their children unusual and/or unusually spelled names rather than names formerly associated with slave owners (i.e., Anglican) names. So perhaps you could argue that her policy discriminates against blacks. (This is assuming she finds those names unpronounceable; in fact, I don't know what names confound her.)

But good luck proving it.

(ETA just to be really, REALLY clear here: I am NOT calling MsRyber a racist. I was only giving an example of a set of facts that might be actionable. In fact, I have no idea what names she finds difficult or which resumes she discards.)

Throwing a resume in the trash because you are an <unusual person> and can't figure out how to pronounce a name certainly counts for discrimination. I've never heard of such a thing. Even when I didn't know how to pronounce a name, you stand up tall, shake his or her hand and say "what a pleasure it is to meet you". No name is absolutely necessary in an interview -- polite, absolutely, but if you feel you are going to embarass yourself, there are other ways.

otay....I'm now really moving on....

 

[joeskidbeck]

Earlier someone said (sorry I forget who it was) they wished people would name their kids so that it would be easier to pronounce. Well, when my dd was pregnant with my first granddaughter, we knew she was a girl and we loved the name, Tea', pronounced Tay-uh, so we spelled it the way it sounds: Taya. Every single person who sees her name written cannot pronounce it. Most teachers start out calling her Ty-uh. I think her name is beautiful but since she was born, there have been at least 5 women who named their child Taya. I don't think it matters how you try to make it unique, if others like it, it will soon be a household name!

 

[Nova]

As a person who is unemployed I take great offense in finding out that my resume may or may not be tossed aside because someone cannot pronounce my name. It seems the interviewee wants to make themselves look in a better light to pronounce Mike instead of Michael. KWIM?

Just MOO -- I'll move on.

Mel

Mel, I'm also unemployed and the fact is discarding resumes because the name is unpronounceable is the least of it. My son (also unemployed) was told by one agency that they toss out anybody who isn't currently employed (which means more than 1 in 5 people in the country and a large majority of the resumes they receive).

I'm used to this from the theater, where there are so many applicants for every role that every casting director comes up with arbitrary ways of dealing with the numbers. One director I knew tossed everyone who didn't have a college degree, even though most college degrees have nothing to do with acting skills; but it was a way to deal quickly with overwhelming numbers.

Another friend--an excellent singer--tried to audition to be a "pit singer" for "Cats." She was cut before singing a note because she was blond. (In case you don't know the term, pit singers do just that: they sing in the orchestra pit and are never seen by the audience.) It was just a way to deal with numbers.

Nowadays, it isn't only show business that has to deal with huge piles of resumes. It's depressing, I know, but true.

 

[Nova]

Throwing a resume in the trash because you are an <unusual person> and can't figure out how to pronounce a name certainly counts for discrimination. I've never heard of such a thing. Even when I didn't know how to pronounce a name, you stand up tall, shake his or her hand and say "what a pleasure it is to meet you". No name is absolutely necessary in an interview -- polite, absolutely, but if you feel you are going to embarass yourself, there are other ways.

otay....I'm now really moving on....

Mel, not all discrimination is illegal. Only discrimination based on sex, race, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation (in some places only), etc.

That's what I was trying to say above. If you want to file an action against MsRyber's name bias, you will have to prove it fits into one of the categories above. If, for example, she simply doesn't like names with Rs in them, there's not much you can do about it.

 

[Nova]

Earlier someone said (sorry I forget who it was) they wished people would name their kids so that it would be easier to pronounce. Well, when my dd was pregnant with my first granddaughter, we knew she was a girl and we loved the name, Tea', pronounced Tay-uh, so we spelled it the way it sounds: Taya. Every single person who sees her name written cannot pronounce it. Most teachers start out calling her Ty-uh. I think her name is beautiful but since she was born, there have been at least 5 women who named their child Taya. I don't think it matters how you try to make it unique, if others like it, it will soon be a household name!

I was born with an unusual, long English surname that has a bunch of consonants in a row (some voiced, some silent) that nobody could spell or pronounce.

For various reasons, I later changed my last name to my grandmother's maiden name: it's a famous Scottish clan, a major character in Shakespeare, and also appears in a common expression that everyone knows. I thought, "Hurrah! No more spelling the name every time I use it!"

But in my family we spell it "Mac..." Shakespeare did, too.

And I've spent that past 35 years explaining there is an "a" between the "M" and the "c", and helping clerks to find my records, prescriptions, etc., in the various places where they were misfiled. The only advantage I got was that when people see it, they can pronounce it. But when they hear it, there's no telling what they will write.

So much for plans...

 

[Nova]

I'll admit it. I work in HR. If I can't pronounce your name on your resume and someone with the same qualifications has a phonetically proper name, they get the interview first.
That may sound harsh and unfair, but then you have 50 resumes with the same skill set and you can only interview 10, that's what inevitably happens.

My son's are Linden and Brennan, and my daughter is Charlotte.
And people think THOSE names are weird.

Your post got a strong response. I'm sure you're not surprised.

But I wanted to thank you on behalf of all of us who are looking for work for the reminder that the simplest things may affect whether we are considered for a job.

Of course it's always a big guessing game. For someone else, an unusual name might stand out to an HR rep and be just the reason the applicant got an interview.

 

[*~Aimee~*]

I used to hate my name but it now has "grown on me" LOL

I checked and it said less than 1000 at any time - so not on the list for likes.

 

[Quiche]

Your post got a strong response. I'm sure you're not surprised.

But I wanted to thank you on behalf of all of us who are looking for work for the reminder that the simplest things may affect whether we are considered for a job.

Of course it's always a big guessing game. For someone else, an unusual name might stand out to an HR rep and be just the reason the applicant got an interview.

I read an article a while back about the impact of naming in the job market-- I've been trying to locate it most of the afternoon to no avail, but in essence it indicated the more common, the better. It is what it is, I guess.

 

[ScorpRising]

My mom wanted to name me Rebecca... My father decided I should be named after a "holiday" close to my birthday. I spend so much time correcting people when they refer to me as the most common shortening of my name. It's a great name for some people but I cringe to be called Patty. I also found out in college from a girl named Patty that there was "something wrong" with my parents because my middle name should have been Ann as "everyone" with my name is Patty Ann.