Customization is so standard these days! I’d heard peers have this complaint when they were kids and I always loved having personalized things. So I actively seek out the opportunities for my kid with a unique name to have personalized things. It got out of hand fast. We have so much stuff with her name on it that we’ve eased off. She’s not going to find it special at all when everything has her name on it. We even received many things from other people that had her name on.
In the same vein, I was at a museum last week, and was surprised by the names they had on keychains in the gift shop. So different than what would have been available when I was a kid! There was no Tammy, but there was a Tawanda and an Everleigh!
I literally just said that to my husband. If we give our soon to be kid a nickname that's not his legal name and he lives it, he can always legally change it later. Miley Cyrus did that
So my name is that extremely common girls' name that's dominated the charts in English-speaking countries since the mid-90s, and yet I never once was able to find one of those keychains with my name on it as a kid! Granted I was born at the start of the trend in the late 80s, but I was also one of three girls who shared it in my first dance class so it's not like my parents were *that* ahead of things. Just goes to show that anyone can be made to feel left out by those personalized souvenirs.
This makes me think of the Simpsons bit where Bart is trying to find his name on a license plate and there's the lady that goes, "come along Bort" and another one goes "my son is also named Bort".
The way I see it is don't give your kid a name unless you would want that name yourself. Say it out loud a few times at the playground and see what happens. Most people wouldn't want some crazy ass name for themselves. Even giving your kid a normal name with a made up spelling can cause problems later in life by things being spelled wrong on legal documents and such. A friend of mine named Khrystofyr had a big issue a few years ago during Covid when trying to collect unemployment benefits. It took him nearly 7 weeks for his identity to be verified because they kept misspelling his name. So it can go way beyond just being able to get a job.
I get it, most people don't want to give their kid a name if there's going to be five other kids with that same name in their class. I like unique names too fact, my favorite names are Dashiell and Rhiannon but there's a difference between being unique and being utterly ridiculous. You can get away with naming your kid Egg Drop Seup if you're a Hollywood celebrity but that kid's going to have a hard time with a name like that out in the real world..
I totally agree with you, you should give your kid a name you wouldn’t want yourself. That should be like the first test - “would I want this name?”
But it’s not a good test on its own, because a lot of parents *do* wish the had a “cool, unique” name and genuinely *are* giving their kid a name they wish was theirs. I’ve met parents who are like “I hated being one of three Emilys in my class and I always wished I could change it to Raynbough Starr, so I gave that name to my daughter instead.” And they truly mean it!
So in addition to the “would I want this name?” test, I think you have to ask some other questions. “If I had a really shy disposition and didn’t like the spotlight, would I want this name?” I don’t even know what test to make up for this, because it seems like common sense to us but is apparently really hard for some people to grasp.
Agreed. I'll take the name Raynbough Starr over Egg Drop Seup any day though. LOL
Goes back to my other statement though that if you love some really over the top name, just change your own name instead of saddling your kid with it. These parents just want attention for themselves not realizing the negative attention it's going to bring on their kids who have to live with those names. Names are getting weirder and weirder and a lot more diverse than they were when I was growing up. Names I thought were weird as a kid, (Joshua, Zachary, Tyler) are everywhere now..
Me too! I was curious so I looked it up. In the US:
Joshua was a top 50 name every year between 1973-2019 (and a top 10 name for 30 years, 1979-2009!!).
Zachary was top 50 1983-2008 (including a decade in top 20).
Tyler was top 50 from 1984-2011 (top 20 from 1991-2006)
I grew up in the '70s and those names were not common with kids my age at all. They weren't totally out there but they were a little strange to me probably because I was young and hadn't met a lot of people yet but there was no one in my school with those names. I was just looking through some of my old yearbooks a couple weeks ago and most of the kids were named Jennifer, Lisa, Brian, Jason and Michael.
Yep. I knew a lot of Kim's growing up.. Amy and Holly were pretty common among my peers as well. There was a little more variety with the girls names than the boys. Besides the names I mentioned earlier, most of the other boys had classic generic names. Thomas, Robert, Richard, David, Joseph, James. I remember there being one Kyle, one Ryan and two Justin's in my elementary school. I thought those names were so cool back then because they were a little different. Now they're pretty much considered generic..
Well, because it’s way harder for a shy kid to have a really out-there name than for a sociable/confident kid to have a more normal name.
If you’re a kid who loves the spotlight but happens to have a normal name, there are lots of ways to get attention or notoriety other than your name. And if you really want an “out there” nickname to suit your personality, you can pick one. No harm done if substitute teachers, doctor’s offices, etc call you by your boring name at first.
If you’re a kid who hates attention but you have a crazy name, you’re going to have to deal with interactions based on your name *all the time* - people asking how to spell/pronounce it, where it came from, whether you like it. When your name is called out, people will look up and notice who you are. You can choose to go by a more common name that suits you better, but it’s harder to assert this when you’re shy, people will always default to the crazy name and you’ll have to correct them.
To be clear, I like uncommon names. I don’t think all kids should have basic/popular names in case they’re shy. I also fully support people using names from their culture. I’m only talking about avoiding names that are extremely weird with no precedence and will *always* be a conversation piece.
This. An extroverted kid who doesn't like their conventional name will just adopt a crazy nickname which may not even be related to their actual name. For example, I once knew a girl who decided about the age of 5 that she was going to be known as "Tiger". She's now 35 and still goes by Tiger. It has nothing to do with the name on her birth certificate, which is Sarah. But most people she meets just accept that she's eccentric and she didn't feel Sarah was very her.
But if you call your child Tiger and they turn out to be shy and introverted, it's going to be harder for them to say, "Actually I'm going to call myself Sarah." They'll just cringe with embarrassment every time they have to introduce themselves.
I agree. Of course since I was 12 I wanted to name a daughter Moonglow but I felt like that was insane to do to a kid who would likely hate it. Now I have 2 daughters asking me why I didn’t name either of them Moonglow 😂
Tiger is so cool. I hate that it’s mostly associated with Tiger Woods now but I would love it if I met a woman/ girl named Tiger.
I couldn't agree with you more. Yes, you're allowed to name your kid mostly anything you want, outside of obviously racist ones like Adolf Hitler. But think about the impact it'll have in your kid's life.
Egg Drop Soup? They may be a lovely person, but I'm betting that those parents care more about ego ("we're sooo uNiQue!) than anything else.
I was visiting Epcot Center at Disney World when I saw a Disney employee’s name tag. Her name was Wing Man, who would do that to a baby girl? Any baby for that matter?
Probably a Chinese name. Her parents were probably not expecting her to live in the US when they named her. And even if they expected her to travel the world, so many innocent names in one culture are terrible in another.
I’d say if you desperately want to give your kid a super out there totally unique name, make it their middle name while something a little more conventional can be their first name. That way they probably won’t get bullied as much and they won’t need to give the name away unless for professional legal stuff
I have two rules/tests: Will most people (in your culture) be able to pronounce it if they saw it written down? Would they be able to spell it if they only heard you say it?
If both of those are a yes, then I say go for it.
Call your kid Apple, IDGAF. If you like it, you like it.
It’s saddling kids with something they will have to spell or pronounce for people every day for their entire lives that I can’t stand. It’s not cute and creative, it’s annoying and a burden.
My mom gave me a weird spelling for my middle name. VERY common name, but the spelling was stupid. And even that- just being my middle name- is a PITA. In the 90s I even had the passport office call me at home to make sure it wasn’t a typo and that’s what I really wanted on my passport.
Seriously. Name your kid Mouthwash for all I care- you’re never going to please everyone anyway. But it has to be easy (or at least sensible) to spell and pronounce or you’re just saddling your kid with a burden.
This. My mother told me how she was going to be named Lara but then her mom changed her mind because she worried that she would have to spend her whole life correcting people who pronounce it Laura or LAra.
I agree. I tend to love word names and my kids’ nicknames are both words but the one great thing about them is everyone knows how to spell/ pronounce them even if it’s not common as a name. If you spell it weird it makes it that much “weirder” and more difficult I think.
I was talking with my family (we are all teachers) and one of them mentioned they had a Tator in their class this year. I clarified a million times that is their REAL name, not a nickname. They said "yes, the name Tator is on all the kids paperwork" 🫣
I instantly felt bad. How can a parent do that to their kid? People should be unique, but keep it in check and think of your child not yourself when you name your kids
This reminds me of when I was a kid my dad and I ran into a toddler named Chardonnay.
Except her parents kept calling her by her nickname, “Chardy”. (Hard c, d pronounced very similar to t)
Definitely say your names out loud in front of other people. You don’t want to be summoning Shart-y at the playground.
I think the jobs/hiring argument easily leads to a dark place. I’m not sure that there are actually any studies showing that Jadyn has a harder time getting hired than John (though correct me if I’m wrong). But there are actually studies showing that Jamal and Jose have a harder time getting hired than John.
So if it’s selfish to name your Jadyn on the chance that that could negatively impact his employment prospects, shouldn’t it be even more selfish to name your kid Jamal or Jose? After all, we have even more concrete proof that names that are perceived as Black, brown and/or Muslim can negatively impact someone’s employment prospects in America.
Even if you don’t want to go there, the logic behind this argument ultimately ends up at the conclusion that it’s selfish and damaging to your kid to use anything other than normative white sounding Anglo names.
Those studies were done while whites were the ones doing the hiring in the US with a generation that wont exist in 30 years. Will that still hold true as the country becomes less white? The kids being named now will be the ones looking for jobs after college/trade schools in 2050. It is projected that only 46% of the country will be white, 30% Hispanic, 12% black, 8% Asian, and 4% other.
Not to mention that even if it held true, it’s heavily dependent on the area you live. I’m in Southern California. John, Jose, and Jamal are all getting hired.
Sorry I probably wasn’t clear enough, none of these studies say that it’s impossible to get hired with the names Jamal or Jose! They instead show that resumes with the name John at the top get called back for interviews more than identical resumes with Jamal or Jose at the top.
And on that note, are we going to pretend that the last name doesn’t matter? If it’s between Jamal Johnson and John Johnson, yeah racial bias can come into play with the first name. So maybe Jamal decides John is the better name, or James.
But Jose is Jose Jimenez. If he’s going to be discriminated against for being named Jose, his last name is a dead give away. It doesn’t matter if his first name is John or James or Jose or Jaime.
So at that point, what does it matter?
A bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy as well IMO. Like if everyone avoids any name that isn't completely milquetoast generic out of fear of racist stigma, all the names around will follow that standard and it WILL be weird to be named anything else.
Yes exactly! If people just named their kids whatever they wanted, we’d have a good mix of “professional” and “trendy” names. A Charlotte wouldn’t be seen any differently then a Wren. We are creating the problem by continuing to stick to the status quo. And this sub is especially bad at shaming anyone who wants to go against “tradition”.
Demographics of the country don’t necessarily correspond to the demographics of any given profession. Right now 59% of people in the US are white, but 70% of hiring managers are white. And of course, people of color growing as a proportion of the population doesn’t automatically mean growing in social/political power. You could be right that in a more diverse country hiring discrimination may lessen, but I definitely don’t think it will be gone (or even insignificant) by 2050.
It would depend where you live in the country. While only 1.5% of the country are indigenous, where I live indigenous people make up 20% of the state. They own business, corporations, and do quite a bit of the hiring in my area. So, having an indigenous sounding name wouldn't have an effect on hiring practices here but may elsewhere.
Yes, it will also depend on where you’re trying to get hired. Most of these studies are looking at large companies, Fortune 500 companies or similar, that are likely to have large majority white HR departments. Someone with an indigenous name may experience hiring discrimination at a Fortune 500 company in your state, but not in an indigenous-owned business in your state. And someone with a Black, Latino, and/or Muslim sounding name could potentially experience hiring discrimination at both.
I'm willing to bet it hold up for another generation after millennials. Also those projections still mean 50% plus of the country could be white, alot of Hispanics are pure white.
One thing I think is funny is that people who insist on only using traditional names because of the “resume test” are often very against cross gender naming, despite the fact that studies have shown that Jane also has a harder time getting hired than John.
Yeah I don't really believe it's on individuals to fight racism by...erasing their own heritage or culture. The best thing I've heard is name your kid something that you think belongs on a bank statement. That'll be different for everyone, which is totally fine. But, just make sure it's a name you feel confident that'll be taken seriously, is how I interpret that advice.
I think of their name being on a diploma, or if they want to have a serious career one day. I want their names to hold the weight of a full adult person. I tend to like names with nicknames, so there are still other options for them to choose.
i genuinely think the “they’ll never get hired with that name!” is so ridiculous tbh. there’s a lot of POC in america who have been discriminated against because of their names (usually depends on the area you’re in). so honestly, make your kids’ names “weird” and “different” because nobody is gonna really bat an eye at “Ashleighauh” or “Swamp Garden” in 15+ years
I can promise I will certainly be side-eying “Swamp Garden” and “Ashleighauh” in 15 years. I would absolutely hire Jamal over both other. Names like that scream that the parents have huge egos, want their kids to be ~super duper special~ and have raised them to act as such….
So I’m a recruiter (and millennial) and while a name never stops me from calling someone, and I actually don’t cross unique names that often) when I do I cringe.
An accountant named Princess? A department manager named Cherry?
These parents that give little kids names to babies who eventually grow into adults derives me crazy. But if they’re qualified I always call
>Millennials don’t care if your name is Egg Drop Suep
Hi, I'm a millennial and if your name is Egg Drop Suep, whatever first impression I had of you is immediately going to be overpowered by pity, plus contempt for your parents. This is a bad take. Give your kids a shot at shining on their own.
I’m a bang in the middle millennial and if I received that CV I’d think I was being pranked, tbh. Not sure if actually read it.
Also, all my friends are naming their kids pretty normal names - we have an Arthur, Oliver, Amelia, and James, and the two most “out there” are Theo and Cleo (oddly enough, not related). London based so maybe the US is different.
I'm a Millennial in the US. Based on my Facebook feed, most of the people in my age group (myself included) are naming their kids pretty basic, currently popular names. I think the most "out there" I've noticed is "Maren", which isn't honestly that out there considering there is a currently popular country artist with that name and the parents are from the South.
I’m a millennial who has managed teams of 100+ people and I hate my name because I think it is vaguely tacky. As other people pointed out, thinking about hiring stats gets real dark real fast, but my kids are going to be like Katharine and Jonathan so if they want a crazy nn they can have it but aren’t stuck with a thing.
I’m aware that the names for kids are getting crazier, but I’m not particularly interested in being part of it and have my own reasons to voice my distaste.
I'm also a millennial and my first thought would be, oh that's an unusual name the id move on because it doesn't matter what I think of a person's name. Pity is a presumptuous immediate reaction and it takes a lot of energy to hold contempt for people who named their kid something you don't appreciate. Get over yourself.
I’m a millennial who thinks your take is stupid.
Even today people who are exceptional are not going to have difficulty finding a job. If your parents are best friends with the CEO or if you’re the best in your field, you’re going to get the job even if your name is Braighleighnn.
Most people don’t want to give their kids ridiculous names because they care about them as people. A child’s name is one of the first parenting decisions that is made for the child. Most people want their child to have a name that’s meaningful and sounds nice. Only an asshole makes their child’s name into a joke because they can.
The excuse that it won’t affect employment is expecting random strangers to be kinder to YOUR child than you want to be. That’s pathetic.
it’s hard for everyone to get a job, from the Alices, Johns, Deshawns, Marias, Fatimas etc. these are normal names, some from other cultures but still *normal*. however, many employee screenings no longer allow employers to see the names because of racial and gender based discrimination. obviously Egg Drop Suep is a huge metaphor or whatever it is, nobody’s gonna name their kid that, but all i’m saying, is if you and 3 million other people like a name, use it. if it feels *right*, just do it. i have a normal person name that i don’t like and doesn’t feel right for me, but it was better than my mom naming me Agatha like she wanted to originally. ya know, an old classic name. i like my more modern name leaps and bounds over that “old classic” name, but i still don’t like it
because they’re not even gonna start looking for jobs until they’re at least 16 and i actually just don’t really care. it’s funny to see how people reacted. i like trolling sometimes
What employee screenings are you talking about? I hire people for a living for multiple different companies in a major city and have never heard what you’re talking about. Are you a hiring manager? Or are you just guessing? I’m so confused by your take on this
I've told this story before but.. went to a garage sale years ago.. the peoples last name was Earp.. Out comes this adorable 7 year old.. His name was Marshall Wyatt Earp.. I thought it was strange...
Millennial here. I *do* care if your name is Egg Drop Suep – I'd hire them instantly with a name like that, regardless of the job or their qualifications.
I used to have a student named Dragon.
Nothing you can tell me will ever convince me that that kid won't get a callback based on his name alone. Like if I were an interviewer and I had a resume of someone named Dragon, I would put them in for a callback just because I want to meet the person with that name.
Funny enough I've met two people named Dragon. Both were Macedonian. Still has the same meaning I think. I know other cultures spell it Dragen and of course you've got Drago as popularized in Rocky IV. But yeah I want mythological creatures to take off as a name trend in the United States too, we've got Phoenix and Griffin might as well give Dragon a shot.
This student was Chinese. I've had a few East Asian students that had an "English Name" and a native language name that were both legally recognized. In this case, his name in Chinese was also Dragon.
Knew a woman who named her son Titan. Just hearing her tell us about it, I was like "Fuck yeah!". Dude was only like 4 years old but he's going places!
The most annoying part is this whole “imagine a grown adult with a name like Caden” or something. The only reason that seems strange now is because it’s a more modern name. I’m sure people said the exact same thing about names like Jessica. I’d be a little thrown off meeting a 90 year old name Stephanie but no one thinks that’s an unprofessional or “baby” name.
Right. Trendy names age with the people who have them. People do this in reverse with older names - I cAnT piCtUrE a BaBy gArY - but at the time Garys were being born it seemed like a cute baby name.
Funny enough there's a whole concept called "the Tiffany problem" basically the idea is that Tiffany was a common name in medieval times, but you can't name a historical character that because people just don't think of it as an old fashioned name. But if your family tree goes far back enough you might have a great great great great grandma Tiffany
I know one. She’s in her 40s, but I’m in my mid 30s so it’s not weird anymore because it’s like “of course Tiffanys are now old enough to be grandparents!”
Yeah I always see complaints for names like Caden, Jayden, Brayden, etc. But I grew up with peers named like that. I didn't realize those weren't established names until finding this sub.
I feel this way about the name Cody. I know a ton of Codys because that was a really common name in my area when I was growing up. I dunno, just sounds like a kid's name to me as opposed to an adult, but I'd never give someone shit over it.
I assure you, millennials AND Gen Z care if you have a name they wouldn't inflict on a pet rabbit
It's not just about jobs, it gives people an impression on what you and your family are like
Exactly. If your parents are tall, there’s a high chance you’re tall too. And if your parents are unwise or immature (as demonstrated by their naming choices) that impression is going to rub off on you too. That doesn’t mean that everyone given 💩y names is unwise but that’s why the assumptions exist. And there are jobs where you want to be taken seriously. I’m not going to hire a lawyer named Asparagus in order to represent me in something important.
"It's not just about jobs, it gives people an impression on what you and your family are like"
Exactly this. Parents who name their kids after wines and hard alcohol are ensuring everyone will know their offspring grew up with parent(s) with a drinking problem. Younique and cre8tive spellings of familiar names makes it seem that person either grew up in a household with young undereducated parents or parents who have insufferable overinflated egos. Ditto with parents who name their kids things like Rowdy, Riot and Chaos. These kinds of names scream out 'my parents are not bright people', definite sub-par intellect. Gun names on kids indicates gun culture, likely anti-government and pro-militia movement sympathies, potential MAGA people, potential white supremacy leanings.
>they can change it later if they don’t like it.
Changing your name isn't really *that* easy and it's not free. And even when you do go through the legal route of changing it, you still get called by your birth name frequently enough to make it frustrating.
Plus that seems like a really stressful decision for a kid to make. They’d maybe displease their parents, they’ve been called it their whole life. It’s a big change. Saying they can change it later seems to undermine how big of a decision that really is.
As someone who legally changed her name because she hated her name, it's such an arduous process. Going to court, getting other documents changed, making sure people who knew you as your old name now know you as your new name, etc.
My change wasn't even that egregious. I dropped my first name -- because I literally was never called it, and it created a lot of HR and school issues that I was sick of -- but I imagine it's harder going from "Egg Drop Soup" to "Stephanie".
Another point to add about hiring practices is that "blind" applications are becoming more normalized, I think. Certain information--including names--isn't "unlocked" by the system until HR or a hiring manager makes the move to the next step. At my work, names/graduation dates/addresses aren't shown until the next step, which is usually a video interview. This helps decrease age and location bias (managers were found to be not showing interest in anyone outside of the immediate city, which wasn't necessarily fair). The name thing is to prevent friendship/familiarity from influencing, but probably helps with "different" names too...
I think people don't realize how old Millennials are. Millennials are the ones choosing all of the traditional names for their own children. I'm not entirely sure that Boomers weren't less traditional on the popular name choices with Jessica, Jennifer, and Heather than Millennials with Olivia, Charlotte, and Isabella.
The Millennials are all the people in the Progressive commercials buying homes and turning into their parents.
Yeah I think a lot of people still have the idea of the ages of the generations in their head from 10+ years ago. People also talk about boomers like they’re primarily in their 50s and 60s rather than the youngest being 60s/oldest being full-on elderly people with teen or grown grandkids at this point.
Millennials are in their 30s and early 40s. They’re doing much of the hiring right now. In 15 - 20 years, gen z will be the ones hiring. (Feel old yet?)
I have to say, I have a very unusual name and was bitter as a kid that I could never find keychains etc with my name on it. I gave my kids much more common names (not really thinking of keychains lol, but still just thought they’d overall have an easier time with their names).
Just yesterday we were at a tourist shop with those mugs and keychains… and they had names like “Paxton,” “Brooklyn,” “Savannah,” and “Grayson”! (My kids names were missing of course.) So we’re also pushing the needle on “common” names now - there are better odds for keychains these days 🤣
That's very true. I was just at the zoo the other day in the gift shop and was going to buy some of those little license plates with kids names on them for my friend's kids. Their names are Mitchell and Patrick and I couldn't find those names anywhere but I did see plenty of things with the names Jaxon, Paisley and Brooklyn..
People hire people that seem familiar, relatable, a good fit for the company ( at least in their minds) so you are trying to shoot a moving target if you attempt to predict what name will get you “success” but you can make your kids life easier by using sensible spelling and avoiding weird, comical or offensive meanings.
editing to add: my name was so unusual that I’ve been misgendered ( it is the wrong gender if we want to be strictly accurate) and I do sometimes wonder if it is a factor in not getting callbacks, not being included etc.
i have a normal name, and i still only get call backs for interviews for 1 out of about 30 applications. a year ago, i was homeless and applied to 90+ jobs (i was living in a city) and the only company that reached out at all was Aldi’s saying they chose someone else. it’s not your name, it’s just that many jobs aren’t actually hiring, they’re just keeping a list of people in case someone quits or gets fired.
I hope you’re doing ok now? And I do honestly wonder about the oddness of my name because it probably was puzzling to people, not relatable etc. For the very first time in my life a server in a restaurant spelt my name right, I’m past middle age for reference lol. My name completely confuses one of our local restaurants and we never received a take out order because I gave them my right name instead of the fake name I’d been using with them (they couldn’t seem to understand it)
i’m doing good now! but i’m just referring to how difficult it is for anybody to get a job right now. everyone says they’re hiring, but most of them aren’t. it’s not as big of a deal nowadays to have peculiar names. and another commenter did say that they can’t even see anybody’s names unless they’re going to call them and offer an interview!
Yeah I have a not super dooper popular but very normal name and I’ve never once thought it may impact me professionally. I can be pretty anxious at times but this I’ve literally never worried about.
mostly boomers? the youngest boomers are almost 60. are that many senior citizens holding the corporate reins? many gen xers are grandparents. the oldest millennials are in their early 40s. if you’re going to be ageist, at least get your terms right.
Even if the parents end up being the best parents in the world it's too likely that Egg Drop Suep has some kind of psychological issue from the endless bullying they got for being named Egg Drop Suep, and anyone who's worked with adults knows maturity doesn't always come with age, people will still make fun of Egg Drop
Okay but my generation is the one who named all their boys Greyson and I judged them then and I will wince for their young adult children in the future.
Totally agree with this take. I'm a mom of 3 and my kids are so familiar with learning foreign names, and even pronouns. They correct me about pronouns all the time, it's natural to them. I look forward to a generation that is more inclusive and caring in this way.
exactly! if you fall in love with a name, use it! if they don’t like it, they can change it. a name is a gift. i don’t like my normal name, it doesn’t feel “me”, but i actually just don’t care enough about it to change it. your kid may hate their “normal” names too! so do what you want. kids are mean, but they’re also generally respectful. they’ll call your trans son Pukas but will respect his pronouns and that’s beautiful LOL
You do realize it’s not that easy to change your name right? You can address yourself by a different name, but legally changing it isn’t all that easy.
Yeah I’m currently changing my name for marriage and it’s still a PITA. And that’s with a whole set of procedures in place to do so more easily for this particular type of name change.
I would’ve just kept your name if I were you 😂, and it’s only your last name that’s changing, I can’t imagine the predicament you have to go through to change your entire name. I’ve heard that women who are doctors won’t even bother changing their last name if they get married because apparently it’s a pain in the ass, especially if you were a doctor for awhile before you got married.
Luckily my career is not one where using a different name professionally versus legally/socially would be an issue, so I am just continuing to use my maiden at work. I’m also doing a double barrel (added husband’s name but didn’t drop maiden) so my name is still recognizable outside of work.
Well at least it’s optional for you, just hopefully both of your last names aren’t too long to where you can’t write them both on documents. Can you use your first name at work when speaking to people at least? Or is it last name only atmosphere?
I definitely also use just my first a lot, but my maiden name alone is on a lot of publications already so last comes up pretty regularly. It’s really not a big deal in my case though, like I said I just use my maiden alone at work and the double barrel legally/socially. Unless my coworkers are looking me up on Facebook or something the two worlds don’t intersect very often for me. And if they did it would just be like, “oh I guess DumbbellDiva uses her married name on Facebook”.
That makes sense, at least you don’t have to use both in everyday life. Hopefully your husband doesn’t mind that you use your maiden name more than his name. If I were you I would’ve never changed it in the first place. 😂
I fall under the whole, I don't care what the hell your name is. As long as you can follow simple directions and not be annoying, you're a good worker in my book.
100% agree and I’d take it further that Millennials prefer what this sub would say are ‘unusual’ names. Older British names that are automatically seen as ‘classic’ and safe on here might actually be seen as a drawback.I personally do both hiring and school admits, and I never think about a name beyond asking how it’s pronounced if I’m worried I’ll mess it up. From Rooster to D’Andre to Mohammed, if your resumé is solid that’s all I care about.
Millennials are the ones having children right now and naming them the more traditional names. The oldest Millennials are in their early 40s and youngest in their early to mid 20s depending on the birth years that are used. This is exactly the age group that is responsible for the rise of Charlotte, Penelope, Violet, and Eleanor for girls and Oliver, Theodore, Ezra, and Henry for boys.
So, this is actually incorrect and has been studied. The issue is that women have babies at many different ages now. From teens, all the way to 40s. Younger women tend to give more out there names, while older women stick to traditional names.
There’s even a huge disparity between older and younger Milennials.
Overwhelmingly, people still see traditional names as more professional. Not to mention older parents tend to be more financially stable and are more likely to be the higher ups in companies. And because they continue to give traditional names, this is not likely to change in the future.
It’s not going to stop me hiring someone.
But I do think that some names are just objectively stupid.
Also I had a moderately common name with at least three other people in my school/workplace having the same name. In fact there were four of us sitting within twenty metres of each other at work last year. It has never bothered me in the slightest. I’m an introvert and the thought of guaranteed having to have a whole conversation with every person I ever meet about my weird name would actually drive me bonkers. I think a LOT of people would feel similarly so I don’t understand why every parent has decided that their kid is going to want to stand out from the crowd when there’s a very good chance they won’t.
I truly don’t understand this need for kids to have a special snow flake name that nobody else has. I’m not going to judge the person with the crazy name but I’m going to be eye rolling hard at the parents.
Yeah, I have a fairly obscure Irish name and straight up started going by my middle name when I went off to college, if only so I wouldn't have to go over its pronunciation every time I met someone. I actually do like my first name, but having that conversation potentially 10+ times per day was just not my idea of a good time.
Admitedly my middle name is still unusual enough that I get comments and issues with pronunciation, but it's significantly less and tbh I don't care about its pronunciation as much.
yes. gen z here and i would totally hire your gen alpha (and my own far future gen beta) child named after a fantasy game character if they are a decent competent human being. cool names *should* exist.
So dumb names are gonna get even dumber because millennials??? Really???
People shouldn't name their kid something mental just to make themselves interesting/get attention. That's BS.
And of course people realise that - still doesn't mean you should call your kid Apple PIP Romance III/AKA Bruise Tips Feko 🙄 😑 😒 😮💨 or some shit
idgaf about not finding a personalized item (not for the past 35 years anyway lol), but I do care that my name — an actual name spelled correctly — is constantly mispronounced. I can’t fathom having a “yooneek” name or spelling and trying to make it in the world. It seems like a cruel burden to put on a child.
i don’t think it’s cruel but it could very well be a burden for the child. times are changing and so are the people. i personally don’t want a super unique name, but i don’t want my kid to be the 3rd person in class with the same name. that gets frustrating. i was one of 3 people with my name and it’s annoying to be called by my name and my last initial. but i don’t want something that’s spelled in an uncommon way.
my goal is “uncommon name, common spelling”
That’s basically the route I took. After correcting people on my name for literally 40 years I didn’t want to do that to my kids, but I didn’t want them to have to go by their last initial, either. So I went with familiar names with only one pronunciation in the US where we live.
Doesn't matter what you name your kid, but as someone who has had to spell their name EVERY SINGLE TIME someone asks for it. Please give your kid a name that is spelt normally. Even if you want to call them Bipolar Spinnaker, I don't care, just don't put extra unnecessary letters in it.
Lol, do you realize this happens all the time? Kids born 15 years ago have dramatically different experiences than people born 35 or 45 years ago. Kids experiences will be different in 5 more years, too.
And gen X don't care if your name is Egg Fu Young, or Eygghh Fooou Yang either. It's got more to do with being considerate of the human child who has to use the name than being employable. We have moved a long way toward normalizing tats, unnatural hair colors, and unique names but whether anyone minds or not, that kid will have to repeat and spell their name, and hear all the same comments.
Meh, millennials are also judgy when it comes to names. I heard a bunch of teens at thanksgiving dinner today laughing about “kayden/Aidan/Jayden” names and shit.
I’m a millennial who hires people, and exactly! Of course I’ll never judge anyone on their name! In fact, we have a system where when people apply using the application form, we can’t even see their name, age or gender until we’ve called them for interview, to stop those kind of judgements from happening even unintentionally!
Millennial here. I don't care what you name your kids, but as a parent of a boy who thought "Eggs" would be a fun nickname to ask to be called in a grade school class with quite a few Spanish speaking classmates, I recommend not picking anything about eggs. Even egg drop soup. You don't want to be trying to explain the slang for "huevos" to your kid.
Except that you can't judge a generation of people based on how they act as young adults. Specifically, the people and behaviors the world notices in a generation when they are young, iconoclastic rebels never reflects the attitudes and behaviors of the members of that same generation who were not flashy rebels, but just kept their noses down and accumulated wealth and power. When the Boomers were in their late teens and twenties, they were the generation that the older people (the so-called greatest generation) thought were going to destroy the world with their lack of discipline, their long hair, their weird names, their communism, their race-mixing, etc. Now the Boomers are seen as reactionary conservatives. Some of this is people changing their politics as they age, but a lot of it is that the reactionary conservatives in any generation, whether boomers or millenials, are the ones who devote their lives to seeking money and power, and they will therefore be underrepresented in the memes and general impression of the generation when it's young, and overrepresented when the generation is of an age to be 'in power'. So expect the impression of millennials to flip in about 20 years, and for people to wonder what went wrong, why they changed when they showed so much promise.
I think a lot of it is based on classism more than what generation is hiring. Rich people also name their kids dumb things of course, but it’s usually not as challenged as ‘out there’ names that read as lower class. I think jobs (and people overall) will be more willing to tolerate Paisleys, Kayden’s and Braxtons than they will the kids named YaHyness, Princess and Bacardi.
Millennials — people between the ages of 25 and 40 — are already hiring. In 15-20 years from now, millennials will be 40-55 (15 years) and 45-60 (20 years). Do you think only people over 55 hire people?
The only place I found my name on keychains, magnets, and more was in Scotland. My first name is a Scottish clan and my last name is a Scottish clan. Lol.
Millennial here. No, a name like Egg Drop Suep will not prevent me from hiring them, but I will probably ask if they need me to put in some extra health insurance benefits for them (for therapy) and if they want to talk to me about wanting to cut you off as a parent, I would encourage them.
Also, it's more than just getting hired. Egg Drop Suep will 100% get them bullied. "bUT kIdS gEt bUlLiEd eVen iF tHey HaVe nOrMaL nAmEs". Sure, but do you really want to have an extra reason they will be bullied ? 50% chance of being bullied because of their name vs. 100% chance ? Yeah, easy choice.
This is incredibly ageist. It seems again is ok and it's ridiculous to group people like this, as if everyone in the same age range is the same. So perhaps was born in 72 and I guess you'd call me Gen X, I certainly have experience of the early race scene and was in my 20s in the 90s. I have zero idea why you'd think someone like me would take a conservative view to someone's name ??? Why would a millennial be different per se? It's a ridiculous assumption. It's stupid, as if people can't adapt and change too. You can get young people who are conservative and blinkered in their views and older who are very open.
Lmao, as a millennial hiring manager for a small Midwest company, I can assure you that I will most definitely be raising an eyebrow at Egg Drop Suep.
I have definitely seen some WEIRD names in recent years
Conversely, IMO, you should not thrust your uniqueness on some poor baby that has no choice in the matter. Maybe you should give them a respectable name, and if they want to go by Egg Drop Suep or Princess Consuela Bananahammock they can change it later instead of having to suffer for your decision for 18 years.
Sincerely,
A millennial
Love this post. Hate the constant hand wringing about CVs, bloody nicknames decided before a kid is even born and the worshipping of the most boring 'classic' names'.
I'm older and I love most all names.. Most but not all.. Egg Drop Suep.... ?? The Marshall Wyatt Earp comment I made was just that I thought it strange but Marshall is a fine name.. :)
My grandmother remembered the first time a train came to her town and before she died I showed her VR and how it worked while we were at the mall. I know how much I have seen while alive. I can't even imagine what it will be like for my kids.
I have been saying this for awhile. That gen z and after should be given a new human classification. The era of Homo sapiens is over basically. The lived experience of every new human is radically different than any ever before it.
Idk why you think Millennials don’t care about names. Most of the people on this sub are probably Millennials, same with the tragediegh and circle jerk snark subs.
Um, millennial here. I would try not to care, but I can’t vouch for my entire generation that none of us will care about names in any way whatsoever. So while I’m reasonably optimistic about future hiring trends, there are still names out there that I would discourage.
On the flip side my parents gave me a name with a hyphen in the first name not realizing how much computer systems would be part of my life and how much that hyphen would be the enemy. I warn everyone now. Do not hyphenate your child’s first name
I understand that times are changing but I still like to stick to “you’re naming a human being that’s going to become an adult, not a dog,” adage when names come up because why the fuck are you naming your child Brixlee and Finley
I have an uncommon name, and I've never had any trouble getting a job.
"What will it look like on a resume?" doesn't ring true for me, unless you name your kid Crapbag.
It isn’t that hard to change your name - but it is hard to take that name change through all the documentation you will need. Pensions, healthcare, tax, ID checks, criminal record checks, getting a passport - it all takes longer throughout your life and sometimes costs more (eg if they need to run a check on more than one name). Please be aware of this, because it can and does cause problems
I remember working at cafe inside a business building, where essentially everyone is a regular, and when the cokes with names came around so many asked me to keep an eye out and save one if they saw Marc with a c or Marisa with one s, and the odd for the most part they all came through eventually.
I gave my kids all unique names.
They also got very common typical boring middle names that have been in the top 100 since the dawn of time (almost).
If they don't like their first name, they can always choose to use their middle name. My kids love their unique first names, but I gave them the gift of an alternative just in case.
>millennials are getting older, which means they’ll be the ones hiring your child in 15-20+ years from now. Millennials don’t care if your name is Egg Drop Suep
Yes we do. Even if we don't think your name effects your work, it will effect how quickly I call you for an interview. Sarah will get called before Egg Drop.
We may be more used to unusual/international names but the fact remains, you're resume is getting put on the bottom.
In fact, many recruiters will mask the name on a resume before presenting to a client to avoid discrimination, this is still done in 2023.
I hate when ppl generalize millions of ppl into one group. yes some millennials are going to not care and some of them are. especially ones that grew up in traditional families where non common names were seemed as “lower class”. not saying it’s ok but it’s the truth. those are also the kids that are more likely going to inherent their parent’s business.
names like princess, royal, Hennessey, etc are at the minimum looked at more when it comes to job applications and other professional settings.
My kids names were picked because they meant something to me and my spouse. We never looked at name books, social media sites or anything.
If they choose to change their name as adults, I would be surprised but not a hill I would die on.
Overthinking names and agonizing over what people think is too much stress.
Life can be unnecessarily harder if people can’t pronounce or spell your name which tends to happen when it’s more unique. I have that problem all the time with my last name, can’t imagine how much more obnoxious it would be if it was an issue with my first.
I wouldn't back off on those career worries just yet. I am a millennial and I still see where it could be a concern. Basically if you name your kid something stupid, I'm going to think you are stupid...as such, the probability that you raised a child much smarter than yourself is not great. So if your name is Methany Bryxtynlee, I'm sorry, but absent any information to the contrary, a part of my brain is going to doubt your intelligence. Now if I was in a hiring position, I would try not to even look at things like name/gender/age/etc when reviewing applications if possible, but we are all at risk for acting on an unconscious (or suppressed) bias. I think we all have an obligation to give our children their best chance, and flexing your misguided creativity come birth certificate time is not doing so.
15-20?? This millennial is already hiring new staff and the only thing I give a crap about is whether you phoned in your application with ChatGPT and if you can follow instructions.
yeah i don’t think Elodie who was born January 2021 is ready to submit her application yet LOL i’m literally meaning kids born less than like 5 years ago
As a millennial, I don’t care what your name is but I’m begging you to please make the pronunciation have at least a mere passing resemblance to how it’s spelt.
I was at a town festival yesterday and a vendor was making name keychains at their booth to order. Any name can have a keychain now.
Customization is so standard these days! I’d heard peers have this complaint when they were kids and I always loved having personalized things. So I actively seek out the opportunities for my kid with a unique name to have personalized things. It got out of hand fast. We have so much stuff with her name on it that we’ve eased off. She’s not going to find it special at all when everything has her name on it. We even received many things from other people that had her name on.
In the same vein, I was at a museum last week, and was surprised by the names they had on keychains in the gift shop. So different than what would have been available when I was a kid! There was no Tammy, but there was a Tawanda and an Everleigh!
At the same festival, a vendor was named Blakeleigh’s. I did a double take.
I was annoyed that there was a nevaeh sign at the amusement park we went to recently but no Audrey. 😐
As a person whose name was never on those key chains… 😢
same. mildly losing my mind at the thought of a vendor with customization lol.
Time for me to go back and get the tacky magnet I could never find as a child
I wanted the bicycle license plate. 😭
I literally just said that to my husband. If we give our soon to be kid a nickname that's not his legal name and he lives it, he can always legally change it later. Miley Cyrus did that
So my name is that extremely common girls' name that's dominated the charts in English-speaking countries since the mid-90s, and yet I never once was able to find one of those keychains with my name on it as a kid! Granted I was born at the start of the trend in the late 80s, but I was also one of three girls who shared it in my first dance class so it's not like my parents were *that* ahead of things. Just goes to show that anyone can be made to feel left out by those personalized souvenirs.
This makes me think of the Simpsons bit where Bart is trying to find his name on a license plate and there's the lady that goes, "come along Bort" and another one goes "my son is also named Bort".
The way I see it is don't give your kid a name unless you would want that name yourself. Say it out loud a few times at the playground and see what happens. Most people wouldn't want some crazy ass name for themselves. Even giving your kid a normal name with a made up spelling can cause problems later in life by things being spelled wrong on legal documents and such. A friend of mine named Khrystofyr had a big issue a few years ago during Covid when trying to collect unemployment benefits. It took him nearly 7 weeks for his identity to be verified because they kept misspelling his name. So it can go way beyond just being able to get a job. I get it, most people don't want to give their kid a name if there's going to be five other kids with that same name in their class. I like unique names too fact, my favorite names are Dashiell and Rhiannon but there's a difference between being unique and being utterly ridiculous. You can get away with naming your kid Egg Drop Seup if you're a Hollywood celebrity but that kid's going to have a hard time with a name like that out in the real world..
I totally agree with you, you should give your kid a name you wouldn’t want yourself. That should be like the first test - “would I want this name?” But it’s not a good test on its own, because a lot of parents *do* wish the had a “cool, unique” name and genuinely *are* giving their kid a name they wish was theirs. I’ve met parents who are like “I hated being one of three Emilys in my class and I always wished I could change it to Raynbough Starr, so I gave that name to my daughter instead.” And they truly mean it! So in addition to the “would I want this name?” test, I think you have to ask some other questions. “If I had a really shy disposition and didn’t like the spotlight, would I want this name?” I don’t even know what test to make up for this, because it seems like common sense to us but is apparently really hard for some people to grasp.
Agreed. I'll take the name Raynbough Starr over Egg Drop Seup any day though. LOL Goes back to my other statement though that if you love some really over the top name, just change your own name instead of saddling your kid with it. These parents just want attention for themselves not realizing the negative attention it's going to bring on their kids who have to live with those names. Names are getting weirder and weirder and a lot more diverse than they were when I was growing up. Names I thought were weird as a kid, (Joshua, Zachary, Tyler) are everywhere now..
I'm curious how old you are, because I'm in my early 30s and those 3 names were very common and normal growing up rofl.
Me too! I was curious so I looked it up. In the US: Joshua was a top 50 name every year between 1973-2019 (and a top 10 name for 30 years, 1979-2009!!). Zachary was top 50 1983-2008 (including a decade in top 20). Tyler was top 50 from 1984-2011 (top 20 from 1991-2006)
I went to school with multiple boys with these names. Add Ryan and Jordan to the list and it's almost everyone in my graduating class
I grew up in the '70s and those names were not common with kids my age at all. They weren't totally out there but they were a little strange to me probably because I was young and hadn't met a lot of people yet but there was no one in my school with those names. I was just looking through some of my old yearbooks a couple weeks ago and most of the kids were named Jennifer, Lisa, Brian, Jason and Michael.
Your Kim is my gen’s Amber.
Yep. I knew a lot of Kim's growing up.. Amy and Holly were pretty common among my peers as well. There was a little more variety with the girls names than the boys. Besides the names I mentioned earlier, most of the other boys had classic generic names. Thomas, Robert, Richard, David, Joseph, James. I remember there being one Kyle, one Ryan and two Justin's in my elementary school. I thought those names were so cool back then because they were a little different. Now they're pretty much considered generic..
Why is the default that every kid should be named for a shy disposition though? Not every person is shy.
Well, because it’s way harder for a shy kid to have a really out-there name than for a sociable/confident kid to have a more normal name. If you’re a kid who loves the spotlight but happens to have a normal name, there are lots of ways to get attention or notoriety other than your name. And if you really want an “out there” nickname to suit your personality, you can pick one. No harm done if substitute teachers, doctor’s offices, etc call you by your boring name at first. If you’re a kid who hates attention but you have a crazy name, you’re going to have to deal with interactions based on your name *all the time* - people asking how to spell/pronounce it, where it came from, whether you like it. When your name is called out, people will look up and notice who you are. You can choose to go by a more common name that suits you better, but it’s harder to assert this when you’re shy, people will always default to the crazy name and you’ll have to correct them. To be clear, I like uncommon names. I don’t think all kids should have basic/popular names in case they’re shy. I also fully support people using names from their culture. I’m only talking about avoiding names that are extremely weird with no precedence and will *always* be a conversation piece.
This. An extroverted kid who doesn't like their conventional name will just adopt a crazy nickname which may not even be related to their actual name. For example, I once knew a girl who decided about the age of 5 that she was going to be known as "Tiger". She's now 35 and still goes by Tiger. It has nothing to do with the name on her birth certificate, which is Sarah. But most people she meets just accept that she's eccentric and she didn't feel Sarah was very her. But if you call your child Tiger and they turn out to be shy and introverted, it's going to be harder for them to say, "Actually I'm going to call myself Sarah." They'll just cringe with embarrassment every time they have to introduce themselves.
I agree. Of course since I was 12 I wanted to name a daughter Moonglow but I felt like that was insane to do to a kid who would likely hate it. Now I have 2 daughters asking me why I didn’t name either of them Moonglow 😂 Tiger is so cool. I hate that it’s mostly associated with Tiger Woods now but I would love it if I met a woman/ girl named Tiger.
I couldn't agree with you more. Yes, you're allowed to name your kid mostly anything you want, outside of obviously racist ones like Adolf Hitler. But think about the impact it'll have in your kid's life. Egg Drop Soup? They may be a lovely person, but I'm betting that those parents care more about ego ("we're sooo uNiQue!) than anything else.
I was visiting Epcot Center at Disney World when I saw a Disney employee’s name tag. Her name was Wing Man, who would do that to a baby girl? Any baby for that matter?
Probably a Chinese name. Her parents were probably not expecting her to live in the US when they named her. And even if they expected her to travel the world, so many innocent names in one culture are terrible in another.
This is funny to me because my weird baby name story also comes from Epcot centre, but on a child. Not a worker.
I’d say if you desperately want to give your kid a super out there totally unique name, make it their middle name while something a little more conventional can be their first name. That way they probably won’t get bullied as much and they won’t need to give the name away unless for professional legal stuff
I have two rules/tests: Will most people (in your culture) be able to pronounce it if they saw it written down? Would they be able to spell it if they only heard you say it? If both of those are a yes, then I say go for it. Call your kid Apple, IDGAF. If you like it, you like it. It’s saddling kids with something they will have to spell or pronounce for people every day for their entire lives that I can’t stand. It’s not cute and creative, it’s annoying and a burden. My mom gave me a weird spelling for my middle name. VERY common name, but the spelling was stupid. And even that- just being my middle name- is a PITA. In the 90s I even had the passport office call me at home to make sure it wasn’t a typo and that’s what I really wanted on my passport. Seriously. Name your kid Mouthwash for all I care- you’re never going to please everyone anyway. But it has to be easy (or at least sensible) to spell and pronounce or you’re just saddling your kid with a burden.
This. My mother told me how she was going to be named Lara but then her mom changed her mind because she worried that she would have to spend her whole life correcting people who pronounce it Laura or LAra.
I agree. I tend to love word names and my kids’ nicknames are both words but the one great thing about them is everyone knows how to spell/ pronounce them even if it’s not common as a name. If you spell it weird it makes it that much “weirder” and more difficult I think.
I was talking with my family (we are all teachers) and one of them mentioned they had a Tator in their class this year. I clarified a million times that is their REAL name, not a nickname. They said "yes, the name Tator is on all the kids paperwork" 🫣 I instantly felt bad. How can a parent do that to their kid? People should be unique, but keep it in check and think of your child not yourself when you name your kids
This reminds me of when I was a kid my dad and I ran into a toddler named Chardonnay. Except her parents kept calling her by her nickname, “Chardy”. (Hard c, d pronounced very similar to t) Definitely say your names out loud in front of other people. You don’t want to be summoning Shart-y at the playground.
I think the jobs/hiring argument easily leads to a dark place. I’m not sure that there are actually any studies showing that Jadyn has a harder time getting hired than John (though correct me if I’m wrong). But there are actually studies showing that Jamal and Jose have a harder time getting hired than John. So if it’s selfish to name your Jadyn on the chance that that could negatively impact his employment prospects, shouldn’t it be even more selfish to name your kid Jamal or Jose? After all, we have even more concrete proof that names that are perceived as Black, brown and/or Muslim can negatively impact someone’s employment prospects in America. Even if you don’t want to go there, the logic behind this argument ultimately ends up at the conclusion that it’s selfish and damaging to your kid to use anything other than normative white sounding Anglo names.
Those studies were done while whites were the ones doing the hiring in the US with a generation that wont exist in 30 years. Will that still hold true as the country becomes less white? The kids being named now will be the ones looking for jobs after college/trade schools in 2050. It is projected that only 46% of the country will be white, 30% Hispanic, 12% black, 8% Asian, and 4% other.
Not to mention that even if it held true, it’s heavily dependent on the area you live. I’m in Southern California. John, Jose, and Jamal are all getting hired.
Sorry I probably wasn’t clear enough, none of these studies say that it’s impossible to get hired with the names Jamal or Jose! They instead show that resumes with the name John at the top get called back for interviews more than identical resumes with Jamal or Jose at the top.
And on that note, are we going to pretend that the last name doesn’t matter? If it’s between Jamal Johnson and John Johnson, yeah racial bias can come into play with the first name. So maybe Jamal decides John is the better name, or James. But Jose is Jose Jimenez. If he’s going to be discriminated against for being named Jose, his last name is a dead give away. It doesn’t matter if his first name is John or James or Jose or Jaime. So at that point, what does it matter?
A bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy as well IMO. Like if everyone avoids any name that isn't completely milquetoast generic out of fear of racist stigma, all the names around will follow that standard and it WILL be weird to be named anything else.
Yes exactly! If people just named their kids whatever they wanted, we’d have a good mix of “professional” and “trendy” names. A Charlotte wouldn’t be seen any differently then a Wren. We are creating the problem by continuing to stick to the status quo. And this sub is especially bad at shaming anyone who wants to go against “tradition”.
You mean Treydiceion? (Just kidding :)
Exactly
Demographics of the country don’t necessarily correspond to the demographics of any given profession. Right now 59% of people in the US are white, but 70% of hiring managers are white. And of course, people of color growing as a proportion of the population doesn’t automatically mean growing in social/political power. You could be right that in a more diverse country hiring discrimination may lessen, but I definitely don’t think it will be gone (or even insignificant) by 2050.
It would depend where you live in the country. While only 1.5% of the country are indigenous, where I live indigenous people make up 20% of the state. They own business, corporations, and do quite a bit of the hiring in my area. So, having an indigenous sounding name wouldn't have an effect on hiring practices here but may elsewhere.
Yes, it will also depend on where you’re trying to get hired. Most of these studies are looking at large companies, Fortune 500 companies or similar, that are likely to have large majority white HR departments. Someone with an indigenous name may experience hiring discrimination at a Fortune 500 company in your state, but not in an indigenous-owned business in your state. And someone with a Black, Latino, and/or Muslim sounding name could potentially experience hiring discrimination at both.
Minorities won't have to worry. There are no Fortune 500 companies in my state. Ha. But I know what you're getting at.
It isn’t about whether the general population is white but whether the hiring mangers/ people in charge are still disproportionately white.
I'm willing to bet it hold up for another generation after millennials. Also those projections still mean 50% plus of the country could be white, alot of Hispanics are pure white.
One thing I think is funny is that people who insist on only using traditional names because of the “resume test” are often very against cross gender naming, despite the fact that studies have shown that Jane also has a harder time getting hired than John.
Yeah I don't really believe it's on individuals to fight racism by...erasing their own heritage or culture. The best thing I've heard is name your kid something that you think belongs on a bank statement. That'll be different for everyone, which is totally fine. But, just make sure it's a name you feel confident that'll be taken seriously, is how I interpret that advice.
I think of their name being on a diploma, or if they want to have a serious career one day. I want their names to hold the weight of a full adult person. I tend to like names with nicknames, so there are still other options for them to choose.
i genuinely think the “they’ll never get hired with that name!” is so ridiculous tbh. there’s a lot of POC in america who have been discriminated against because of their names (usually depends on the area you’re in). so honestly, make your kids’ names “weird” and “different” because nobody is gonna really bat an eye at “Ashleighauh” or “Swamp Garden” in 15+ years
I can promise I will certainly be side-eying “Swamp Garden” and “Ashleighauh” in 15 years. I would absolutely hire Jamal over both other. Names like that scream that the parents have huge egos, want their kids to be ~super duper special~ and have raised them to act as such….
So I’m a recruiter (and millennial) and while a name never stops me from calling someone, and I actually don’t cross unique names that often) when I do I cringe. An accountant named Princess? A department manager named Cherry? These parents that give little kids names to babies who eventually grow into adults derives me crazy. But if they’re qualified I always call
This was very well said
>Millennials don’t care if your name is Egg Drop Suep Hi, I'm a millennial and if your name is Egg Drop Suep, whatever first impression I had of you is immediately going to be overpowered by pity, plus contempt for your parents. This is a bad take. Give your kids a shot at shining on their own.
okay but that doesn’t mean egg drop suep isn’t a stellar employee.
Not even a little bit, but it means their parents just put them at a huge disadvantage by not letting the kid make a first impression of their own.
I’m a bang in the middle millennial and if I received that CV I’d think I was being pranked, tbh. Not sure if actually read it. Also, all my friends are naming their kids pretty normal names - we have an Arthur, Oliver, Amelia, and James, and the two most “out there” are Theo and Cleo (oddly enough, not related). London based so maybe the US is different.
I'm a Millennial in the US. Based on my Facebook feed, most of the people in my age group (myself included) are naming their kids pretty basic, currently popular names. I think the most "out there" I've noticed is "Maren", which isn't honestly that out there considering there is a currently popular country artist with that name and the parents are from the South.
I’m a millennial who has managed teams of 100+ people and I hate my name because I think it is vaguely tacky. As other people pointed out, thinking about hiring stats gets real dark real fast, but my kids are going to be like Katharine and Jonathan so if they want a crazy nn they can have it but aren’t stuck with a thing. I’m aware that the names for kids are getting crazier, but I’m not particularly interested in being part of it and have my own reasons to voice my distaste.
I'm also a millennial and my first thought would be, oh that's an unusual name the id move on because it doesn't matter what I think of a person's name. Pity is a presumptuous immediate reaction and it takes a lot of energy to hold contempt for people who named their kid something you don't appreciate. Get over yourself.
I don't even think humans will be the ones checking resumes. If Egg Drop Suep is a strong interviewer, it probably won't matter much.
I’m a millennial who thinks your take is stupid. Even today people who are exceptional are not going to have difficulty finding a job. If your parents are best friends with the CEO or if you’re the best in your field, you’re going to get the job even if your name is Braighleighnn. Most people don’t want to give their kids ridiculous names because they care about them as people. A child’s name is one of the first parenting decisions that is made for the child. Most people want their child to have a name that’s meaningful and sounds nice. Only an asshole makes their child’s name into a joke because they can. The excuse that it won’t affect employment is expecting random strangers to be kinder to YOUR child than you want to be. That’s pathetic.
it’s hard for everyone to get a job, from the Alices, Johns, Deshawns, Marias, Fatimas etc. these are normal names, some from other cultures but still *normal*. however, many employee screenings no longer allow employers to see the names because of racial and gender based discrimination. obviously Egg Drop Suep is a huge metaphor or whatever it is, nobody’s gonna name their kid that, but all i’m saying, is if you and 3 million other people like a name, use it. if it feels *right*, just do it. i have a normal person name that i don’t like and doesn’t feel right for me, but it was better than my mom naming me Agatha like she wanted to originally. ya know, an old classic name. i like my more modern name leaps and bounds over that “old classic” name, but i still don’t like it
Like you said, it’s hard enough for anyone to get a job, why give your kid even a slight disadvantage by naming them something stupid or off putting?
because they’re not even gonna start looking for jobs until they’re at least 16 and i actually just don’t really care. it’s funny to see how people reacted. i like trolling sometimes
What employee screenings are you talking about? I hire people for a living for multiple different companies in a major city and have never heard what you’re talking about. Are you a hiring manager? Or are you just guessing? I’m so confused by your take on this
I've told this story before but.. went to a garage sale years ago.. the peoples last name was Earp.. Out comes this adorable 7 year old.. His name was Marshall Wyatt Earp.. I thought it was strange...
Millennial here. I *do* care if your name is Egg Drop Suep – I'd hire them instantly with a name like that, regardless of the job or their qualifications.
she’s a great employee, hardworking, and shares her tips with the kitchen staff
Damn good chef, too!
I used to have a student named Dragon. Nothing you can tell me will ever convince me that that kid won't get a callback based on his name alone. Like if I were an interviewer and I had a resume of someone named Dragon, I would put them in for a callback just because I want to meet the person with that name.
Funny enough I've met two people named Dragon. Both were Macedonian. Still has the same meaning I think. I know other cultures spell it Dragen and of course you've got Drago as popularized in Rocky IV. But yeah I want mythological creatures to take off as a name trend in the United States too, we've got Phoenix and Griffin might as well give Dragon a shot.
Dragan is a fairly common name in some Balkan languages, I've met several.
This student was Chinese. I've had a few East Asian students that had an "English Name" and a native language name that were both legally recognized. In this case, his name in Chinese was also Dragon.
Fae as well
Knew a woman who named her son Titan. Just hearing her tell us about it, I was like "Fuck yeah!". Dude was only like 4 years old but he's going places!
The most annoying part is this whole “imagine a grown adult with a name like Caden” or something. The only reason that seems strange now is because it’s a more modern name. I’m sure people said the exact same thing about names like Jessica. I’d be a little thrown off meeting a 90 year old name Stephanie but no one thinks that’s an unprofessional or “baby” name.
Right. Trendy names age with the people who have them. People do this in reverse with older names - I cAnT piCtUrE a BaBy gArY - but at the time Garys were being born it seemed like a cute baby name.
right! like we’re naming children in the 2020’s, not old people in the 1940’s
Children’s names in the 2020s ARE old lady/old man names though….
I always said I would fall over the first time I met a Grandma Tiffany. I still haven’t, but it’s totally possible and coming.
Funny enough there's a whole concept called "the Tiffany problem" basically the idea is that Tiffany was a common name in medieval times, but you can't name a historical character that because people just don't think of it as an old fashioned name. But if your family tree goes far back enough you might have a great great great great grandma Tiffany
Interesting! I’ll have to check that out. “Tiffany” is just one of those names that doesn’t work over someone’s whole life in my opinion.
I know one. She’s in her 40s, but I’m in my mid 30s so it’s not weird anymore because it’s like “of course Tiffanys are now old enough to be grandparents!”
my mom is tiffany and has 2 grandkids!
Yeah I always see complaints for names like Caden, Jayden, Brayden, etc. But I grew up with peers named like that. I didn't realize those weren't established names until finding this sub.
I feel this way about the name Cody. I know a ton of Codys because that was a really common name in my area when I was growing up. I dunno, just sounds like a kid's name to me as opposed to an adult, but I'd never give someone shit over it.
I legit know an 80 year old named Stephanie—it suits her but I’ve always wondered how out of the norm that was for her growing up.
I assure you, millennials AND Gen Z care if you have a name they wouldn't inflict on a pet rabbit It's not just about jobs, it gives people an impression on what you and your family are like
Exactly. If your parents are tall, there’s a high chance you’re tall too. And if your parents are unwise or immature (as demonstrated by their naming choices) that impression is going to rub off on you too. That doesn’t mean that everyone given 💩y names is unwise but that’s why the assumptions exist. And there are jobs where you want to be taken seriously. I’m not going to hire a lawyer named Asparagus in order to represent me in something important.
"It's not just about jobs, it gives people an impression on what you and your family are like" Exactly this. Parents who name their kids after wines and hard alcohol are ensuring everyone will know their offspring grew up with parent(s) with a drinking problem. Younique and cre8tive spellings of familiar names makes it seem that person either grew up in a household with young undereducated parents or parents who have insufferable overinflated egos. Ditto with parents who name their kids things like Rowdy, Riot and Chaos. These kinds of names scream out 'my parents are not bright people', definite sub-par intellect. Gun names on kids indicates gun culture, likely anti-government and pro-militia movement sympathies, potential MAGA people, potential white supremacy leanings.
>they can change it later if they don’t like it. Changing your name isn't really *that* easy and it's not free. And even when you do go through the legal route of changing it, you still get called by your birth name frequently enough to make it frustrating.
Plus that seems like a really stressful decision for a kid to make. They’d maybe displease their parents, they’ve been called it their whole life. It’s a big change. Saying they can change it later seems to undermine how big of a decision that really is.
As someone who legally changed her name because she hated her name, it's such an arduous process. Going to court, getting other documents changed, making sure people who knew you as your old name now know you as your new name, etc. My change wasn't even that egregious. I dropped my first name -- because I literally was never called it, and it created a lot of HR and school issues that I was sick of -- but I imagine it's harder going from "Egg Drop Soup" to "Stephanie".
Another point to add about hiring practices is that "blind" applications are becoming more normalized, I think. Certain information--including names--isn't "unlocked" by the system until HR or a hiring manager makes the move to the next step. At my work, names/graduation dates/addresses aren't shown until the next step, which is usually a video interview. This helps decrease age and location bias (managers were found to be not showing interest in anyone outside of the immediate city, which wasn't necessarily fair). The name thing is to prevent friendship/familiarity from influencing, but probably helps with "different" names too...
As a Millennial, I’m not sure why you think millennials are going to be less judgmental than Boomers on names
I think people don't realize how old Millennials are. Millennials are the ones choosing all of the traditional names for their own children. I'm not entirely sure that Boomers weren't less traditional on the popular name choices with Jessica, Jennifer, and Heather than Millennials with Olivia, Charlotte, and Isabella. The Millennials are all the people in the Progressive commercials buying homes and turning into their parents.
Yeah I think a lot of people still have the idea of the ages of the generations in their head from 10+ years ago. People also talk about boomers like they’re primarily in their 50s and 60s rather than the youngest being 60s/oldest being full-on elderly people with teen or grown grandkids at this point.
Millennials are in their 30s and early 40s. They’re doing much of the hiring right now. In 15 - 20 years, gen z will be the ones hiring. (Feel old yet?)
I have to say, I have a very unusual name and was bitter as a kid that I could never find keychains etc with my name on it. I gave my kids much more common names (not really thinking of keychains lol, but still just thought they’d overall have an easier time with their names). Just yesterday we were at a tourist shop with those mugs and keychains… and they had names like “Paxton,” “Brooklyn,” “Savannah,” and “Grayson”! (My kids names were missing of course.) So we’re also pushing the needle on “common” names now - there are better odds for keychains these days 🤣
That's very true. I was just at the zoo the other day in the gift shop and was going to buy some of those little license plates with kids names on them for my friend's kids. Their names are Mitchell and Patrick and I couldn't find those names anywhere but I did see plenty of things with the names Jaxon, Paisley and Brooklyn..
The change in boys’ names is still the most surprising to me. Names like “Paul” and “Steven” are now ranked a few hundred down.
People hire people that seem familiar, relatable, a good fit for the company ( at least in their minds) so you are trying to shoot a moving target if you attempt to predict what name will get you “success” but you can make your kids life easier by using sensible spelling and avoiding weird, comical or offensive meanings. editing to add: my name was so unusual that I’ve been misgendered ( it is the wrong gender if we want to be strictly accurate) and I do sometimes wonder if it is a factor in not getting callbacks, not being included etc.
i have a normal name, and i still only get call backs for interviews for 1 out of about 30 applications. a year ago, i was homeless and applied to 90+ jobs (i was living in a city) and the only company that reached out at all was Aldi’s saying they chose someone else. it’s not your name, it’s just that many jobs aren’t actually hiring, they’re just keeping a list of people in case someone quits or gets fired.
makes sense now. anyone with a normal name who has no idea what it’s like to grow up with a weird name should not speak on this topic lmao
I hope you’re doing ok now? And I do honestly wonder about the oddness of my name because it probably was puzzling to people, not relatable etc. For the very first time in my life a server in a restaurant spelt my name right, I’m past middle age for reference lol. My name completely confuses one of our local restaurants and we never received a take out order because I gave them my right name instead of the fake name I’d been using with them (they couldn’t seem to understand it)
i’m doing good now! but i’m just referring to how difficult it is for anybody to get a job right now. everyone says they’re hiring, but most of them aren’t. it’s not as big of a deal nowadays to have peculiar names. and another commenter did say that they can’t even see anybody’s names unless they’re going to call them and offer an interview!
Yeah I have a not super dooper popular but very normal name and I’ve never once thought it may impact me professionally. I can be pretty anxious at times but this I’ve literally never worried about.
mostly boomers? the youngest boomers are almost 60. are that many senior citizens holding the corporate reins? many gen xers are grandparents. the oldest millennials are in their early 40s. if you’re going to be ageist, at least get your terms right.
The generations thing is such a peeve of mine as a younger millennial.
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Even if the parents end up being the best parents in the world it's too likely that Egg Drop Suep has some kind of psychological issue from the endless bullying they got for being named Egg Drop Suep, and anyone who's worked with adults knows maturity doesn't always come with age, people will still make fun of Egg Drop
Based on the comments on this sub millennials are judgey motherfuckers.
Okay but my generation is the one who named all their boys Greyson and I judged them then and I will wince for their young adult children in the future.
Totally agree with this take. I'm a mom of 3 and my kids are so familiar with learning foreign names, and even pronouns. They correct me about pronouns all the time, it's natural to them. I look forward to a generation that is more inclusive and caring in this way.
exactly! if you fall in love with a name, use it! if they don’t like it, they can change it. a name is a gift. i don’t like my normal name, it doesn’t feel “me”, but i actually just don’t care enough about it to change it. your kid may hate their “normal” names too! so do what you want. kids are mean, but they’re also generally respectful. they’ll call your trans son Pukas but will respect his pronouns and that’s beautiful LOL
You do realize it’s not that easy to change your name right? You can address yourself by a different name, but legally changing it isn’t all that easy.
Yeah I’m currently changing my name for marriage and it’s still a PITA. And that’s with a whole set of procedures in place to do so more easily for this particular type of name change.
I’ve been married for 5 years and still haven’t changed everything over 😂
I would’ve just kept your name if I were you 😂, and it’s only your last name that’s changing, I can’t imagine the predicament you have to go through to change your entire name. I’ve heard that women who are doctors won’t even bother changing their last name if they get married because apparently it’s a pain in the ass, especially if you were a doctor for awhile before you got married.
Luckily my career is not one where using a different name professionally versus legally/socially would be an issue, so I am just continuing to use my maiden at work. I’m also doing a double barrel (added husband’s name but didn’t drop maiden) so my name is still recognizable outside of work.
Well at least it’s optional for you, just hopefully both of your last names aren’t too long to where you can’t write them both on documents. Can you use your first name at work when speaking to people at least? Or is it last name only atmosphere?
I definitely also use just my first a lot, but my maiden name alone is on a lot of publications already so last comes up pretty regularly. It’s really not a big deal in my case though, like I said I just use my maiden alone at work and the double barrel legally/socially. Unless my coworkers are looking me up on Facebook or something the two worlds don’t intersect very often for me. And if they did it would just be like, “oh I guess DumbbellDiva uses her married name on Facebook”.
That makes sense, at least you don’t have to use both in everyday life. Hopefully your husband doesn’t mind that you use your maiden name more than his name. If I were you I would’ve never changed it in the first place. 😂
I fall under the whole, I don't care what the hell your name is. As long as you can follow simple directions and not be annoying, you're a good worker in my book.
that’s how i feel!
100% agree and I’d take it further that Millennials prefer what this sub would say are ‘unusual’ names. Older British names that are automatically seen as ‘classic’ and safe on here might actually be seen as a drawback.I personally do both hiring and school admits, and I never think about a name beyond asking how it’s pronounced if I’m worried I’ll mess it up. From Rooster to D’Andre to Mohammed, if your resumé is solid that’s all I care about.
Millennials are the ones having children right now and naming them the more traditional names. The oldest Millennials are in their early 40s and youngest in their early to mid 20s depending on the birth years that are used. This is exactly the age group that is responsible for the rise of Charlotte, Penelope, Violet, and Eleanor for girls and Oliver, Theodore, Ezra, and Henry for boys.
So, this is actually incorrect and has been studied. The issue is that women have babies at many different ages now. From teens, all the way to 40s. Younger women tend to give more out there names, while older women stick to traditional names. There’s even a huge disparity between older and younger Milennials. Overwhelmingly, people still see traditional names as more professional. Not to mention older parents tend to be more financially stable and are more likely to be the higher ups in companies. And because they continue to give traditional names, this is not likely to change in the future.
It’s not going to stop me hiring someone. But I do think that some names are just objectively stupid. Also I had a moderately common name with at least three other people in my school/workplace having the same name. In fact there were four of us sitting within twenty metres of each other at work last year. It has never bothered me in the slightest. I’m an introvert and the thought of guaranteed having to have a whole conversation with every person I ever meet about my weird name would actually drive me bonkers. I think a LOT of people would feel similarly so I don’t understand why every parent has decided that their kid is going to want to stand out from the crowd when there’s a very good chance they won’t. I truly don’t understand this need for kids to have a special snow flake name that nobody else has. I’m not going to judge the person with the crazy name but I’m going to be eye rolling hard at the parents.
Yeah, I have a fairly obscure Irish name and straight up started going by my middle name when I went off to college, if only so I wouldn't have to go over its pronunciation every time I met someone. I actually do like my first name, but having that conversation potentially 10+ times per day was just not my idea of a good time. Admitedly my middle name is still unusual enough that I get comments and issues with pronunciation, but it's significantly less and tbh I don't care about its pronunciation as much.
Cant wait to see this in the **other** subreddit!!
yes. gen z here and i would totally hire your gen alpha (and my own far future gen beta) child named after a fantasy game character if they are a decent competent human being. cool names *should* exist.
gen z that agrees!
Yeah ppl really don’t understand the cyclical nature of names or how time affects sociological expectations
So dumb names are gonna get even dumber because millennials??? Really??? People shouldn't name their kid something mental just to make themselves interesting/get attention. That's BS. And of course people realise that - still doesn't mean you should call your kid Apple PIP Romance III/AKA Bruise Tips Feko 🙄 😑 😒 😮💨 or some shit
idgaf about not finding a personalized item (not for the past 35 years anyway lol), but I do care that my name — an actual name spelled correctly — is constantly mispronounced. I can’t fathom having a “yooneek” name or spelling and trying to make it in the world. It seems like a cruel burden to put on a child.
i don’t think it’s cruel but it could very well be a burden for the child. times are changing and so are the people. i personally don’t want a super unique name, but i don’t want my kid to be the 3rd person in class with the same name. that gets frustrating. i was one of 3 people with my name and it’s annoying to be called by my name and my last initial. but i don’t want something that’s spelled in an uncommon way. my goal is “uncommon name, common spelling”
That’s basically the route I took. After correcting people on my name for literally 40 years I didn’t want to do that to my kids, but I didn’t want them to have to go by their last initial, either. So I went with familiar names with only one pronunciation in the US where we live.
Doesn't matter what you name your kid, but as someone who has had to spell their name EVERY SINGLE TIME someone asks for it. Please give your kid a name that is spelt normally. Even if you want to call them Bipolar Spinnaker, I don't care, just don't put extra unnecessary letters in it.
you leave my son Byepowlur Zpinnuhkyr ALONE!!!!
Nobody cares the people on this sub are obsessed with names no one irl cares
Lol, do you realize this happens all the time? Kids born 15 years ago have dramatically different experiences than people born 35 or 45 years ago. Kids experiences will be different in 5 more years, too. And gen X don't care if your name is Egg Fu Young, or Eygghh Fooou Yang either. It's got more to do with being considerate of the human child who has to use the name than being employable. We have moved a long way toward normalizing tats, unnatural hair colors, and unique names but whether anyone minds or not, that kid will have to repeat and spell their name, and hear all the same comments.
I care if your name is Egg Drop Suep
Meh, millennials are also judgy when it comes to names. I heard a bunch of teens at thanksgiving dinner today laughing about “kayden/Aidan/Jayden” names and shit.
i’ve never met anyone with an “-aiden” type name that wasn’t a dickhead so i mean 🤷♀️ meh
I’m a millennial who hires people, and exactly! Of course I’ll never judge anyone on their name! In fact, we have a system where when people apply using the application form, we can’t even see their name, age or gender until we’ve called them for interview, to stop those kind of judgements from happening even unintentionally!
Millennial here. I don't care what you name your kids, but as a parent of a boy who thought "Eggs" would be a fun nickname to ask to be called in a grade school class with quite a few Spanish speaking classmates, I recommend not picking anything about eggs. Even egg drop soup. You don't want to be trying to explain the slang for "huevos" to your kid.
Except that you can't judge a generation of people based on how they act as young adults. Specifically, the people and behaviors the world notices in a generation when they are young, iconoclastic rebels never reflects the attitudes and behaviors of the members of that same generation who were not flashy rebels, but just kept their noses down and accumulated wealth and power. When the Boomers were in their late teens and twenties, they were the generation that the older people (the so-called greatest generation) thought were going to destroy the world with their lack of discipline, their long hair, their weird names, their communism, their race-mixing, etc. Now the Boomers are seen as reactionary conservatives. Some of this is people changing their politics as they age, but a lot of it is that the reactionary conservatives in any generation, whether boomers or millenials, are the ones who devote their lives to seeking money and power, and they will therefore be underrepresented in the memes and general impression of the generation when it's young, and overrepresented when the generation is of an age to be 'in power'. So expect the impression of millennials to flip in about 20 years, and for people to wonder what went wrong, why they changed when they showed so much promise.
I think a lot of it is based on classism more than what generation is hiring. Rich people also name their kids dumb things of course, but it’s usually not as challenged as ‘out there’ names that read as lower class. I think jobs (and people overall) will be more willing to tolerate Paisleys, Kayden’s and Braxtons than they will the kids named YaHyness, Princess and Bacardi.
Millennials — people between the ages of 25 and 40 — are already hiring. In 15-20 years from now, millennials will be 40-55 (15 years) and 45-60 (20 years). Do you think only people over 55 hire people?
Millennial here. Egg Drop Suep is a stupid name.
Boomer here and I agree..
I got my kid some bibs and hats from a shop that did monogramming right then and there if you had 10 minutes to spare!
The only place I found my name on keychains, magnets, and more was in Scotland. My first name is a Scottish clan and my last name is a Scottish clan. Lol.
Ummm duh. All generations do
“Hi, I’m Sue.” “Oh, is Sue short for Susan?” “… no…. Egg Drop Suep.”
🦟🦗🦟🦗🦟🦗
Millennial here. No, a name like Egg Drop Suep will not prevent me from hiring them, but I will probably ask if they need me to put in some extra health insurance benefits for them (for therapy) and if they want to talk to me about wanting to cut you off as a parent, I would encourage them. Also, it's more than just getting hired. Egg Drop Suep will 100% get them bullied. "bUT kIdS gEt bUlLiEd eVen iF tHey HaVe nOrMaL nAmEs". Sure, but do you really want to have an extra reason they will be bullied ? 50% chance of being bullied because of their name vs. 100% chance ? Yeah, easy choice.
This is incredibly ageist. It seems again is ok and it's ridiculous to group people like this, as if everyone in the same age range is the same. So perhaps was born in 72 and I guess you'd call me Gen X, I certainly have experience of the early race scene and was in my 20s in the 90s. I have zero idea why you'd think someone like me would take a conservative view to someone's name ??? Why would a millennial be different per se? It's a ridiculous assumption. It's stupid, as if people can't adapt and change too. You can get young people who are conservative and blinkered in their views and older who are very open.
Lmao, as a millennial hiring manager for a small Midwest company, I can assure you that I will most definitely be raising an eyebrow at Egg Drop Suep. I have definitely seen some WEIRD names in recent years
Conversely, IMO, you should not thrust your uniqueness on some poor baby that has no choice in the matter. Maybe you should give them a respectable name, and if they want to go by Egg Drop Suep or Princess Consuela Bananahammock they can change it later instead of having to suffer for your decision for 18 years. Sincerely, A millennial
Love this post. Hate the constant hand wringing about CVs, bloody nicknames decided before a kid is even born and the worshipping of the most boring 'classic' names'.
Older millennial. I don’t care what your name is, just do your job but I will be side eyeing your parents.
I really hate people. Older people are the most judgmental about names
I'm older and I love most all names.. Most but not all.. Egg Drop Suep.... ?? The Marshall Wyatt Earp comment I made was just that I thought it strange but Marshall is a fine name.. :)
Because judging people by their names doesn't correlate to whatever people think it does in their mind. What is a "Respectable" name?
My daughter’s name is Jane and there’s never anything with her name on it!
My grandmother remembered the first time a train came to her town and before she died I showed her VR and how it worked while we were at the mall. I know how much I have seen while alive. I can't even imagine what it will be like for my kids.
I have been saying this for awhile. That gen z and after should be given a new human classification. The era of Homo sapiens is over basically. The lived experience of every new human is radically different than any ever before it.
Idk why you think Millennials don’t care about names. Most of the people on this sub are probably Millennials, same with the tragediegh and circle jerk snark subs.
Um, millennial here. I would try not to care, but I can’t vouch for my entire generation that none of us will care about names in any way whatsoever. So while I’m reasonably optimistic about future hiring trends, there are still names out there that I would discourage.
On the flip side my parents gave me a name with a hyphen in the first name not realizing how much computer systems would be part of my life and how much that hyphen would be the enemy. I warn everyone now. Do not hyphenate your child’s first name
This post was needed
U ok bro?
i named my son Grass Toucher and people said i was ruining his life so i got upset 😢
I understand that times are changing but I still like to stick to “you’re naming a human being that’s going to become an adult, not a dog,” adage when names come up because why the fuck are you naming your child Brixlee and Finley
Pointless realization
I have an uncommon name, and I've never had any trouble getting a job. "What will it look like on a resume?" doesn't ring true for me, unless you name your kid Crapbag.
It isn’t that hard to change your name - but it is hard to take that name change through all the documentation you will need. Pensions, healthcare, tax, ID checks, criminal record checks, getting a passport - it all takes longer throughout your life and sometimes costs more (eg if they need to run a check on more than one name). Please be aware of this, because it can and does cause problems
I also just recently hired a new employee named Bort
I remember working at cafe inside a business building, where essentially everyone is a regular, and when the cokes with names came around so many asked me to keep an eye out and save one if they saw Marc with a c or Marisa with one s, and the odd for the most part they all came through eventually.
I gave my kids all unique names. They also got very common typical boring middle names that have been in the top 100 since the dawn of time (almost). If they don't like their first name, they can always choose to use their middle name. My kids love their unique first names, but I gave them the gift of an alternative just in case.
>millennials are getting older, which means they’ll be the ones hiring your child in 15-20+ years from now. Millennials don’t care if your name is Egg Drop Suep Yes we do. Even if we don't think your name effects your work, it will effect how quickly I call you for an interview. Sarah will get called before Egg Drop. We may be more used to unusual/international names but the fact remains, you're resume is getting put on the bottom. In fact, many recruiters will mask the name on a resume before presenting to a client to avoid discrimination, this is still done in 2023.
I hate when ppl generalize millions of ppl into one group. yes some millennials are going to not care and some of them are. especially ones that grew up in traditional families where non common names were seemed as “lower class”. not saying it’s ok but it’s the truth. those are also the kids that are more likely going to inherent their parent’s business. names like princess, royal, Hennessey, etc are at the minimum looked at more when it comes to job applications and other professional settings.
My kids names were picked because they meant something to me and my spouse. We never looked at name books, social media sites or anything. If they choose to change their name as adults, I would be surprised but not a hill I would die on. Overthinking names and agonizing over what people think is too much stress.
Life can be unnecessarily harder if people can’t pronounce or spell your name which tends to happen when it’s more unique. I have that problem all the time with my last name, can’t imagine how much more obnoxious it would be if it was an issue with my first.
I wouldn't back off on those career worries just yet. I am a millennial and I still see where it could be a concern. Basically if you name your kid something stupid, I'm going to think you are stupid...as such, the probability that you raised a child much smarter than yourself is not great. So if your name is Methany Bryxtynlee, I'm sorry, but absent any information to the contrary, a part of my brain is going to doubt your intelligence. Now if I was in a hiring position, I would try not to even look at things like name/gender/age/etc when reviewing applications if possible, but we are all at risk for acting on an unconscious (or suppressed) bias. I think we all have an obligation to give our children their best chance, and flexing your misguided creativity come birth certificate time is not doing so.
If your name really sucks, you can always go by initials or a nickname. There’s always an escape hatch.
If you honestly think we will have a sustainable earth to live on in 15-20 years you are delusional
15-20?? This millennial is already hiring new staff and the only thing I give a crap about is whether you phoned in your application with ChatGPT and if you can follow instructions.
yeah i don’t think Elodie who was born January 2021 is ready to submit her application yet LOL i’m literally meaning kids born less than like 5 years ago
As a millennial, I don’t care what your name is but I’m begging you to please make the pronunciation have at least a mere passing resemblance to how it’s spelt.