The Most Hated Baby Names in America

[Quiche]

I married a man named Kimberly.

 

[TexasGiGi]

I've been trying to remember theses two names for days! I remember my sister talking about her friend 25 + years ago naming her babies, Sterling Silver and Suede Leather.

 

[mommy23]

I was in a DR waiting room last week and read an article about what HR looks at, and what makes them pass over resumes. It was very interesting, and I *think* it was in readers digest. Odd names were listed, as well as, font style, color choice, border choice.... many many things that I remember being taught about resumes. I thought you should make yours stand out with a bit of color, or a border, but it seems that is not what people look for. I wish I could remember everything it said..... A few things made me pause....

 

[babycat]

Have you ever received 200 resumes for a single position?

And what's wrong with RANDOMLY pulling 10 resumes that are equally qualified? How is that any of more a chore than throwing them out based on names?

The problem with going through 200 resumes is looking at the qualifications, not names. And even now, many large companies use a software to sift through resumes for certain qualifications. But even if they don't use an aat software, Why not take the first ten? Or randomly pull from the applicants that are equally qualified?

I understand that going through qualifications might be tedious, but once you get equally qualified applicants, I fail to see how randomly pulling for the applicants can be more difficult than going through and judging based on their names. In fact, pulling randomly sounds faster

 

[Dark Knight]

I was in a DR waiting room last week and read an article about what HR looks at, and what makes them pass over resumes. It was very interesting, and I *think* it was in readers digest. Odd names were listed, as well as, font style, color choice, border choice.... many many things that I remember being taught about resumes. I thought you should make yours stand out with a bit of color, or a border, but it seems that is not what people look for. I wish I could remember everything it said..... A few things made me pause....

Yes, it was Reader's Digest:

http://www.rd.com/money/what-hr-peo...t-the-job-interview/?trkid=13things_NL_040111

The most telling was the HR person who quoted George Clooney's character in the film Up In The Air: "I profile, it's faster that way."

 

[Hopeful One]

babycat, I admire your passion. That being said, for every HR person who tosses aside a resume because of an odd name, surely there are two more who don't. Just because your students may have strange names, doesn't mean they're destined to be passed up for everything in life. Obviously they are learning great things from you, which will certainly outshine whatever name they were given.

 

[mimimama5]

OK, I have a mix of unsual names, and old fashioned names. In my little brood we have a William, Grace, Jacob whom we call Jack, Ryder, and Colton.

My parents were fond of naming us "kids" names that weren't highly used at the time. We have Ian, Jessica, Megan, Amy, Deborah, Whitney, and Alyssa ( yes, we have a big family lol). I will mention I caught a lot of flack for naming my three first children Will, Grace, and Jack....the tv show Will and grace...but I hadnt ever seen the show, and didnt know. Will is a jr, grace was such a shock, because until I delivered her, she was Eric ( that pesky cord can look a lot like boy bits ) and Jack after my father, but my husband wanted a biblical name, so it was changed to Jacob, but nicknamed. Ryder and Colton were long thought out names, and actually we have 2 other Coltons in town ( 1000 people) so I guess its not that unusal after all. As of now, I dont know of any other Ryder, and I hope i dont stumble upon any, I like his name, it suits him well.

 

[Melanie]

Then I hate that she might be missing out on some amazing applicants that happen to be born on foreign soil, or share hybrid of a name of two grandparents to honor a legacy, or one of my students, who busted their tails to receive an academic scholarship and break the cycle of poverty while someone else's parent might have funded their way through college while they partied. You just never know what you might be getting.

I guess I live in a happy bubble where I imagine that people are fairly judged and given a chance solely on their credentials and hard work, and not tossed aside because someone doesn't like their name. It's disheartening to read that this is a common occurrence, especially to read that people feel this way on a board like Websleuths. Would we have tossed aside Phylicia Barnes, or Caylee, or Adji Desir, or JonBenet, or Kyron because they don't have a name we see every day? I don't think so. We haven't. We know they are people, who deserve a shot, we have/had high hopes for them, their lives, their futures and want justice for that, and mourn for what they could have become. What they could have accomplished, what they could have achieved. We don't feel that they deserve less of a shot because of their names.

A name is a name. A PERSON is a behind that name.

But for every HR person who tosses aside a name they can't pronounce, or name that sounds foreign, hopefully there is a person out there who is telling them that their WORK matters, their EFFORT matters, their INTEGRITY matters, and that Tom or Bob or Janet or Lisa is NOT necessarily smarter, or harder working, or MORE DESERVING because their name is familiar.

I debated on having this discussion with my classes-and I am still debating on whether or not to do so. I know what they would say- I know what their faces would look like when I tell them people could toss them aside because of their name. They'd be incredulous, and probably naively deny it, like I have been. It's tough to realize that something like this could affect their chances of getting a job that they've dreamed of, and worked hard for.

It's a damn shame that something like this is still an issue in this day and age.

Okay - so I'd have to admit. I'd prolly toss a resume if the name included Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden.

Other than that, everyone is fair game

MOO

Mel

 

[Melanie]

I married a man named Kimberly.

My dad is named Jackie (really, it's on my birth certificate). Of course he goes by Jack. Good Night what was my gran thinking!

She named her other son Pinky because he came out pink. Gaaahhhhhh!

 

[MsRyber]

If you read my post, I said "They get the interview FIRST". Not that we don't ever interview others. I didn't say it was popular, but that is how we "start".
And believe me, not everyone in our company have WASPY names. It is just how we start to pair down 500 resumes that have been pre-screened.
I know it seems very arbitrary. But I was just telling the truth. I don't think I am the only one.
There is nothing wrong with being honest. We aren't doing anything illegal. I understand if people think it is unfair and not nice. I was just telling it how it is. That is how I am. Sorry if it is unpopular. And even more shocking, it is what I was taught. By my boss. Who is a minority. With an uncommon name. The people who have to call the potential hires request this. They are my superiors. They pay the wages. Tough call, not mine.

Sorry for upsetting people with my honest, unpopular inside look at what goes on when it comes to naming practises and how it can impact people. Maybe that is why I gave my kids the names I did.

 

[Nova]

My dad is named Jackie (really, it's on my birth certificate). Of course he goes by Jack. Good Night what was my gran thinking!

She named her other son Pinky because he came out pink. Gaaahhhhhh!

Depending on her age, grandma may have been thinking of Jackie Cooper or Jackie Coogan, HUGE child stars back in the day.

 

[legalmania]

I cant get the link to open , so I dont know where their names land... lol but I have two sons and one daughter. My oldest son is Morgan, second son is Tristan, and my daughter is Jaidyn Rose. At the time that I had named my children the names were not popular at all well low and behold they are now ....lol

I love the name Tristan it makes me think of Brad Pitt in Legend of the Falls. What a hunk of burning love he was in that movie, without the beard.

 

[raeann]

If you read my post, I said "They get the interview FIRST". Not that we don't ever interview others. I didn't say it was popular, but that is how we "start".
And believe me, not everyone in our company have WASPY names. It is just how we start to pair down 500 resumes that have been pre-screened.
I know it seems very arbitrary. But I was just telling the truth. I don't think I am the only one.
There is nothing wrong with being honest. We aren't doing anything illegal. I understand if people think it is unfair and not nice. I was just telling it how it is. That is how I am. Sorry if it is unpopular. And even more shocking, it is what I was taught. By my boss. Who is a minority. With an uncommon name. The people who have to call the potential hires request this. They are my superiors. They pay the wages. Tough call, not mine.

Sorry for upsetting people with my honest, unpopular inside look at what goes on when it comes to naming practises and how it can impact people. Maybe that is why I gave my kids the names I did.

Personally, I don't find this upsetting. There has to be some way to start selecting interviewees to schedule. The point I took from your comments that I will be sharing with young people I know who are applicants was the part about a large group with equal qualifications. The best plan would be to have BETTER qualifications and worry less about the name thing. I can understand that the HR person making the calls would not want to be embarrassed by mispronouncing a name, nor would they have time to listen to a diatribe on how they SHOULD have pronounced the name or where that name originated from.

jmo

 

[Charlie09]

And what's wrong with RANDOMLY pulling 10 resumes that are equally qualified? How is that any of more a chore than throwing them out based on names?

The problem with going through 200 resumes is looking at the qualifications, not names. And even now, many large companies use a software to sift through resumes for certain qualifications. But even if they don't use an aat software, Why not take the first ten? Or randomly pull from the applicants that are equally qualified?

I understand that going through qualifications might be tedious, but once you get equally qualified applicants, I fail to see how randomly pulling for the applicants can be more difficult than going through and judging based on their names. In fact, pulling randomly sounds faster

I am asking if you've ever done the task? Or if you've had 15 open positions that you receive hundreds of resumes for, because if you have, and you have a system for it - That is awesome.

If you haven't, then it's all theory, and may not work. It's humans on the other side of the desk as well. There's really no exact science to it.
Some resumes may get rejected one day, that on another day would make it into the "call and talk to " pile.

 

[Fairy1]

My Mom actually named me after her high school rival! But she switched the first and middle names around. She always told me that, even though she couldn't stand the girl, she was beautiful and intelligent and Mommy respected her. Of course, my Mom was beautiful and intelligent too! Her name was Mary Lou Haven't come across another in ages!

 

[cats5vegas]

One of my best friends has a fairly unusual name. Apparently her grandmother was reading a romance novel during mom's pregnancy (1967) loved the name of the e heroinne. So, my friend is named Rebel Lynn. When I first met her, I thought it was a bit strange, but now I couldn't think of any better name for her.

Fortunately I never had the responsibility of naming a child. I have a cat named Stinky! If that's the best I could do for him, who knows what I would have come up with for a human.

 

[Hopeful One]

If you read my post, I said "They get the interview FIRST". Not that we don't ever interview others. I didn't say it was popular, but that is how we "start".
And believe me, not everyone in our company have WASPY names. It is just how we start to pair down 500 resumes that have been pre-screened.
I know it seems very arbitrary. But I was just telling the truth. I don't think I am the only one.
There is nothing wrong with being honest. We aren't doing anything illegal. I understand if people think it is unfair and not nice. I was just telling it how it is. That is how I am. Sorry if it is unpopular. And even more shocking, it is what I was taught. By my boss. Who is a minority. With an uncommon name. The people who have to call the potential hires request this. They are my superiors. They pay the wages. Tough call, not mine.

Sorry for upsetting people with my honest, unpopular inside look at what goes on when it comes to naming practises and how it can impact people. Maybe that is why I gave my kids the names I did.

I think you only upset a couple of people. The rest know you are just being honest. I also have looked at resumes and while I don't make any decisions, when I've seen what I consider dumb names, I think, "Good luck."

I find your honesty very admirable.

 

[Nova]

I think you only upset a couple of people. The rest know you are just being honest. I also have looked at resumes and while I don't make any decisions, when I've seen what I consider dumb names, I think, "Good luck."

I find your honesty very admirable.

Exactly. And if everyone calls me KissMyA$$ Jones, but my real given name is John, maybe I'll put John Jones on my resume thanks to MsRyber's candor.

 

[Charlie09]

One of my best friends has a fairly unusual name. Apparently her grandmother was reading a romance novel during mom's pregnancy (1967) loved the name of the e heroinne. So, my friend is named Rebel Lynn. When I first met her, I thought it was a bit strange, but now I couldn't think of any better name for her.

Fortunately I never had the responsibility of naming a child. I have a cat named Stinky! If that's the best I could do for him, who knows what I would have come up with for a human.

love that name....

I wish I would have thought of "Dennis the Menace in drag" before my daughter was born.

 

[Lyn1001]

DH and I had a horrible time thinking of names when I was pregnant. Due to my field of study, there were a number of names I was not fond of. There were a number he was not fond of as well, his more due to his "dating" exploits. My favorite name, Jenna, went out the window because all he could think of was the *advertiser censored* star! MEN! We never did agree on a name for a boy, so it's good we had a girl. We wanted a name that was not overused, but that was easy to pronounce and spell. We seem to have suceeded. She does not have an odd name, but it's not one we hear often. I've met 2 other people with her name, one actually had the same birthday, 2 years later. On the plus side, I've also never met anyone who has difficulty pronouncing or spelling her name.