<p>Somebody suggested upthread that these differences in names may be more problematic at certain levels of employment. I suspect that’s true (and may explain why the name didn’t hurt Condoleeza Rice, who was a brilliant super-achiever from the beginning). It may be especially difficult for mid-level white-collar jobs.</p>
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I think for Lakisha it may be a double whammy–both race and class.</p>
<p>Hunt: that was my point - Lakisha, like Candi, sounds like a ghetto name; Malia is ethnic, but classy. The comparison I would want to see is between Lakisha and Candi or Brandi, and between Malia and Lucia or Daphne.</p>
<p>I think a comparison between Malia and Susan would be interesting.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to have to say that Arabic-sounding names might be an issue as well.</p>
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<p>If you really want to have a close comparison, how about Malia / Maria / Marie / Mary?</p>
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What’s your gut tell you? I don’t know why there would be a difference between Marie and Mary–they both seem ordinary to me. You could add in something like Maire as well.</p>
<p>In the days before #hashtags in resumes, Id gotten several jobs that were because of my appearance, I suspect now.( think of Ellen DeGeneres- but straight with red hair/boobs) I thought I was just really good at interviews,
but my experience wasn’t really enough for the position. One I quit immediately as sexual harassment occurred simultaneously, but the other was a much more complicated situation as I had quit a very good job to go with a brand new business, and the owners had been acting as my mentors.</p>
<p>Probably if I wasn’t aspie I would have been aware at the interviews that they weren’t hiring me for my business acumen. But most people, I imagine don’t want to think they were hired because of what they look like, unless that is actually part of their job description.</p>
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Red what now? The mental picture I’m getting…</p>
<p>I read it as “Ellen DeGeneres but with straight hair”. I’m thinking, her hair IS straight.</p>
<p>Poetgirl asked why do Americans call themselves “Irish,” “German,” “Italian,” etc even when the relatives came here in the 1840s or whenever (in my case, 1837). I will tell you why–no one lets you forget it. </p>
<p>I had a summer job when I was a teen as a helper to a lady with Alzheimer’s --I basically was babysitting her. She was a lovely lady & it was a joy to watch over her, give her lunch, etc. The family was perfectly polite to me, paid me, no complaints. I got the job because they knew my classmate’s Mom who knew I wanted a summer job.</p>
<p>However, I learned later that the wife was going around her circle saying she had “an Irish girl” helping her with her MIL. Why? My last name. </p>
<p>Since marriage I have off & on “tested” people by using either my maiden (Irish) name or my husband’s name when being introduced and more than once I have seen a veil drop over their eyes when the Irish name is used. I have even been asked “That’s Irish, isn’t it?” in a funny tone—as if anyone would not know (name is very Irish, like Kelly). </p>
<p>If having arrived in the US in 1837 is not long enough for some people to have become a “true” American, then don’t blame people for calling themselves Irish, Italian, German, Swedish, or whatever else.</p>
<p>Besides, being proud of one’s heritage and celebrating the culture your ancestors handed down to you is a good thing; it is part of your identity. And yes, in my family we “still” have Irish cultural traditions. </p>
<p>Incidentally we had three girls and we gave all of them middle names that are ambiguous regarding gender. They are actually treasured family surnames but I wanted girls to be free to keep people guessing as to their gender.</p>
<p>I have an unusual name which people spell wrong constantly by adding a consonant. It was my great-grandmother’s and not unusual in her time.</p>
<p>For that reason, I wanted my kids to have not uncommon names which could be pronounced and spelled. Unfortunately, S2’s name is also a girl name. I didn’t consider this beforehand. Everyone adds a vowel. I guess it being in the Bible didn’t help their spelling.</p>
<p>D’s name is not Madison, but unbeknownst to me, that was the year of the Madison flurry. She gets called that all the time.</p>
<p>As for Mary/Marie the first thing I would think is that the Mary is Catholic. S1 attended a Catholic university and I was amazed at the moms my age named Mary. No worry if you forgot a name, call “Mary” and everyone would turn and talk to you. I have a horrible name recall deficit, so it worked great for me :)</p>
<p>I think celebrities give the dumbest names to their kids. Possibly they don’t need to worry about their children’s futures as other parent’s do.</p>
<p>Sylvester Stallone named his kid Sage Moonblood. </p>
<p>[The</a> 20 Most Bizarre Celebrity Baby Names | Cracked.com](<a href=“The 20 Most Bizarre Celebrity Baby Names | Cracked.com”>The 20 Most Bizarre Celebrity Baby Names | Cracked.com)</p>
<p>I thought Yolanda was a Spanish name, not black. When my daughter took Spanish in HS and they had to use a Spanish first name, she was assigned Yolanda. And I wouldn’t assume Bianca was white. Spivey? It’s a non-color name to me as well.</p>
<p>Now if the author of the story had changed her name from LaTisha Jackson to Mary Kate O’Grady, that would be a different story…</p>
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<p>Perhaps they should. Like an earlier poster, I knew someone named Candy Kane. She was the smartest person in my office, and a super-cool out lesbian to boot. So clearly she overcame the cutesy name her parents gave her, but I still cringe when I see a resume with Brittnie or Jadyn or Hartley before the person’s surname.</p>
<p>I also think it’s funny that people make assumptions about ethnic-sounding names. Where I live people really go in for names that reflect their ethnic identity. Bianca White could be anybody.</p>
<p>^I had a math professor whose first name was Hartley. I always assumed it was some upper-crust WASP type of name.</p>
<p>My nephew and his wife gave their little girl a lovely, familiar name and proceeded to replace all its vowels with Ys. Rink Ylyzybyth or Myshyll</p>
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<p>That is what his parents wanted you to think! I have always referred to names like that as “butler names”–long before Downton Abbey. :)</p>
<p>zoosermom, that is awful. Alternate spellings are the worst. People think they are being “original” when the message they are really sending is “somewhat illiterate.”</p>
<p>Sally, the name is familiar when spoken, but when seen written it is so awkward that you have to almost translate it into English. Little girl is going to be five and I still second guess myself every time I write it. It even looks ugly.</p>
<p>We just had Cinderella enroll at our school.</p>
<p>I don’t know whether it is legal to link to it, but there is a site called “not without my handbag” that is all about bad names. Years ago, it had a compendium of posts from some site on which delusional young women rhapsodized about the atrocious names they planned to saddle their offspring with. (The liberal substitution of Y for other vowels was a common technique. ) It was so funny that it brought me to tears. Nowadays, it appears to be a blog. Nut sure if the older material can be found, but the new stuff is funny also.</p>
<p>The thing some parents don’t seem to realize is that their kids’ names are SPOKEN more than written most of the time in school–so even if they spell Madeline “Mydylyn” five kids will respond when Mrs. Smith calls on her in class…once she knows how to pronounce it herself, that is.</p>