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Marybeth, Kip, and many more. One lady named her child Tommyhawk after the Braves one the world series in 95.
Hmmm.. who am I am going to hire to do cold-calls and telemarketing for my company where they have to say their name... Marybeth and Kip or Tyrone and Shaniqua?
Weird white names are irrelevant other than the fact that they are weird and still acceptable.
Hmmm.. who am I am going to hire to do cold-calls and telemarketing for my company where they have to say their name... Marybeth and Kip or Tyrone and Shaniqua?
If this is how you pick employees, then I suspect your business will fail in short order.
I think that this is more of a class issue than a racial issue.
By the way, "Barak" is not a made up name. Nor is it "ghetto". Unless you think that "Olaf", "Patrick", "Maria" "Otto" "Kristen" or "Rocco" are "made up ghetto names".
They are names that reflect the ethnic background of the child.
I don't like overly trendy names or names that have made up spelling.
And I am personally not crazy about overly ethnic names. However, they are a valid choice.
Underclass people have always named their children pompous and pretentious names and whites are no exception to this rule. They also take the names of presidents to whom they are unrelated and expensive stores.
Older poor whites in my area - the mid west - many of whom have parents and grandparents who moved here at the turn of the last century for steel mill jobs - from West Virginia and Kentucky - have some very unusual names.
So far I have encountered - Johnette, Willadean, Normalene, Marquette and Danette among women over 60. Among men - Earl, Duke, and Baron. Also a slew of older white guys named after presidents or named nick names.
This is not new. And it is not a "black thing".
I think some lower income people actually give their children "fancier" names to improve their chances or to disguise their humble beginnings.
I also find it ironic that many people who seem to want minority kids (or poor white kids) to pull themselves up by their bootstraps , get an education , work hard and be productive members of society are the same ones who would not look at a resume based on a name.
I suspect some businesses do, especially if they are menial small entry-level positions. They hired a "fake" white candidate on the spot and wouldn't entertain black ones, also refused service to several "colored people" areas in town because "coloreds don't pay their bills".
I suspect some businesses do, especially if they are menial small entry-level positions. They hired a "fake" white candidate on the spot and wouldn't entertain black ones, also refused service to several "colored people" areas in town because "coloreds don't pay their bills".
Of course they do. Nobody said there were not bigots. However in this case, it sounds as if it doesn't matter what the name might be. So it's irrelevant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dark Enlightenment Most employers would like nothing more than to meet a person with the good resume, who also sounded good on the phone, and discover that they are black. Being able to hire a good employee who happens to be black is a whole lot better than having to hire a black person, who isn't so good, to meet some diversity quota.
studies actually show the opposite of what you are saying. also, if one meets the requirements of a job, they are not being hired for "diversity quotas". this is one of those lies pushed by those against affirmative action. companies aren't just pulling black people off the streets and giving them jobs.
You completely reversed the poster's comments. What they were saying is what employers should do: evaluate the resume and then discover later that they happen to be black. The poster was also saying that it's wrong to hire people simply to meet a quota.
Nice attempt to twist someone's words though. You basically argued the exact same thing while typing harshly to TDE then claiming him to be wrong and you to be right.
Also, in a mostly unrelated note: drop the "studies show" nonsense. What studies? Links? There's no better way to invalidate your argument than by typing "studies show". Intelligent people are going to call that BS out for what it is.
Also: duh. If someone does have the qualifications then they are not being hired to meet a quota. There are however plenty of people who are hired just to meet quotas. Obviously a private sector employer is unlikely to survive and remain profitable by hiring feel-good quotas whereas government organizations are able to keep up their levels of non-production by hiring whoever for whatever.
I don't like any names that sound made-up or have silly spellings. And I can understand that such names do make an impact when reading a resume. But it has nothing to do with race. Absolutely nothing. Why do some people try to make EVERYTHING a race issue???
Every successful person I know that was born with an ethnic or a name to be typically considered "black" has either used there initials or utilized a nick-name.
My haitian immigrant great-grandma even did it her birthname was Zo'Bertha-Marjorie and when she came to the states she shortened it Bertha to assimilate, but should minorities have to assimilate? I have a friend getting her PhD named Tanesha and she goes by "Tanny". I had another friend that moved here from Sri Lanka when she was 10 and her parents legally changed her name from Schutayta to Briana to assimilate and she hated it. In college she started going by her first given name again.
I still think its a bit biased. Are black names weird are you just racist? We live in a country with people of several different ethnic groups with different histories, I don't think if an Asian holds on to their cultural identity and names their child Yu instead of John they would be met with the name game, same thing a white person who names their child Phoenix.
The issue is Jamal, LaShonda, Trayvon, etc. aren't signs of advanced, successful, economically stable and crime free culture but we can't judge people based on their name but we do.
The thread is moving pretty quick, so this is a little late, but wanted to respond to this post. The question "should minorities have to assimilate?" is the wrong question, or at least the wrong perspective. People can be as individualistic as they wish, and legally they should be allowed to be free of harassment, violence, or abuse, however, that is not the same thing as the majority has the obligation to embrace, promote, and celebrate those individuals in their quest for uniqueness.
Taking race (ghetto names) out of the issue, if a woman dresses in Goth style, is into the Goth scene and wears that style in a customer service oriented professional business (unless it's selling clothing styles), I am pretty sure that's going to be a problem - so yes, she needs to assimilate (at least during business hours) or work somewhere else.
Tattoo's are another item that can create problems in a professional environment, and generally speaking heavily tattooed people in professional jobs cover the tattoo's during work. In other words, they assimilate or they work somewhere else.
Interestingly, as the younger generation is coming into/being promoted into positions of power in business and politics, clothing styles deemed professional are changing, and tattoo's are quickly loosing stigma, however, they are also becoming so common, that it is no longer a way to be "unique."
Back to the original topic, I think as names (ghetto or otherwise) become less standard, the stigma of unique names will also weaken.
I read a few years back about trends in names, and what the author found was that wealthy families use names that start out as unique, and the names start to become common in the middle classes, then the lower classes. The author used "Heather" and "Jennifer" as examples and showed that within a generation they moved from rather rare names, mostly found in the upper classes, to the most popular names for new born girls.
I have not seen anything that indicates a reverse of that trend i.e. common lower class names becoming more and more prevalent among the upper classes, but who knows, La-Ah has become an urban legend name, maybe it will catch on, and become a common name for young girls in the future. Once it becomes common, it looses all stigma (as well as its uniqueness).
I don't like any names that sound made-up or have silly spellings. And I can understand that such names do make an impact when reading a resume. But it has nothing to do with race. Absolutely nothing. Why do some people try to make EVERYTHING a race issue???
Studies have shown thou after 9/11 people with Muslim names were discriminated against so it does matter, nothing to do with race I agree with that but it does matter people who are different are discriminated against all the time in America.
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