Job Applicants with African Sounding names have 50% less chance being called for interview

[psr13]

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

Do you live in the south? Those names may be more common with whites down there. However, in Minnesota, you never see any of those names on non-black people. Never. Most whites here have names like Oleson, Peterson, Gunderson, Svensson, Carlson, Meyer, etc.

I don't live in the South, and the names you previously mentioned are usually names of whites out here.

[LoveMyself]

interesting thread...and definitely there's truth in the bias. i'm one of the lucky ones because most people don't know WHAT to think of my name!

and i also have learned, that what most people consider "black" sounding names are actually legit names in other cultures. i know at least 20 people who believe they've made up their children's names only to find that the names exist in other cultures. one of the most common black names i encounter are those variants of "yana" and "yani", both of which usually point to hebrew/jewish origin.

[fasho001]

I'm sure it's probably hindered me, but I've always been able to find work. I know I caught hell when I was in basic training, my drill seargent thought I was a wannabe Nation of Islam muslim, until one day he asked me what my real name was and I told him my folks were from Nigeria and it was my birth name. He kind of changed his tune after that. Also I caught hell in school, being called african booty scratcher and such in the majority black schools I went to in DC and PG county, and being called Oreo (not because I wanted to be white, but because my name is Oreoluwa) by white kids in middle and high school in Fairfax county, VA. It was rough, but as I matured I learned to deal with and overcome it. I just accepted and later appreciated the uniqueness of my name, until I went to Nigeria for the first time 10 years ago and found it wasn't so unique, LOL.