Could the name you pick affect your childs future?

[Sarah13]

We don't have any names yet but my hubby doesn't seem to like anything I do and vise-versa. He seems to think that one day when our child applies for jobs that some people are dismissed purely on their name as people pre-judge a person from that. He thinks we should pick a strong traditional name but I'm more open to modern names and a bit of a hippy. What do you girls think, do people really judge a person just by the name?

 

[cosmicgirl]

I'd like to say that people don't judge but I think they do a bit. I always consider the "cv factor" but I think as long as the name isn't ridiculous then go for it x

 

[Princess81]

I don't think so, not unless it's a seriously ridiculous name?
There are loads of children with more modern names these days, when they all come to apply for jobs later on in life, employers will see lots of interesting names so I doubt that it will have any impact at all.x

 

[star fish]

Gosh, I think it would! If someone applied for a job and was called Precious or Tinkerbell, then I think I would pass them over! Is that awful?

I wouldnt mind hippy names (after all who am I to talk) but not the really awful names (dare I say chav). A la Jordan

 

[LouiseB]

People judge all the time, but different types of people will judge differently and your baby will be very likely the same "type" as you and your husband.

I think name like Apple and Hero are rediculous, but i'm sure people in the media business would see them much more favourably.

When i had to go through CVs, i did discard some due to the name - you don't want the confusion of someone answering the telephone and telling clients they are speaking to Peanut or whatever the crazy name might be.

Have you heard that news reporter on Radio 2 called Vanilla Fudge

I mean... seriously.

Someone reporting the horrific things that go on in the world called Vanilla Fudge?! I wouldn't have hired her with that name.

 

[Iriki]

Hate to say it but I think he's right... some names just preclude people taking the owner seriously. And I think if the name is kooky , people assume the person will be and will pre-judge them as such.

The other side of the coin is do you want your child going through life constantly having to explain / spell / justify their name.

I'm sure Gwnneth Paltrow's daughter thinks it's slightly odd that her mum named her after something she sees in the fruitbowl every day... and could you really immagine Bob Geldof's daughter Fifi Trixibelle as a High Court Judge???

In an ideal world it wouldn't matter and people could call kids anything, but I think people have a lot more preconceptions than we realise.

 

[Sarah13]

It's good to hear some opinions on this as it does show people judge, def going to keep that in mind when we pick a name. I guess lots of people would think of me as alternative in lots of ways but my hubby isn't so much, so our child will probably be in-between.

We both have traditional names I mean can you get anymore traditional and boring than Sarah! I hated it at school as there was 7 of us in my year with the same name! At least nobody knew a thing about me before an interview though.

Maybe we'll think of a name that we both like that also won't be judged, hard though as to me common traditional names say boring! I dont want anything that people laugh at or not heard of, he says I like American teen film names lol!

Do you think double barreled surnames also make people judge too or not so much?

 

[pinkymum]

My best friend has a double barrelled surname and I think its really nice. I guess when I hear a double barrelled surname I think posh and that's probably wrong of me. I defo agree that people will judge no matter what, we all do it even when we don't want to.

 

[clairebear22]

I'm the same Pinky, I think 'posh' when I see a double barrelled sirname! Naughty me! x

 

[pinkymum]

Think is Claire my friend isn't really posh although her mother is a wannabe snob and they are the worst haha!

 

[clairebear22]

lol I understand why people choose to use both names for their children if they're not married, not that my boy is having my sirname because it sounds posh and I hate it lol.
But why do people do it when they get married? It just seems like a waste of time having such a long sirname lol. Maybe bit's because I hate mine so much that I don't see the point! My OH's sirname is nice and short where as mines long!

If my boy had both our sirnames it'd be 15 letters long! Sod that when he's learning to write his name! lol x

 

[AugustMum]

I like that people are going to think Paige is posh having a double barrelled surname

But yeah, I completly think people judge on the name. My sister had a surname that most people cant pronounce without being told how and I think she lost out on a few jobs because of it. FOB wanted the name River for Paige and I immediatly turned it down.

 

[2010stacey87]

oooh i never thought about this something to think about though ay xx

 

[Sarah13]

We're married but I didn't take hubby's name, not into all that women changing their name thing, think it's a bit sexist and old fashioned, but that's just me I know I'm in the minority as everyone assumed I was changing my name even knowing what I'm like! That's why I thought of double barrel, or how do you decide who's name the baby has? Could flip a coin I guess as I don't mind either of our names!

 

[PrincessPeanut]

I was just having a simliar conversation at the weekend with OH's friend. He used to be a police officer and we were talking about applications and he said when he filled out his application years ago, he purposely didn't state his origin (i.e White - British) and put his full name on Leroy - because looking at the applicant's name, you would automatically assume he was of a different background.
Wrong but it does happen.

Double barrel surname - screams posh or snob. Don't know why, think it's because all the double barrel surname people I know are actually snobs!! lol xx

 

[star fish]

Gosh, nearly all the double barrelled I come accross at work are nouvou riche, who have just used both their surnames. Personally I think that unless you are from a long line of that name it is pretentious and ridiculous (Ducks as rotton tomatoes fly at my head) and unless they are real old money then I do tend to assume they are wannabees and not remotely posh.

 

[AugustMum]

My LO has both my name and her fathers because we're not together and so if I was to marry I would then make my name Carpenter - (insert a name here), so she will always feel connected in some way with names, instead of being in a family where her name is different.

There are many reasons for people to have double barrelled names. I get that people think its posh but it's alot more common now, due to many children being born to single families or to parents who arent married.

 

[Sarah13]

Suppose some people do think it's posh, seems more of a mouthful to me, lots of people who aren't posh have 2 names these days. Be funny as we're about as far from posh as possible and def don't want to be! I think we'll end up using his name as mine is quite common whereas his is quite rare so would be quite nice the baby will have a more unusual surname if it ends up with a traditional first name.

 

[Princess81]

We will just be adding my surname (which is V rare and we only have girls in our family so no one to carry the name on) as a middle name and then using o/h's surname. I'm presuming the baby will actually be registered under both surnames anyway because we aren't married (that's what happens in Guernsey where I'm from anyway, if you aren't married baby is registered under both surnames) x

 

[Cazza]

Have you heard that news reporter on Radio 2 called Vanilla Fudge

It's Fenella Fudge!!! But I shall always think of her as Vanilla now!!!

I love different names and am guilty of naming my dogs and cats with outrageous names too!!

Having recently looked at some CV's for me the ones with different names intrigued me - I wanted to meet 'Summer-Blue' just because of her name!!!