What's in a Name?

[Seifer]

I had to put in a ton of volunteer hours in several schools around the area for degree purposes. I visited many schools, including those that are considered part of the "ghetto." One school in particular was probably the worst I'd ever seen economy wise - most of the children came from incredibly poor families and there were apparently many issues with abuse/neglect.

One thing I noticed in this "ghetto" school was that some of the children had... err... very "creative" names. While I've heard and seen kids around my area with lesser-used names, they never veered too far into the weird/comically terrible category. But these kids...I literally felt sorry for them.

One of the worst examples of a "bad name" I saw in a low-economic school was also one of the most unnecessarily terrible ones. There was one boy in my volunteer class who had apparently been named after his father (We'll call him "Jacob" for the purposes of this example). This wouldn't have been out of the ordinary, except that instead of using the suffix of Jr., the parents had instead chosen to tack on the word "Lil" to the beginning of the child's name.

Yes, this poor kid's name was Liljacob.

Now, here's why I have a problem with naming kids these kinds of "creative" names. While their names won't really matter or seem odd outside of the "ghetto", if they try to go anywhere else they are very likely to receive criticism and judgment based solely on their name. Even if Liljacob up there graduated first in his class and left school with multiple awards, a potential employer might focus on his name rather than his credentials. It's unfortunate, but it happens.

I've had this conversation with people before and they tended to get offended because they thought I was making fun of these kids. THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M SAYING. I'm not making fun of the kids, I'm simply making an observation on society in general. If you have a ridiculous name, people may pass judgment on you based on that name - not necessarily who you are as a person.

[jackfaire]

That's why I think there should be a freebie. Changing your name costs money unless you change it as part of a Life Event such as getting married or divorced. I think turning 18 should become a Life Event where you get a free name change. Then you can pay for any further name changes later.

[Andara Bledin]

We've pretty much had this thread before.

Speaking of names, the topic came up recently and it turns out that the woman I work for actually went to college with a girl named Female.

^-.-^

[jackfaire]

went to college with a girl named Female.

^-.-^

At least it was a girl named Female

[SongsOfDragons]

I don't know what countries do, but I know that some have a mandated name list that one is required to pick from. As long as the range is acceptably wide and they review it every decade to reflect new variations, I wouldn't mind going along with it. Both of my names are old-fashioned enough to be perfectly fine anywhere ^^

Does one have to give their real name to an employer, or can you use a preferred variant? If you introduce yourself as Jacob and only answer to it and have done since you were ten or so, surely you only need inform them of the silly prefix when they need to do a CRB check or something that requires your proper ID. I know that deed poll is ridiculously expensive, time-consuming and I've heard (grapevine only, I'm afraid) of plenty of normal requests being regularly rejected.

[HYHYBT]

I don't know what countries do, but I know that some have a mandated name list that one is required to pick from. As long as the range is acceptably wide and they review it every decade to reflect new variations, I wouldn't mind going along with it.

And how will there be new variations for them to find in that review if nobody is allowed to use names not already on the list?

[Andara Bledin]

Does one have to give their real name to an employer, or can you use a preferred variant?

I have more than one co-worker that doesn't use their given name. One uses a middle name and another uses a nickname. Heck, I could have them call me Andara if I felt like it; a few already do.

^-.-^

[the_std]

I don't use my legal name for anything except government stuff or anything related to credit. Everywhere else I use the variant that I grew up with, cause at home, if they used my legal name, it meant I was in trouble. I guess that kind of stuck with me. Let's pretend my legal name is Elizabeth (it isn't), and then the variant I'm called is Lizzie. It's close, everyone gets the point, and no one makes it a big deal.

[Ginger Tea]

was the lil part actually on their birth certificate or did everyone just call him LilName, not that I know one of his songs if it hit me, but Lil Wayne might not have that on his birth certificate.

I have gone by my middle name for over a decade (save for old friends and family) and put Ginger Tea down on Karaoke and have introduced myself as such a few times too.

Sir Elton John is still legaly called Reg Dwight, but you don't have to be a performer to have a stage name, if you work place is happy to call you chthullu (sp) cos you asked them nicely, then yay for you, as long as my pay gets put into my account I'm not that mithred what you call me.

One agency girl at work has her pay slip addressing her as Mr, I've meantioned this to her and she doesnt care, she still gets paid. That or she is going by her gender identiy, but hey it's the year 2012.

I was one of the few to not have my gender swapped on a company wide mail shot, I was a bit miffed about that, one other was chuffed as she got listed (and still recieves mail) as Professor, so when I remember I call her Professor Firstname.

I don't know about deed poll for other countries, but I think theve let some people change their name to licenceplates more than once. I never read too far into the articles to see if he would actually be called that if he had to stand before a judge or not.

[Seifer]

was the lil part actually on their birth certificate or did everyone just call him LilName, not that I know one of his songs if it hit me, but Lil Wayne might not have that on his birth certificate.

I'm not sure if it was on his birth certificate, but that's what he wanted me to call him. (It was also spelled LilJacob, instead of breaking it up into two words, like in Lil Wayne's case. I think that's why it hit me as being so odd.)

I don't know when you'd be forced to give your legal first name. I suppose you could go by a middle name or a nickname in a job interview, but they'd eventually find out your real name through background checks and such. I would hope that if you really knocked em dead in the job interview, they'd be willing to look past a strange first name.

[SongsOfDragons]

And how will there be new variations for them to find in that review if nobody is allowed to use names not already on the list?

*ponders* They could see what names are doing in other countries who speak the same or a similar language (like if the UK does it, they could study US/Canadian/Oz/NZ trends). Data on name usage is easily found - I use Behind The Name to grab them. They could also possibly accomodate expats/immigrants somewhat. I'd imagine this list could be very subjective so I'd hope more than one person was in charge and people could give suggestions when it came to the review.

This is vairy interesting. I don't see it happening, but it's fun to debate the possibilities of maintaining said list. I admit I can be idealist when it comes to making up government stuff. I have a friend who I run my worldbuilding governments past and he rips them to shreds and presents me with a list of the loopholes...