What the Hell?
Okay. Everyone knows I have a strange name. I have never met anyone else with my name. I know of people who have my name (although not spelled the same), but, once again, I have never met another Merrin. So, I wonder: How would an uncommon name affect my chances of finding gainful employment? According to this study, if your name sounds “white”, you have a better shot at landing a job. How does my name sound? What about yours? This is truly the most asinine thing I have heard in a long time. Certainly, those of us with not-so-ordinary appellations have had to adjust to society’s unspoken rules of names:
Me: “Hi! I’m Merrin.”
Them: “Nice to meet you, Marian.”
Me: “No, it’s Mer-rin.”
Them: “Mirian?”
Me:”M-E-R-R-I-N. Like Erin, with an M.”
Them: (with mild disdain, or perhaps discomfort) “Oooooohhh. That’s unusual.”
And so on and so on. I, and people like me, have been forced to adapt in social situations. We learned early to speak up and defend our praenomina, and such situations have made us extroverts. I’ve aruged this point before: Names can (and should) help define personality; they should not, however, be used as a basis for discrimination. What would you even call that, anyway? Nameism?
On behalf of uniquely-named people everywhere, I desperately urge you to give the extraordinary a chance.
“Who hath not own?d, with rapture-smitten frame,
The power of grace, the magic of a name?”
-Thomas Campbell, Pleasures of Hope. Part ii. Line 5.
January 14th, 2003 at 8:40 pm
I hear ya! Although I have met people with my name, I haven’t met many. I agree that with my name (and my red hair) I have learned to speak up. And although being different drove me crazy as a child, I LOVE it now – and if we ever have children, I’m afraid I’ll be on a quest to name my child a not-so-normal name. I think its horrible that you are more apt to land a job if your name sounds “white”.
January 16th, 2003 at 12:44 am
I love your name and said it correctly from the first! *clap!*