Names matter. I’ve written a whole book about our country being called Great Britain at a time when things haven’t been going great. And being called Torsten causes all kinds of trauma – there was the distant relative who just gave up and called me Tristram.
But I’ve not worried that having a weird name might have economic impacts. Until now. Reading a few studies last week has made me less chillaxed, because it turns out ease of pronouncing your name matters. A 2012 Australian study found that having a harder to pronounce name was associated with being judged less positively by others. And within law firms, it reduced your chance of having a top position.
More recent research tracks jobs outcomes for 1,500 people completing economics PhDs at US universities between 2016 and 2018. Taking into account students’ gender and academic success to date, the authors check to see if there is any impact of their name on job outcomes. The results are clear – a tongue-twister of a name means less chance of getting an academic gig, or getting one at a successful university.
The research also builds on famous studies that show evidence of discrimination over who gets called to job interviews based on whether their name connotes a particularly ethnic or racial origin. Among names of the same origin, ease of name pronunciation (the study shows that those fluent in English find it easier to pronounce Gupta than Seetharam) affects how likely you are to get an interview invitation.
Personally, the most worrying finding is that on some measures a hard to pronounce first name makes three times more difference than a tricky last name. From now on, you can call me Tim.
• Torsten Bell is Labour MP for Swansea West and author of Great Britain? How We Get Our Future Back
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