Have you wondered if you would be any different if you had a different name? I sure have, my parents told me that there was a big debate between naming me Sean or Stuart. Luckily, they named me Sean I like the name because I feel that it defines me in a small way and to me Stuart sounds like a nerdy name (sorry if your name is Stuart and your reading this).
In theory your name shouldn’t matter, however, as most people know when it comes to getting a job unfortunately some things matter like your sex, skin colour, height, and weight at least statistically speaking. This doesn’t mean that the world is full of discriminating, sexist, and racist employers, it is just that there are correlated relationships that exists in many people’s minds when it comes to first impressions, that we have little control over. I wish it was differenent and that the world was more equal and people didn’t have predispositions but it is something that exist currently. So it helps to be aware of it, if we ever want to change.
So what does this mean about names, well according to a report done by CTV news in 2009 your name matter a lot to getting that call back. Watch the video below:
Resumes with English names more likely to be noticed
So obviously our own personal names carry certain connotations about ourselves so what about brand names?
According to Katie Dergousoff’s Blog and a New Yorker article (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/03/111003fa_fact_colapinto) names are essential to defining a brand. In fact it seems that Lexicon had made a global business based on coming up with successful brand names for company’s like: Blackberry, Dasani, and Pentium. I would site the name of some great products that had horrible names but what’s the point you probably would have never heard of them right!
So next time you are interviewing people for a position or maybe are coming up a brand name for your new company remember there is more to a name then the letters that compose it.
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