The Freak of names Essay

Submitted By hamelc2
Words: 892
Pages: 4

The Freak of Names Do you ever wonder if your name defines you as a person in life? Do you think your name can cause a problem in the work force? Or do you live out your name that you are given? Or even living in a different atmosphere? There is separation between white and black people names that is defined as “Cultural Segregation” (Levitt) (Freakonomics ). There are names that are different between African American and Caucasians but, none of these shouldn’t define you as a person or create a image for yourself. First, does your name cause a problem in the work force? According to Levitt and Dubner, they created a experiment by typing up 5000 of the same resume and just changing the names to half caucasion names to the other half African American names. The resume were sent out to companies acrossed from Chicago and New York. 33% African American names are less likely to get an interview then a Caucasian name. When someone is looking for a job with a Casucasin name in ten weeks they are most likely to get a job but if an African American would take fifteen weeks being unemployed. (Freakonomics ) When African Amercians can get an opportunity in the work force they generally earn less compared to a Caucasians person. As giving your child a name that is “Uneek” can be harder for them in the work force. Also, can living in a different society or coming from a different background change the view on your name? In the 50s African American had basic names such as John or Micheal and etc.,but the Black Power movement began in the 80s and wanted African American to define who they were so they started to make names up so people would realize who they were. Parents that were unmarried and had lower education was most likely to name their child with an unique name (Freakonomics ). But when having a name is a middle class list such as Ashley, people may want to show there childern an image higher even if they are in a lower class list. Most actors and musician change there names to became famous such as Marilynn Monroe wouldn’t be famous with a name like Norma Jean. People are trying to name their childern unique names so they can make opportunities to be successful but they don’t realize it is making it harder in life for them. Lastly, do you live out your name? There was an examlpe from (Freakonomics ) Documentary having the most outraged name such as “Temptress.” If you don’t know what Temptress means it is a woman who makes a man want to have sex with her: a very attractive woman. (Webster). Temptress was supposed to be named Tempestt from The Cosby Show but then the mother realized that her daughter name was misspelled. The reason why Temptress name was brought up was because she was in court for ungovernable behavior which means she was bring guys home while her mother was at work and by the way she is only fifteen years of age. I think that Temptress would have acted like this even if her name was something different because she didn’t have an ideal mother. Her mother didn’t know how to spell her favorite actress name and didn’t know what her daughter name mean after naming her. There is another example