Rex Kerr
Aug 22, 2021

--

Actually, I wouldn't be too sure. A variety of research indicates that even northern European immigrants to the U.S. benefit from changing their name to a more familiar one, e.g. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0003122415621910

You obviously have a much better idea of your personal experience than I do, but it seems that it may not hold in general: an unfamiliar name was, on average, a detriment, at least in the earlier parts of the 20th Century. (Or, possibly, the average attitude that leads one to change one's name is a benefit--we can't tell that the name itself is causal here.)

It's possible that this has changed, but since nobody was that aware of it then, I think the more conservative outlook is to assume that it has not.

--

--

Rex Kerr
Rex Kerr

Written by Rex Kerr

One who rejoices when everything is made as simple as possible, but no simpler. Sayer of things that may be wrong, but not so bad that they're not even wrong.

No responses yet