Let’s start by answering the second question. ABSOLUTELY NOT! With that out of the way, we can move to the first question and the age-signaling workplace biases around names.
I began to think about this as I was mulling over the slang term, Karen. If you’re unaware of this term (as I was until a few weeks ago), a Karen is a certain stereotype. Dictionary.com defines it this way: Karen is a mocking slang term for an entitled, obnoxious, middle-aged white woman. Especially as featured in memes, Karen is generally stereotyped as having a blonde bob haircut, asking to speak to retail and restaurant managers to voice complaints or make demands, and being a nagging, often divorced mother from Generation X.
Karen was not a popular name for millennials, so it was handy to create this caricature around a name popular for Gen Xers (or older). According to U.S. Social Security records, Karen was a top-five name in the ‘60s, and has not been seen on the name top-10 hit-charts since. Similarly, my own name, Nancy, ranked in the top 10 in the ‘50s and not since.
Some names are ageless. Think: Michael or Jennifer. But since certain names are no longer popular, it’s fair to say they age-signal. That said, I do not believe we should care. Name is an important part of identity. But isn’t this obvious? Not necessarily.
Consider the numerous people who go by nicknames in every aspect of their lives, except business. Skip becomes John. Or those with ethnic names who tweak to localize. Zijun becomes Cathy. Or those just out of college who go by a diminutive name and instead choose to take their formal name at work so as not to appear inexperienced. Joanie becomes Joan.
I look at age-signaling on a continuum, at one end being signals that make sense to alter and at the other end signals that do not. For me, that continuum is based on identity. Perhaps the lightest and therefore easiest signal to shed is your college graduation date on LinkedIn. Next may come years of experience. Or updating your email provider. In the middle of the continuum may be hiding gray hair. And then to the far extreme would be your name.
An aside: Think of all the unconscious biases that may be in play besides age when a hiring manager reads through names on a digital stack of resumes: ethnicity, citizenship status, even competence.
My own name is an important part of my family history. During World War II in the trenches in France, my father and a buddy listened incessantly to Frank Sinatra’s hit song, “Nancy With the Laughing Face,” homesick. Both vowed that if they made it back to the States alive, they would name their oldest daughters Nancy. And they both did! Am I going to change my name to appear younger? You can bet the answer is an unapologetic No!