My mum named me Amitabh Bachan after Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachan. He was a suave star in Indian cinema during the 1970s and 80s. My classmates in school, who were from a predominantly white area of south England in the early 2000s, didn't get the reference.
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At that age, every point of difference can be a source for deep embarrassment. Having a foreign name is just one more. From shrugging off rhyming jabs to correcting (or being too shy to correct) mispronunciations, to correcting them, it's all part of the mix. (Amir, Ahmedeven though I am correct in uttering my name to family members, it isn't accurate.
You do, however, grow into your name. As I grew older, I began to appreciate its uniqueness and to take it less seriously. It is your personal badge, regardless of whether you like it or not. However, it also serves as a source for information about you. Maria Konnikova writes in The New Yorker that names send signals about who you are and where you came from. Sometimes, those signals can prove to be harmful.
Humza Yousaf (Scotland's health secretary) accused Little Scholars Nursery Dundee, of discriminating against his little girl based on her name, on August 1. Nadia El-Nakla, Yousaf's wife, emailed the nursery asking about spaces for their 2-year-old Amal. She was informed that there were no spaces. A friend with a whiter name emailed the nursery the next day and was given three options for afternoons and a tour. A journalist using a similar tactic to follow up on the request got the same result. The fictitious parent with a Muslim-sounding name was denied admission to the nursery, while white applicants were offered options and information about how to enroll.
This is not an isolated incident. It's easy to dismiss it. Research over decades has shown that discrimination against name in employment and education is real. In the United States, a cleverly constructed study found that applicants with Black names required eight years more experience to receive the same number callbacks as candidates with white names. Similar research has been conducted over many decades to find the same result.
Humza Yousaf's story was deeply troubling to me. I am 33 years old, which is a good thing since my wife and I are planning to purchase a house together. To make it easier for our children, I've been obsessing about the demographics in the areas we are considering moving to. Perhaps I should have spent more time creating a surname that sounds more English for them.
The Yousafs experience made it possible for me to think about my name and how it has influenced my personality and career path. What would I look like if I was called something else? I don't know how many doors have been opened in my face, but it has happened without me knowing. Is my name ruining my life?
The GEMM survey is the most recent European study on this topic. It's a five year, five-nation field research that saw thousands of jobs offered by real people using a variety of names. (GEMM stands to Growth, Equal Opportunities and Migration). These results are quite shocking. To get the same number of callbacks, ethnic minorities had to submit 60 percent more applications than the white majority.
Although I thought being British Asian and living in London would protect me from the worst effects of discrimination, the truth is that the reverse seems to be true. Higher rates of discrimination were seen in countries with a long history of immigrants from former colonies. The study also examined the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Norway. It found that British employers were most discriminatory. Valentina di Stasio (a Utrecht University assistant professor who participated in the research) said that we were surprised. It is very high according to international standards in Britain.
