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For MyVirtualChild, I chose the name Giselle. Like most people, I have a few names that I think would be cool for my child and Giselle is one of them. I looked up the name and meaning of it and I believe it is fitting. It's a beautiful reminder of the love and devotion that a parent has for their child. It’s a promise to always be their little one, to guide and protect her, and to love her unconditionally. Kids are not in my future so I haven't put any thought into the name besides having a few names that I like. Maybe I need to start looking into cultural and religion influences when it comes to children's names. I just feel that would have to come later into a conversation when me and my partner are thinking about children.

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I have children of my own in real life and when we were deciding on names for them, they both had some sort of meaning to them. My sons middle name Clyde has been a name passed down for generations on both mine and my husband's side of the family. I always knew if I ever had another boy in life what I would name it, so when my VR child popped up a boy, I named it Eldon. Eldon was my grandfather (Paw as I called him) name, he was my everything and died in 2018. I do not plan to have any more kids in real life, so I gave that name to my VR child. Eldon is an old name that you don't really hear of anymore, so I love that it is different. I do not think this name would have any effect on my child's development or employment. I know when naming my own children, I took into thought if the names were ones that were too popular because I like different names, but I did not want off the wall names that would affect their life by causing people to maybe make fun of them. It's kind of a crazy to think that something like a name could affect someone's development and employment.

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For MyVirtualChild, I decided to name my daughter after my real life one, Ruth. There were cultural, family, and religious reasons that influenced our decision to name our daughter Ruth. Firstly, Ruth is a character from the Bible who is known for her loyalty and devotedness. Her story is also a symbol for redemption of life. In Hebrew, Ruth means "friend." This was a cultural decision as my husband has a Jewish background, while he is a practicing Christian today. My husband also had a Great Aunt Ruth who he wanted to pay homage to. While I deeply appreciated the biblical background of the name, I truthfully have always found the name Ruth to be adorable. Today, we call her "Ruthie" and "Rue" for short.

While I did not let the article affect my decision in naming my daughter, I still found it an interesting read. It is unfortunate that name bias/prejudice is prevalent in our culture, but I have hope that as we grow more diverse and inclusive as a society, this will become lesser of an issue.

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For MyVirtualChild I chose the name Bodhi (Bo-dee). I wanted to choose a unique spelling. I had no family traditions when choosing a name for my child. I did not consider the cultural reasoning behind the name. I chose based on a name that I liked and have heard before. To be honest, I heard the name on the TV show Fire Country which is about a group of firefighters. The main character's name is Bodie and I just liked the name. I just threw in a different spelling to make it more unique. After researching the name, however, I did find out that Bodhi does have cultural significance. The name comes from the Sanskrit origin meaning “awakening” and “enlightenment”. This comes from the country of India and is based on Buddhist traditions with the concept of reaching nirvana. According to their beliefs that being free of greed and ego, those who reach nirvana reach a state of bliss and peace. After researching the name, I can tie it to my own beliefs of being a humble person and overall living a successful life, peaceful, and aiming for the ultimate goal of happiness. The name Bodhi is a gender-neutral name overall and could be used for a boy or a girl in today's society. This name became increasingly popular in the United States in 2023 with a ranking of #561 and as a boy name, it placed #296. Worldwide rating it comes in at #620 overall and #359 being a boy name. With the name Bodhi, people perceive the name as seekers of peace, wisdom, and harmony. Their philosophical outlook makes them excellent listeners and advisors with a calm nature. I believe it helps give him a name that can benefit in today's society and within the workforce. Being a gender-neutral name and gaining global popularity leaves little chance for anyone to judge them based on sex, race, or religious means. Today’s society is becoming more inclusive and more diverse and I think more people are open to names with uniqueness.

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When I was pregnant with my son, (my actual son, not my VR child) I let my mother name him because she always wanted a son and had two daughters. My mother named him Tristan and I did not hate it so I have a sixteen year old named Tristan Joseph. I decided not to have any more children so imagine my surprise when VR child wound up being a girl. I had never thought about what I would name my child if I had a girl so I took some time before I decided on the name Violet. Purple is my favorite color and I have always loved the word violet. It is a beautiful word. Since my mother had such a heavy hand in naming my son, I would have wanted to name next child myself had I had given birth to another child so family traditions and names were not considered.

I do not believe that this name would affect my child's employment or development. I will admit that when naming my child, I had considered whether the name would be a factor of my child being teased or picked on in school. There is something really sad about the world when the naming of your child can be affected by the opinions of others. Societal perceptions of people based on names dictates that certain people are not employable because a person with a certain name would be less hard working. While I understand that it is not fair and a terrible way to look at the world when naming your child, I do understand that this happens more often than we care to admit as a society.

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I do not have a list of names that I like or dislike, but this isn't something that I've never thought about. I chose the name Braylee Mae for my little girl. My middle name is Mae which is passed down by my great-grandma, which I have always loved. My partners middle name is Jay which is also a family name on his side. We have always said that we want to pass our middle names down if possible, so I was able to with my virtual child! I chose Braylee because I feel as if it is unique. From the first time I heard this name I always loved it, and what a plus that "Braylee Mae" sounds great together. After reading the paper on names and employment, I do not want to changes Braylee's name. It is unique, generational, and I love it!

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I am a mother of two boys Tristan and Mason. When it comes to naming children and having meaningful names, I can admit I never once thought about the meaning behind their names. My name is Rachel and the biblical name my mother chose means “ewe’ or female sheep. The three facts about Rachel from the bible that I grew up learning about were that she was barren, married to Jacob, and beautiful. Now for my sons Tristan and Mason I always liked the names but just found out today that my son Tristan’s name means "sad or sorrowful,” and my son Mason’s name means “one who works with stone.” I do not know how to feel about the meaning behind all three of our names except shocked.

Moving forward to my virtual son who I decided to name Ashton.

I decided to name my virtual son Ashton because of my preference for the name . There were no cultural or family traditions behind the name Ashton.  I was shocked to find out that Ashton has many meanings behind the name. The name Ashton in the bible comes from the “Ash Tree” which was a guardian of children and a healing agent for childhood illness.

Ashton is a common name that will positively affect his future. Now that diversity, inclusion, and pronouns are spoken about more today I believe the uniqueness of someone’s name will not affect a person’s future as much as it would a decade ago.

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As a mom of three kids, with beautiful names (if I do say so myself), I didn't choose a name for my virtual child based on any kind of tradition or cultural reference. I chose Megan, after the horror movie of the little girl robot. I will admit that I did this completely because I and my kids thought it was funny. For the purposes of this exercise, I will explain more my thought process in naming my real kids more than my virtual one.

My first child was named after my side of the family: Elinora after my maternal grandma Elinor and my paternal grandma Margaret Eleanor. My son was named after my hunsband's family. Grayson for several of his ancestors and Earl for his father. When we had our third child, we picked Lilith for her first name for Lilith's place in mythology. Her middle name is Marie, which is mine. We felt this made our family names "even" between each of us. Elinora goes by Nora, and Lilith goes by Lily. I appreciate names which can be shortened or flexible. Even naming my virtual child after a horror movie shows that I like names to have meaning.

All of my children have my maiden name as their second middle name with my husband's last name.

My children walk with priviledge I acknowledge. Although we have worried that Lily might be teased if her friends seek out a definition, which is sometimes listed as "mother of demons." Grayson Earl does not relish the social stigma equated with a white southern boy named Earl. However, they will never encounter the level of prejudice from the example of research based simply on their names. As a lifelong writer, names were extremely important to me. I wanted them to mean something and sound lyrical.

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When choosing the name for my virtual child I had in mind a name that my mother wanted to name me when I was born, Everleigh. Granted, I think she wanted it spelled differently but with my name, Emily, being so common and basic I would like my future child one day to have something a little more unique. I like names that can also be shortened, like some people call me "Em" for short and people could call Everleigh, "Eve", or "Leigh' so it would give my child som flexibility nickname options with her name as she gets older as well.

One of the reasons my mom wanted to name me Everleigh, besides just liking the name, was that when my childhood home was built, my mom and dad noticed Evergreen trees all around the property, and also planted more while it was being built. So it also has a sentimental value to her from the start of my life with the name Everleigh stemming from the word Evergreen.

I feel that jobs look for diversity and I feel like a name like Everleigh may help aid in that as it is not as popular as something like my sisters name, Emily or Haley. However, I did not choose a name based on that.

(Reposting after logging into my account so it no longer displays as " Anonymous")

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I will admit I do not have a list of names at all! I chose randomly from the top of my head after seeing it was a boy. The first thing that came to mind for a boy's name was "Ariel", because it is a unisex name and in Spanish it sounds even more beautiful. Although it was picked out randomly, I know it was going to be a Spanish name because I value my hispanic heritage and would like to keep passing it down. After reading a little more about the name "Ariel" and its background, I found it's rooted from the Hebrew bible meaning "Lion of God" which represents "Fierce" and "Majestic" which fits just perfectly because I would love to teach my son he's able to go after anything in this world without being afraid. The article did not change my mind and only proves my point more of teaching my son to not be afraid and to go after and chase his dreams regardless of society expectations and judgement because your race does not define what you are capable of in this world. I think the article does a well job explaining the prejudice and inequality that is still seen in this world, although we have made many improvements, there is still work to do.

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How to pronounce Ariel (Spanish/Argentina)  - PronounceNames.com

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When choosing the name for my virtual child I had in mind a name that my mother wanted to name me when I was born, Everleigh. Granted, I think she wanted it spelled differently but with my name, Emily, being so common and basic I would like my future child one day to have something a little more unique. I like names that can also be shortened, like some people call me "Em" for short and people could call Everleigh, "Eve", or "Leigh' so it would give my child som flexibility nickname options with her name as she gets older as well.

One of the reasons my mom wanted to name me Everleigh, besides just liking the name, was that when my childhood home was built, my mom and dad noticed Evergreen trees all around the property, and also planted more while it was being built. So it also has a sentimental value to her from the start of my life with the name Everleigh stemming from the word Evergreen.

I feel that jobs look for diversity and I feel like a name like Everleigh may help aid in that as it is not as popular as something like my sisters name, Emily or Haley. However, I did not choose a name based on that.

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I named my virtual baby after my first child. We chose this name in such a beautiful and organic way, my partner and I were moving into a bigger place after we found out we were having a baby and as I was putting my books away, I began reading my favorite book out loud to him. It's called "Green Angel" and the main character describes her sister as a beam of moonlight because she attracts moths in her sleep, and she goes on to say she was wild and free, her name was Aurora. When he heard that he said if the baby is a girl, we should name her Aurora, and I loved that! We gave her the middle name after me, April. It also means the goddess of the dawn, and dew. Which I find to be adorable. Reading the article did not influence my choice because I think that everything works out for people in the end regardless of their name. We did not consider family traditions as neither of our families have naming traditions.

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Like some of you, I have a list of names that I love. Chloe is one that I've always liked since I was younger so I decided to choose it for my virtual child. I did not consider any cultural or family traditions. When I looked up what the name meant, I found that it means "blooming." The name has been known to represent beauty, youth, and vibrancy. When I think of the name Chloe, I think of a strong, independent woman. I believe that my virtual child will take pride in her name and will become strong and independent as she goes through virtual life. Although it did not affect my name decision, it is clear that a person's name can influence their job opportunities and how they are viewed in society. This is an issue that can affect an individual's self-worth and motivation.

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I'm one of those people with a baby name list on their phone. So, in determining his name, I picked one of my all-time favorite names, Forrest. It is a family name and is the name of one of my cousins who passed away when I was younger. Whenever I hear it, I think of him, and I think it's a beautiful and unique name. I've always liked using family names but not naming my child a common/popular name. His name may cause some joking or making fun of him, but I think it's a strong name, too. Name prejudice is a huge issue, but it didn't affect my name decision.

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So I am already a mother of two boys. I named them Kamden and Kai. There had always been something about a name starting with the letter "K" that just seemed "strong" to me. Then the rest of there names the beginning of middle and last all start with the same letter. Other than my name being Jessica, our initials are exactly the same. So we refer to ourselves as the N3's as all our middle names begin with N. It may be corny to some, but for us its something we share together that is just ours. So when I went to name my virtual child I was like hey he is family also, haha, so I named him Kayden. Which happened to be in the running of names when I was deciding when to name my first born. Then later down the road when my virtual got a little older, I had a girl!!!! I named her Kameria. When naming my child I just went off of what I already had in my every day life. My children have gotten compliments over the years for their names. We also hearing many stories about Camden fields, however we spell my son with a K. As my virtual child grows I think that his name will become him. So what im meaning by that is no matter the choices he is helped in making, he will always be Kayden. He will be strong and resourceful but very much loved by family around him. He will know his name was chosen so that he fits with the rest of our family and all of our corny tradition of funny N3s that has so much love to add on.

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I will be very honest, I have about 30 different baby names I like in a list on my phone. I chose one from there: "Joan." Joan is not a family name, nor do I know what the name means. However, I do remember myself not choosing randomly but picking Joan over other names I had written. I believe this is why: It is short and sweet, yet POWERFUL. The first Joan people think of is the historical French martyr Joan of Arc. She died because she fought for what was right and had courage. My VirtualChild will hopefully see herself as someone brave and strong as a result.

Reading the article did not affect my decision, but I do believe name prejudice is a very real issue in society.

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When choosing which name would be best for my virtual child, I decided to choose the name, “Kiley.” I did not consider my family traditional name as that would have been something foreign and I wanted to give her a Westernized name. Several factors were considered when choosing this name. One of which was easy pronunciation for my immigrant parents, easy to spell, and had a modern feel which seemed like a friendly and approachable name that is easy to remember. A name that is easy to remember is one that will leave a lasting impression when networking or building relationships personally and professionally. I changed the way her name is spelled to give it a unique touch of individuality.

The name, Kiley, originates from Irish and Australia meaning graceful and beautiful. Selecting a name that is neutral helps to minimize any bias and has the potential to show her skill set or qualifications without having a preconceived notion.

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In determining my virtual child’s name, I wanted something that was modern, had meaning, and could be shortened for a nickname.  I did not consider family names or traditions. My choice was Skylar, or Sky for short, which can denote both scholar and sky.  While I gave thought to how the child would carry the name throughout her life, I did not consider whether the name would or would not factor into future employment opportunities.  I chose the name prior to the reading assignment being posted.  That said, having read the position paper I would not change my choice.

Skylar is a gender-neutral name, and, according to MyNameStats (2024), the name is assigned to white children nearly 80% of the time compared to 13% African American children. It is not clear to me whether 13% is statically significant to conclude employers or resume algorithms would filter out Skylar’s employment application.  However, it could happen.  As we learned from Bertrand and Sendhill (2013) field experiment measuring labor market discrimination, employers consciously and, perhaps unconsciously, filter applications based on name, assuming race and even social standing.  This gives rise to the need to at least consider the impact names have on a child’s destiny, while still honoring one’s cultural identity and traditions.