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I refuse to believe my name is too difficult for people to pronounce

A third of employees from minority ethnic backgrounds have been asked to change their name to something more ‘English’ – which just shows some people simply can’t be bothered to try

One of my favourite sketches from Goodness Gracious Me features a white Englishman named Jonathan going to work for an Indian company. His new employers, unable or unwilling to pronounce his “complicated name”, say that he may be seen as a troublemaker unless he adopts something more conventional. Eventually, the newly dubbed Joginderpal Shivarama Gurupati Murthy is welcomed into the company with open arms.

A survey of 1,000 people by the law firm Slater and Gordon has found that a third of employees from minority ethnic backgrounds have been asked to change their name to something more “English”, with the majority of those polled worrying that their careers would suffer if they refused.

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from World news | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2I5RJH3

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