Pretentious name

First post so let me have it you degenerates. Basically, one of my friends has an extremely pretentious sounding name (think William Jordan Belfort IV but more), but he's not sure whether to flaunt it on his resume or in email correspondence. What are the relatives benefits or drawbacks of both. Note: his family have no connections to finance or IB, so there's no chance someone would recognize the name.

34 Comments
 

Damn. Hand-writing your signature, large, at the top of your resume where your name typically goes would be legit.

If I ever saw that I'd probably call the kid in for an interview just to ask him about it.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 
"PE-biz-dev" Just do first name + last name, Jesus

like this?

William Jordan Belfort IV, Jesus

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 
"Isaiah_53_5"
"PE-biz-dev" Just do first name + last name, Jesus

like this?

William Jordan Belfort IV, Jesus

no, like this:

William Jordan + Belfort IV, Jesus

Quant (ˈkwänt) n: An expert, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
 

Have a hard time believing your friend is curious about this. But hey, either way, if you have a douchey looking/sounding name, don't worry about it and roll with it.

If people give you flack, then it's probably cause they're named Pat Smith

 

You want your name to sound as neutral as possible. I have several friends who have an aristocratic family name, eg. "ABC de XYZ". They often drop the "de XYZ".

 

there are no pretentious names, just pretentious people.

it's not like his name is horatio hornblower or anything.

Thank you for your interest in the 2020 Investment Banking Full-time Analyst Programme (London) at JPMorgan Chase. After a thorough review of your application, we regret to inform you that we are unable to move forward with your candidacy at this time.
 
Funniest

congratulations. you've won. you/your friend has asked the most obvious question ever asked in WSO, and this is no small feat, you've beaten the following noble contenders.

  • boss asked me to get coffee, what do I do
  • boss asked me to bring olive oil, what do I do
  • I quoted a TV show at work, what do I do
  • what am I supposed to do on weekend
  • what sunglasses do bankers wear
  • should I round my GPA to X.X (using conventional rounding rules)
  • interviewer said to follow up in 2 weeks, it'd been 13 days, what do I do
  • I'm 22 but don't want to ever get married, have kids, settle down, what do I do
  • I just found a girlfriend, should I pay for our vacation

thank you, thank you for this thread, I needed to know that there are people out there who actually wonder how to write their name on a resume. it's going to be a good week

 
"AnonCoug" I think it’s obvious, you should bring him olive oil. It’s really not that hard. The real question is: what kind of olive oil do bankers usually buy?

Well, if you're an Italian banker, possibly Santa Chiara made with Taggiasca olives from Liguria.

If not that, then probably from Tuscany or Puglia.

Here is a PPT about it:

http://www.rosmarinofarm.com/Files/Costa_dei_Rosmarini.pps

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

+SB, laughing really hard. Thank you for that.

“Doesn't really mean shit plebby boi. LMK when you're pulling thiccboi cheques.“ — @m_1
 

As someone with a big suffix (think III, IV, V, etc.), I leave it off. Keeping it sounds like I'm trying to flaunt something that I don't have (i.e. it sounds old money/waspy but I'm neither)

 

As long as your middle name doesn't begin with "Thur" - like Thurgood or Thurston or asdfasd

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Pretentious name in Poker:

Chris Moneymaker

Annddd dude manages to with the 2003 world series! What a guy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Moneymaker

"Moneymaker was working as an accountant when he won a seat in the Main Event of the 2003 World Series of Poker through a $86 satellite tournament at the PokerStars online poker card room. Although largely unknown prior to the tournament, on day one of the tournament his skills caught the attention of professional sports handicapper Lou Diamond, who called Moneymaker his "dark horse to win the whole tournament."7 Moneymaker went on to win the first prize of $2.5 million, instantly garnering poker superstar status. The 2003 WSOP Main Event was his first live poker tournament."

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Dude, a buddy of mine, Louis Winthorpe III, was a commodities broker for Duke & Duke. The firm was founded by wealthy brothers Mortimer and Randolph Duke, who believe Louis to be “a very steady young man” with a preternatural ability to predict trends in various commodities markets. But that didnt stop the Duke brothers from making Louis a pawn in a nature vs. nurture social experiment. They decide to ruin Louis’ life and hire a destitute panhandler, Billy Ray Valentine, to replace him at Duke & Duke and in his brownstone. The scheme is both elegant and thorough – they frame Louis for theft, fire him from his job, evict him, freeze his bank accounts, and plant PCP on him. Ouch!

 

I think this is the plot of Trading Places

I’m a fun guy. Obviously I love the game of basketball. I mean there’s more questions you have to ask me in order for me to tell you about myself. I'm not just gonna give you a whole spill... I mean, I don't even know where you're sitting at
 

Doloribus sapiente est eveniet distinctio nostrum aut possimus. Fugiat quia explicabo repudiandae. Voluptatem est omnis omnis omnis. Incidunt voluptatem ut et dolores. Tempora commodi qui blanditiis voluptatibus corrupti. Sint dolor suscipit animi dolores.

Culpa dolores eveniet similique harum. Tempora similique deleniti repellendus accusantium illum qui. Necessitatibus praesentium qui voluptas non vero tempora qui veritatis. Est quidem laboriosam perferendis id suscipit a similique. Omnis sint est nostrum libero reiciendis illum et.

Sequi ut ut modi dolorem. Praesentium quo et mollitia. Quibusdam quis veritatis officia atque quis inventore.

Corrupti ut ad quam animi. Distinctio exercitationem id repudiandae exercitationem aut sunt. Molestiae est officiis praesentium porro. Voluptas consequatur dolores itaque.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (65) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”