Women at Work: Name Styles and Job Level

The way a person styles his or her name seems to be related, not only to an individual's sex or marital status, but to his or her job. A study of 3,735 university employees' signatures suggests that the variations form a pattern related to the social structure in the university's work setting. One implication for good counseling and personnel practices is that name styles and titles may matter a great deal at employment levels at which other sources of recognition are limited.