Do You Need to Change Your Name to Find a Job in Norway?

Do You Need to Change Your Name to Find…

The Norwegian Arm Do You Need to Change Your Name to Find a Job in Norway?

By Dan Taylor – Comedy Writer on November 10, 2025When naming my first child, the most important criterion I could think of was that I didn’t want it to be something weird.You know, some name other children would make fun of. Like Jaffa Cake or Water Rat.Not that I was considering naming my child after a popular orange-jelly-topped, chocolate-covered bite-size cake or water-dwelling rodent. But you see my point.I didn’t want to make her stand out.I was aware of the possible consequences: to her social life, her professional life and, even though I didn’t want to think of it at the time and still don’t, to her eventual romantic life.So I chose a name that A) suited her and B) wouldn’t make her life a living hell.I wasn’t completely successful. I ended up choosing a name none of my family members can pronounce. But you can’t win them all.

Jaffa Cake Water Rat TaylorNames, it goes without saying, are important.Take Brad Pitt. I’m guessing the movies Seven and Fight Club would look a lot different if the Pitts had decided to call the apple of their eye Skidmark. I’m guessing Skidmark Pitt would be mopping floors as I write these words, wondering what his life would’ve been like if only his parents hadn’t named him after the stain left in your underwear after a full-throttle fart.Of course, Skidmark could’ve changed his name, and would’ve been wise to, before he headed West to try to make it in Hollywood. So maybe history might not be all that different in that scenario.Which brings us onto this week’s blog post topic: Whether you need to change your name to something Norwegian-sounding in order to increase your chances of getting a job in Norway.I’m a member of an ex-pat Facebook group. And over the years, I’ve witnessed a growing trend. Brits and people from other English-speaking countries are changing their surnames to some Norwegian goofball name in order to avoid what they perceive as discrimination in job hiring. Many report that after changing their surname they found greater success in the Norwegian job market.

“Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Gjermund Frøydis Hegeseth.”As I’m not in the habit of writing blog posts about the anecdotes of random strangers on social media, I hadn’t thought about addressing it.But then I came across an article featured in VG, a Norwegian tabloid newspaper, recommending the practice.It was only then that I took it seriously. As everybody knows that newspapers never publish anything that’s false.But on the off-chance the journalist is wrong and I’m not wasting my breath, I’ll offer my counterargument: it’s probably the dumbest thing you could ever do.It’s easy for me to say that, of course. I’m a multimillionaire author who’s currently writing this post as I lay buck-ass nekkid on the deck of my yacht, being fed grapes by a waitstaff made up of bikini-clad underwear models.So I get it. It’s pretty rich coming from a man who employs someone with the sole job of shielding him from seagull poop.But even if I weren’t a multimillionaire author, I’d still hold that opinion.Why?I’m glad you asked. Let me just chew and swallow this latest mouthful of grapes and I’ll explain.

“Is that Skidmark Pitt over there on that yacht?”Let me start by saying the opinion that some immigrants hold about the existence of discriminatory hiring practices in Norway is probably true. There probably are some pieces of shit out there who click applications right into their digital trashcans upon reading that the applicant’s name isn’t Norwegian.But they’re likely few and far between.And for every employer who excludes immigrants, they’ll exist his antithesis. The Superman to his Lex Luther: the employer who sees people with world views unique to Norway as something to be embraced and welcomed into their workplaces.What I’m saying is, while your exotic surname might be rejected by some, it will work in the opposite fashion to others: it will highlight you as a candidate of interest.Even if it weren’t true, I’d still think it a really shitty idea to change your surname to something Norwegian.Here’s why: it’s ridiculous.Imagine a scenario where you get an interview because you changed your surname to something like Peterson or Solbakken. The problem, of course, is that you’d have to actually attend the interview.You wouldn’t make it past the conversation where the interviewers ask if you’d like a cup of coffee before being sniffed out as a phony.There they were expecting a native to turn up to the interview, and here you are, speaking Norwegian in a thick Glaswegian accent.Is there a chance that you could wow them and get the gig? There is, but it’s a slim one. It would be an uphill battle after such a jarring start.You might as well have turned up to the interview wearing a Batman costume after changing your name to Bruce Wayne.

“Um, Bruce, can I have a word with you in my office?”The last thing an employer wants is a phony in their workplace. Every hire requires a lot of trust on the part of the employer. Especially in the post-Covid world of remote working.I don’t know about you, but I’d be less inclined to trust someone who’d change their name to something native, in order to receive employment opportunities. Seems like the kinda employee who might spend their Friday afternoon home office time washing clothes and regrouting the downstairs bathroom floor.Here’s the last reason, and it’s a big one: your surname matters.My dad worked long stretches in Japan, for some car manufacturer. While he was out there, he drank saki among locals, spending that time either singing Las Vegas-lounge-standard karaoke or arm wrestling long lines of Japanese men. His record? An unbeaten one.He and, by extension, his surname are a badge of honorfor me. There’s no way I’d disloyally change my surname just to whore myself out to some Norwegian corporation who could and would replace me the moment I stepped a foot wrong.Your dad might not be able to sing like Frank Sinatra and have upper-body strength superior to that of most Japanese men—at least when they’re shitfaced on saki—but your surname means something, anyway.And if it doesn’t, make it mean something.Your national identity is something to be proud of. Not something to be hidden just so you can get a gig as chief quality control officer at some salmon-packing plant.Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to follow The Norwegian Arm. And if you laughed out loud at least three times, don’t forget to feel mildly obligated to share this post with your friends on social media.

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