A woman whose name becomes "s.hart" when shortened in email addresses has warned parents to think twice before naming their kids.<br /><br />Sam Hart, 27, has had the unfortunate fate of her name being shortened to "s.hart" in all her company email addresses.<br /><br />The issue led to many uncomfortable email exchanges with HR and has made her fear for her employability.<br /><br />This has pushed Sam, a communications professional, to urge parents to consider carefully how they name their children.<br /><br />Sam, from Richmond, Virginia, USA, said: "I think parents should think about it and run different formulas. <br /><br />"They should think about monograms, initials, think about all that stuff."<br /><br />Sam didn't realise her full name became "shart" when shortened until her parents got her custom license plate as a gift.<br /><br />Sam said: "I was in high school and I got a vanity plate as a nice gift from my parents.<br /><br />"I drove the car to school and my boyfriend pulled me aside and said: 'You know what that means, right?' I was mortified"<br /><br />The shortening of Sam's name using the first letter of her first name and her surname is very common in the United States. <br /><br />In every job she has had so far, Sam had to discuss changing her email address. <br /><br />This has led to multiple embarrassing emails from prospective employers, with some even changing her email address.<br /><br />Sam said: "At my first job, in 2019, I was working in communications at a local government.<br /><br />"I got a very polite email from HR saying: 'This is how we structure our emails but I don't think it's right for you, do you mind if we change yours?'"<br /><br />"The job I currently have were saints.<br /><br />"I sent them an email about it and it's not a lovely thing to bring up, it's a bit embarrassing, and they had to back and change my details.<br /><br />"They were lovely, they said: 'Oh! we didn't realise.' They changed my email, my log-ins, everything."<br /><br />Sam doesn't believe it has affected her employability so far but she has worried that it would at some point.<br /><br />She said: "I have worried about it. I don't want to seem unprofessional by having the conversation. It's gross."
