No one's giving a job to Saddam Hussain: Namesake of Iraqi dictator goes to court for new identity

What’s in a name, Shakespeare once asked. Quite a bit, Saddam Hussain, a 25-year-old marine engineer from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, might venture. For it seems no one is willing to hire him. Never mind that his name is spelled differently (albeit only slightly) than the brutal  Iraqi dictator who terrorised millions of his fellow countrymen until he was toppled by the United States in 2003 and hung in 2006. [caption id=“attachment_3343154” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A boy holds a picture of late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. File photo. Reuters[/caption] According to a report in Hindustan Times, Hussain, who was  lovingly named by his grandfather, has been handed over 40 rejection letters from various organisations since he graduated from Tamil Nadu’s Noorul Islam University over two years ago. Hussain seems crestfallen that prospective employers seem ‘afraid’ to hire him, despite ranking second in the 2014 batch. To make things worse, most of his peers have already secured employment around the globe. Hussain says, initially he could not figure out why his job search was going nowhere. “I then inquired with the HR departments of the companies and some of them told me my name was the problem,” he remembers. Hussain was told that having a crew member with a name that arouses instant suspicion could be an operational nightmare. BBC reported that Hussain has been trying to get around this problem by getting a new passport and a driving licence under the name Sajid. However, there was a flaw in his plan, as his education certificates still bore the name Saddam. The wheels of bureaucracy are turning slowly, and Hussain will be going to court on 5 May to get the authorities to change the name on his school certificates. After that, he’ll need to amend his graduation papers, too. While Hussain says he does not blame his grandfather, he feels that he is unjustly suffering for someone else’s crimes. Can’t argue there. So let this be a lesson to all you parents and grandparents-to-be. Shakespeare was wrong. Choose your childrens’ names wisely.