[19 / 7 / 10]
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>It was once the most popular boy’s name in France, inspired in part by Hollywood films and boybands. But for the more than 150,000 French Kevins, the name has become so targeted by mockery, comic sketches and class prejudice that a new documentary is hoping to set the record straight and “save the Kevins”.
>“I was at a friend’s wedding and when the mayor read out the groom’s middle name, Kevin, the simple mention of it sparked massive laughter from the guests – that’s what made me want to do something,” said Kevin Fafournoux, who has crowdfunded a film project called Save the Kevins.
>“Some of the accounts are really hard,” he said. “A psychologist called Kevin hesitated about putting his first name on the professional sign outside his building, in case it put off clients from coming to see him. I heard from Kevins who had their first name raised in job interviews as if it was an issue. Professionals in senior positions – a neuroscience researcher, a doctor – said they had noticed it was harder to be taken seriously.”
>“One Kevin told me if he put his real name on a dating app profile he didn’t get matches, but when he put a different first name he did.”
>In France, when Kévin Pfeffer, 32, and Kévin Mauvieux, 30, were elected to parliament in June the leftwing weekly L’Obs wrote that it was a remarkable “historic first” in France that someone named Kevin had reached the national assembly. “What was troubling was that their first names were worthy of an article,” Fafournoux said.
>“I was at a friend’s wedding and when the mayor read out the groom’s middle name, Kevin, the simple mention of it sparked massive laughter from the guests – that’s what made me want to do something,” said Kevin Fafournoux, who has crowdfunded a film project called Save the Kevins.
>“Some of the accounts are really hard,” he said. “A psychologist called Kevin hesitated about putting his first name on the professional sign outside his building, in case it put off clients from coming to see him. I heard from Kevins who had their first name raised in job interviews as if it was an issue. Professionals in senior positions – a neuroscience researcher, a doctor – said they had noticed it was harder to be taken seriously.”
>“One Kevin told me if he put his real name on a dating app profile he didn’t get matches, but when he put a different first name he did.”
>In France, when Kévin Pfeffer, 32, and Kévin Mauvieux, 30, were elected to parliament in June the leftwing weekly L’Obs wrote that it was a remarkable “historic first” in France that someone named Kevin had reached the national assembly. “What was troubling was that their first names were worthy of an article,” Fafournoux said.
