The Impact of Name Age Perception on Job Recommendations in LLMs

Mahammed Kamruzzaman, Gene Louis Kim


Abstract
Names often carry generational connotations, with certain names stereotypically associated with younger or older age groups. This study examines implicit age-related name bias in LLMs used for job recommendations. Analyzing six LLMs and 117 American names categorized by perceived age across 30 occupations, we find systematic bias: older-sounding names are favored for senior roles, while younger-sounding names are linked to youth-dominant jobs, reinforcing generational stereotypes. We also find that this bias is based on perceived rather than real ages associated with the names.
Anthology ID:
2025.findings-acl.778
Volume:
Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2025
Month:
July
Year:
2025
Address:
Vienna, Austria
Editors:
Wanxiang Che, Joyce Nabende, Ekaterina Shutova, Mohammad Taher Pilehvar
Venue:
Findings
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
Note:
Pages:
15033–15058
Language:
URL:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/display_plenaries/2025.findings-acl.778/
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Mahammed Kamruzzaman and Gene Louis Kim. 2025. The Impact of Name Age Perception on Job Recommendations in LLMs. In Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2025, pages 15033–15058, Vienna, Austria. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
The Impact of Name Age Perception on Job Recommendations in LLMs (Kamruzzaman & Kim, Findings 2025)
Copy Citation:
PDF:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/display_plenaries/2025.findings-acl.778.pdf