The Impact of Name Age Perception on Job Recommendations in LLMs

ACL ARR 2025 February Submission5410 Authors

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.

Paper Type: Short

Research Area: Ethics, Bias, and Fairness

Research Area Keywords: model bias/fairness evaluation

Contribution Types: Model analysis & interpretability, NLP engineering experiment

Languages Studied: English

Submission Number: 5410