In leadership roles within the S&P 500, a small group of common male first names appears more frequently than entire demographic groups of diverse leaders. This data point connects to the Name the Bias campaign, awarded at Cannes Lions 2025, which found that people with ethnically diverse names must send 60% more applications to receive a job interview. Together, these findings provide additional context for understanding representation imbalances in corporate leadership.
Analysis
Across S&P 500 executive and board positions, 746 leaders share the first names John, David, or Michael. This figure exceeds the total number of Asian, Black, and Hispanic women leaders combined, which stands at 694.
Looking at individual names reveals similar trends. There are 293 leaders named John, surpassing the 253 Asian women in leadership. Likewise, 241 leaders named Michael outnumber the 255 Hispanic leaders of any gender.
Patterns also emerge in surnames. There are 119 leaders with the last name Williams, compared to 115 Asian women on boards.
These findings mirror previous Denominator insights. For example, in the UK, Denmark, Netherlands, and Norway, countries with reputations for advancing gender equality, there are more male CEOs named Peter, Lars, or Arne than female CEOs combined. In North America, there are more senior executives named Michael than minority women CEOs.
Conclusion
These statistics illustrate recurring patterns where a small set of common names appears more frequently in leadership than entire demographic groups.
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