A marine engineer in India is still bearing the burden of his name after being refused a job some 40-odd times.

Saddam Hussain was given this name by his loving grandfather 25 years ago, but it looks like employers are loath to hire him – even if his name is marginally different – spelt Hussain, not Hussein.

Two years after passing out as a marine engineer from Tamil Nadu’s Noorul Islam University, Hussain says he has failed to find a job because of his namesake: the former Iraqi ruler, Saddam Hussein, who was executed in 2006.

“People are scared to hire me,” laments Hussain, who comes from Jamshedpur, in the eastern state of Jharkand. He has taken part in around 40 interviews with multinational shipping companies, and has been rejected by all of them. While fellow marine engineers around the world have secured employment, Hussain remains unemployed despite ranking second in his batch of 2014.

Hussain was unable to decipher why he was being rejected in the first six months.

“I then inquired with the HR departments of the companies and some of them told me my name was the problem,” he recounts. He was told that having a crew member with a name that arouses instant suspicion could be an operational nightmare, Hindustan Times reports.

His woes do not end with the name alone, as getting rid of it has been a bigger hurdle.

He went to court to become Sajid. He procured all relevant documents, including passport, voter ID and driving license, under the name.

Prospective employers ask for his educational certificates, but his university has refused to change the name until he got his Class 10 and 12 exam certificates changed first. He approached the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for a name change, but the authorities have not acted yet.

Another court hearing beckons on May 5, this time to force authorities to change the name on his secondary school certificates, after which his graduation papers will need ‍amending, the BBC reports.

What Sajid is going through might be a plight shared by many more Saddam Husseins in Iraq, who now feel cursed with a name that was originally given in tribute to the former leader who was later toppled, leaving behind a legacy as a brutal dictator.