School staff - tell me the names of your loveliest pupils.

[GladysGeorgina]

I often read on MN about names associated with “naughty’ children or unpleasant behaviour. What about the opposite? If you work in a school/ nursery what are the names of children you remember for being particularly kind or helpful or resilient or hardworking?
I particularly remember a resilient Matthew, a hardworking Susanna, a kind Harrison and a helpful Phillip. Over to you…..

Even then….”I’m Jimmy’s mother, and somebody claiming to be his teacher Mrs Smith posted on Mumsnet that he was lovely. How dare she”.

Or maybe “Mrs Smith said on MN that Jimmy Jones is lovely, and didn’t say a word about how lovely my Sophie-Mae is. Sophie-Mae, who reads MN baby name threads all the time despite only being 6, is devastated.”

I remember Melissa (with no affection) . A colleague once remarked that the name means "Little Bee"

...so appropriate.

I work in a school. Your comment is melodramatic, ridiculous and inaccurate.

We aren’t giving out full names and/or any personal details. We are just stating first names.

Don’t get offended just for the sake of it. Ridiculous.

My favourite students are Max (just SO cute!), a Nicole (funny and wise) and a Jay (who is a girl, and the name is a nickname but I can’t say her full first name as it’s so rare I think she might actually be the only one, and that WOULD be outing!)

Well if you come up with DS's name, then Id say its a fair bet, you are talking about him and you are only one of four teachers. That might make it pretty outing.

DS is one of only 7 kids born with the name in England and Wales who are school age.

Not so much for Oliver or Noah though...

But this thread probably will show something of a bias for 'good solid, classic' boring middle class names rather than double barrelled ones, unusual spellings or names regarded as more 'chavvy'.

Chelsea , Dylan and Alfie - all so gentle, patient and kind to their peers .
Rayaan - cheeky and full of fun .
Ruby - so helpful and calm .
Layla- joyful and caring , a friend to everyone.

Its the unintended problem of culturally different / socially 'lower class' names not being able to be shared because they are much more identifying.

Its the OP living in a middle class bubble who hasn't really given much thought about this. I know the OP is trying to be nice, but I think the thread will only serve to reinforce a fair number of these expected stereotypes of names.

People CANT post more unusual names so all we will get here is a list of 'safe' names which then push stereotypes about a certain type of name - which in themselves influence how people treat and react to these children.

Freakonomics is the best known work on how we have biases to names, and how they might influence your life opportunities (in various - and sometimes unexpected - ways) but its not the only one.

Its part of the whole vibe of 'you never be a high court judge if you are named Trixy-Rose' snobbery that goes on in middle class circles which I find really depressing.

Its the unintended problem of culturally different / socially 'lower class' names not being able to be shared because they are much more identifying.

How is a name like Princess, Olu, Olamide, Ife, Megan, Caleb, Isaiah, Gabriel (or Mason, Jaxxon, Denim, Ziggy, Merab, Macius, Kaspar, Niamh, Ali, Jalil, Marvellous, Priscilla, Lacie, Lily, Rhianna, Chloe, Madison/Maddisyn, Jan, Jamie, Sean, Ruby or thousands more) far more identifying? Some of them are unisex, some are male names in one location, female in others, some could be preferred names rather than full versions - when somebody who has been teaching for 20 years could have easily met over 8000 children in that time and worked in multiple schools in different locations, it's impossible to identify anybody.

It's an anonymous forum with no identifying personal details being discussed. It's simply a first name so not sure why it's inappropriate.

May feel judgemental perhaps but that's a different thing.

Right. I'm evening things up.

Never taught a bad Ahmed. Always delightful and bright. I've taught two head boys with this name.

Aisha tends to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. Either completely wild, or quiet and diligent. Asmas are also never in the middle.

Different spellings of Mohamed also seems to have different vibes. Two m's are likely to be naughty. One m not.

Mustafa (all spellings) also tend to be absolutely lovely boys. Varying ability, but kind and helpful.

Tyron/Tyrone seems to also have a beautiful personality. Not always hard working, but I've only ever known boys with that name to be genuinely lovely people.

(I know I've included fewer girls' names- but I think these tend to be more individual or identifying)

I used to too.

One had a very unique name - Zillion.
His crime was publicly reported as was the prison he was in, so no breaking confidentiality.

Kind of breaking yours, though - you posted about him when you met him under another user name!

I have - lots of them!

Neverdropyourmooncup - my general name changes haven't really been from needing to remain anonymous in this sense. I've had numerous name changes over the 20 years I've been here. I use more than one at a time usually too, especially in more recent years since MN got so big,

Shows how even a direct connection to an incredibly unusual name doesn't identify everyone, doesn't it?!
😁

Viv and Never, I started by acknowledging the thread was clearly well-intentioned. I did notice a smattering of names more similar to those of the pupils I teach, I was definitely looking, but felt there was a wider point to be made about the majority of the names which were appearing.

RedToothbrush, I so appreciate your contributions wherever I find them. On some threads, I picture you as the Rory Stewart of MN; insightful, measured and incisive. Thought I'd leave that there ;)

I don't think people are identifying children with incredibly unusual names in here. They are selecting names with a trend (in their experience) so, by that very definition, it will be a name that matches several children they've known.

I've taught hundreds of children - well thousands infact - of all ages over the last 25+ years of teaching.

If I said that I believed girls named Grace were usually lovely - could that in anyway identify any specific Grace I have taught over those years? Of course not. I've taught dozens of them!

Scanning here looking for my child's name.....in vain 😂

A lot of badly behaved Joshua’s over the years… Sophie’s usually well behaved and lovely, Poppy’s that are a bit naughty, likewise Ben’s and too many with unusual outing names that I can’t possibly repeat here… some lovely; some a nightmare…😏

I've been teaching over 20 years, always in schools with very multicultural intakes and the children's names are reflective of this. I've never taught a Poppy, Ruby, Beatrice, Alice, Evie, Grace, Jessica, Megan, Harry, Toby, Emily, Isabelle, Ben, Max, Henry or Tom. Having done a quick Google, the first names of some of my most brilliant students are the only results on the first page or two so to mention them would be to identify the particular individual.

Thinking about it, I've taught multiple children named Ivy or Emmanuel who were fabulous. They're possibly the only two non-identifying names I can share.

I was horrendously bullied by a girl with the same name as me 🤷🏼‍♀️

Zillion is a very unique name! The crime so familiar, so many boys in for exactly the same thing, its awful.

Haha me too. Mine has one of the most common names but hasn't been listed on here yet😏

What a lovely post 💕

Bigpaimtinglittlepainting - I taught him over a decade ago, clearly he hasn't changed his way of life! I can only assume it's the same person as can't imagine many more people out there with the same name.