Using surname initial to distinguish between two children with almost same name - almost!

[NewLookings]

Am I being very precious about this? My child has just started big school and is one of two children with a name that is pronounced the same but spelled differently.

I get that verbally they will need to be distinguished by their surname eg Bob A and Bob B. But when written down, is it really necessary? This is not the name but is a close likeness:

Juliet
Juliette

In everything, I have noticed my child’s is referred to as Juliet A and the other Juliette B. Surely this isn’t needed? Her tray, her work on the wall, her name on the class whatsapp group etc etc always with the surname initial.

I KNOW I’m being a bit precious. I know this. And yes, I’m disappointed there’s another one as it’s not a very common name.

AIBU to think there is a difference here because of the different spelling?

@NewLookings

But titchy that assumes parents know which is which surname. If they can learn that part, why not learn the different spelling instead?

Honestly I'm not overly concerned with learning how to spell other people's kids names. So I'd know your child as Juliette A & register the difference in spelling on a piece of artwork on the wall but wouldn't care past that as long as I could identify which classmate my kid was talking about.

Ridiculously precious. You are THAT parent.

We had two girls with the same first name and surname initial so they were full-named all through school.

So do our art teacher got mixed up constantly between Kerry and Kelly so said to them ins day ‘ok you are number 1 and you are number 2!’ She stuck with it all the way through the year. I was the only one at primary and secondary with my first name.

I don’t know why you are even bothered by this your child will not be bothered by it either one little bit. You are being precious yes Parents like you really are a pain in the but for teachers they just want to get on and do their job without parents nit picking at every little pointless thing

[quote Fink]@viques, Terry Pratchett does something similar with some characters in a Discworld novel. The man has two sons, both named after himself, so he calls them 2A and 2B to distinguish between them. And obviously causes a lot of puns.[/quote]
@fink

Pyramids?

A bit off topic, but how have you seen her name on anything in school as I didn't think any schools were letting parents into the buildings.

@NewLookings

It's a method to make things easier in class, simple as that

But for art work on the wall? They didn’t need to surname that, did they?

Juliette does a brilliant painting which goes on the wall in the class and has Juliette at the bottom. Bob sees it and goes to tell Juliet he loves it because he knows Jul is the start of Juliette/Juliet and guesses which one it is. If the surname initial is there bob gets it right. The

The man has two sons, both named after himself, so he calls them 2A and 2B to distinguish between them.

Come now, stop swinging the lead.

@Bellevu

Yes. Ptaclusp, of Ptaclusp Associates, Necropolitan Builders to the Dynasties.

Amelia and Emilia are pronounced differently for a start. I have an Emilia! Lucky if any teachers staff or friends ever bloody spell it right. But that's beside the point. Using a surname initial to differentiate pupils with the same or similar names has been done forever and is the most practical way to do it. I think you ate way over thinking this.

Have we figured out why on Earth anyone would care about this yet?

YABU, because the children don't know which one's work is which without the surname initial; they are not likely to remember which child is spelled which way (and nor might the teacher unless they associate the initial with it).

[quote Fink]@Bellevu

Yes. Ptaclusp, of Ptaclusp Associates, Necropolitan Builders to the Dynasties. [/quote]
@fink

Creators of the most lucrative tax system ever??

The naming of the multiple Mohammed's and James inevitably reminds me of the NacMacFeegles - No'-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock for instance.

It could be worse, OP.

Lewis and Louis are pronounced differently.

Louis can be pronounced Lewis or Lou-ee.

You should have just done like we did OP and given your DD a really unique name that people on MN have called “chavvy” on the name threads ;)

(I really don’t see the issue. It’s not like they’re mangling it into a nickname you hate, or adding on some other moniker.. your DDs name is Juliette B presumably and they are using it. What is the problem???)

My sons class has three boys of the same name. Obviously a bit of an issue. One boy has a hypenated name so you'd think it would mean only 2 have the 'sane name' alas... (not real name) Conor, Conor and Conor-James.... except my childs middle name is James as is the other Conor... so there are literally 3 boys with the same name. They are now exclusively either known as their surname at school, or Conor (initial) It's cobfusing for everyone including us!!! Not precious at all about it, infact I find it funny really. Just to clarify as well at my sons previous school he was the only one with his name. We moved house and school to a tiny village school and 3 in a class What are the odds

They are doing their best to teach your child.

I used to work in an office mainly occupied by Steves. They were all known as Steve Surname. One day they brought some job candidates round for their second interview and introduced them all to us - in a "this is X, they've come for the interview for the job." One of them was called Steve and all the other Steves were so much nicer to him saying he'd fit right in

I teach two children in the same dance class with the same name (let's say, Nicola). One has always gone by her full name and the other uses an abbreviated version say 'Nicki'. After 5 years of dance class the mum of the other girl (who was VERY adamant that we do not shorted her daughter's name when she was younger) has now started calling her daughter 'Nicki' as well, but we have kept it the same in dance class using her full name and she hasn't complained as of yet. Until last year we also had a 3rd 'Nicola' in the class, who went by a different abbreviation.

Shorten, not shorted!

Could be worse we had a Johannes, a Joanna, a Johanne plus a Joseph in our class who all wanted to be called Jo(e), so it was JoeA JoeC, JoH and JoW, worked fine for the 5 years we were together.

I loved the Mohammeds as well! And Tuay- my brother has friends who were nicknamed like that and it makes me smile.

Given that people I’ve worked with for 15 years can’t remember which spelling of my name I have, I don’t hold out much hope for teachers with a new batch of kids every year!

At work we have over 10 people at least with my (common 70s and 80s) first name. We are delineated universally by our surnames or job titles. One office I worked in there, everyone apart from me had the same first name!

Could be worse we had a Johannes, a Joanna, a Johanne plus a Joseph in our class who all wanted to be called Jo(e), so it was JoeA JoeC, JoH and JoW, worked fine for the 5 years we were together.

If JoeC was a man, I wonder how happy he was to be called (effectively) Josie?! I feel sorry for JoW, and indeed anybody in this scenario with a surname starting with 'W' - you shorten your name to one simple, snappy syllable, and then it gets (verbally) quadrupled in length!

I used to work in an office mainly occupied by Steves

We had Loads of Daves. They were known by their initials, so we had DH, DC, DT. Amused me no end.