Anyone else been made fun of because of their name/surname?

[Iamsocold888]

It’s a long, European surname. Once a man actually laughed down the phone at it when I had to give my name and address.

Working at a school, a lady asked me, “Really?! So do the kids call you miss _?!”
Well yeah, that is my name so..

Or in other jobs/school I’ve had people read out lists of full names but only read my first name.

Always remember a girl behind me in the lunch queue at school sniggering when my surname came up on the card machine.

Even in some jobs people have said, “Yeah, I’m just gonna call you by your first name.”

It used to get me down when I was younger but I realise it’s their problem. I have no issue with people asking how to pronounce it or commenting on how it’s different.

Anyone else had this? Just find people so rude sometimes.

@Karwomannghia

I started a temp job after uni in the uni fees office and was asked my name by the other staff. It’s quite unusual and people normally say that’s nice where’s that from, but one revolting woman’s first comment to me, and I had terrible social anxiety at that time, was “well that’s a stupid name”. I just kind of laughed, but looking back now I’m probably her age, I cannot ever imagine speaking to someone like that and I’d like to see her try now! It’s their problem if they laugh at you, imagine being that basic.

That's awful. How rude!

I had a surname that rhymed with a rude word and my first name has the initial of that word - Cathy Hock, for example. What the fuck my parents were thinking I have no idea and as much as my married name is a pain in the arse, inwas more than happy to change to it.

However - my kids go to a diverse school and have absolutely no problem with different names and surnames. They have teachers with long European surnames double barrelled with another long English surname - and cope fine. They have friends with names that would have been prime teasing fodder in the 80s and, again, nothing is said. They even have a teacher called Mr Witt and not once have they called him Mr Twit Kids these days, eh?

Oh yes, absolutely. My whole pre-married life I was teased for my maiden name. It's in a nursery rhyme (probably gives it away!) so I had that sung to me constantly, but in a mean nasty way. It was relentless.

My partner and childrens last name literally means disgusting, its very funny when i ring doctors etc and they ask ‘ what is child 1 name?, and is child 2 disgusting aswell?’ -“yes all my kids are disgusting” 😂 xx

Yes, I have always had people randomly singing out songs that have my name in it.

One particular dickhead at school used to say shit every.single.day.

I used to work with a woman who had a very long surname, and it was't immediately obvious how it should be pronounced. The rest of us used to make a point of using her full name when speaking with callers, to make it clear how it should be said. It requires little effort to learn how someone's name should be said, and is only polite.

Irish first name that nobody could pronounce growing up in London in the 70s & 80s. Other kids were fine once I told them how to pronounce it, but some adults were dreadful. I had several people say ‘I can’t say that, I’m just going to call you X instead’ (think my name is Siobhan, they call me Susan). Very rude and ignorant.

I hate my surname. I was mocked for it throughout childhood. When my partner and I had kids there wasn’t a split second of doubt in my mind when we gave them his perfectly unmockable, boring surname!!

She has to use her maiden name for email and social media as her surname is banned

See, whilst I despise anyone mocking a surname, this is where I wonder at women so hooked into patriarchal tradition that they change their name to something that is a slang rude word, and then pass it on to their kids. So many women on MN say they change their name in marriage to escape a name they don’t like…men seem to keep theirs and women take it on.

Anyway… like a PP my kids went to hugely diverse S London schools and are skilled at looking at names from Poland / E Europe, different African countries, Vietnam, China, S Asia, everywhere really, and familiar enough with the spelling and pronunciation patterns to get them right. And no one bothers with teasing or mocking. It would be considered really ignorant.

When dc told their friend my name they said well obviously it isn't that...

My maiden name rhymed with all sorts so that helped on high school Made worse when adults used to mispronounce it as one of the rhyming words. It wasn't even hard to say!

Yesterday DH and I caught the closing credits of Gogglebox and noticed that someone had the surname Huberty. We both said they would have had an awful time at school.

Oh yes, absolutely. My whole pre-married life I was teased for my maiden name. It's in a nursery rhyme (probably gives it away!) so I had that sung to me constantly, but in a mean nasty way. It was relentless.

I can never fathom why people find it so hilarious that they've identified a name that somebody has with the name in a song or something and then assume they must be quite the first person to ever have made that connection.

Not excusing it - absolutely not when nasty comments are made, though - when you can't help internally sniggering and have to bite your lip at meeting Mrs Smellie or Mr Bastard.... but to actually deem it witty and original to meet or somebody called Horner and start reciting a children's rhyme about Little Jack, or to meet somebody with the very unexotic name of Simon Smith and believe it will add to both of your life experiences by asking him where his amazing dancing bear is - that's the sort of thing a 3yo would find side-splitting, and in no way a 'cool' thing for an adult to use as a vehicle to demonstrate their incredible intelligence.

@ghostmouse

I had a capital city as my maiden name and was teased all throughout school. I stuck out like a sore thumb with this name, it was also banned on Facebook as we had to use ‘real surnames’ ffs it was my real bloody name.

I was so happy to ditch it when I got married. I now have another rare name but it doesn’t scream hello I’m unusual when you see it on paper

I've had something similar in a game I play. If I put the hyphen in it says "This can't be a real name!" Uh yes it is.

TBH though I think people who are so inclined can make up something mean about any name. There was a boy at school with the run-of-the-mill surname Williams who got called Willy-Bums.

Another one with a long, European surname.
My P3 teacher consistently mispronounced it (even though she had taught my older sister). And she always addressed me as Forename Surname, while all the other girls were just called Forename.
One day I refused to answer, and when she pulled me up, I said “that’s not my name. My name is X. My Daddy says I should tell people how to say my name, and if they then say it wrong, they are being rude”

Funnily enough, she got it right after that.

@BackBackBack

I used to work with a woman who had a very long surname, and it was't immediately obvious how it should be pronounced. The rest of us used to make a point of using her full name when speaking with callers, to make it clear how it should be said. It requires little effort to learn how someone's name should be said, and is only polite.

This. Yes we all come across names we aren’t familiar with. But a bit of patience and basic human empathy gets you a long way.

I have a "cultural/foreign" name, often people can't pronounce it but I've had so many compliments on it. I'd much rather be unique than have the same name as loads of my peers. Plus once you get into the world of work I meet so many people with names I've not heard of but are lovely.

Yes my English surname is mocked/mispronounced. I’m always asked to spell it out. A bit Annoying

Looking back I teased on my surname which was very ordinary. Didn't particularly bother me, it's unusual for a kid to not be teased about something at least once surely.

My partner and childrens last name literally means disgusting, its very funny when i ring doctors etc and they ask ‘ what is child 1 name?, and is child 2 disgusting aswell?’ -“yes all my kids are disgusting”

I once knew somebody who was born in Sale (Gtr Manchester) and had it on his official ID - driving licence and passport - and then he went to live in France. To be fair (as long as they weren't nasty about it), I don't think you could blame people for a little silent smirk when they see somebody's birth town as 'Dirty' !

I do use said ordinary surname in coffee shops etc as often I can't be bothered to spell out my first name or talk about it.

@Blueeyedgirl21

What is a ‘long European surname’ I’m confused it could literally be anything ?

Well, in my case it is a 10 letter name, that comes from a language with different conventions for pronunciation. So think “w” for “l”, “f” for “w” etc.

In a similar vein, I’ve heard non-Scots get really muddled over surnames like Farquharson or Cockburn.

Yep- combination of first initial and maiden surname. People would laugh in my face. I changed my surname when I got married but actually really miss it now, it was distinctive and it was mine.

Not my name but I had the shit ripped out of me when I was at school in France coz I had red hair. Nobody said a word when I came back and started school in the UK !

I was born & raised in London where different names weren't actually that different so maybe that's why it never bothered me.