To think it’s weird to say that a child will be bullied because of his or her name?

[CruCru]

I’ve noticed quite a few baby names threads where someone has said that if a child was named <NAME> round their way, they would get beaten up daily.

Really? I know that there’s some variation across the UK but I’m amazed if anyone would hold it against a child that their parents chose to name them Ptolemy / Nigel / Crispin.

Kids will bully ( not necessarily beat up ) for many reasons - and yes names can be one reason - anything that marks the child out as a bit different to the local norm

I agree with you. I'm sure plenty of kids called Olivia and Harry get bullied, despite having really common names. Bullies will find something to make fun of. Kids don't generally have associations about names, or care if someone has a name thats posh/a TV character/a word.

The only except perhaps, would be kids whose names are obviously "funny" words. Like in England a name like Poonam might get a few laughs from kids.

Kids will bully. They'll pick something. But an unusual name gives them an easy target.

I know someone who was bullied for his name because they changed one letter to make a rude word. I doubt the parents even thought it would happen. Kids can be cruel.

This. It's naive to think otherwise.

Don't give your child a ridiculous name.

Of course kids get bullied for their name, I was bullied for mine and it’s a pretty normal name! But people use to add things onto it to make it into something else

Of course they will. My names rhyme with willy and smelly. I was X willy smelly Y the whole of primary school. DS’s name rhymes with a version of toilet. His TEACHER made up his nickname and called him DS-toilet. The same teacher also made a nickname for DD connected to her name. Funnily enough we removed DC from that school.

I don't think kids get bullied because of their name, I think bullies choose kids to pick on and might then use their name as part of that.

There were kids at my school with entirely normal names, but the bullies wanted to pick on them, so they made up nicknames for them that had nothing to do with what they were actually called.

If Nigel is popular at school, noone will pick on him for his name. If Nigel is not popular, his name becomes part of the ammunition.

Basically, kids are going to get bullied no matter what their name is, but if they have an unusual name that is what they will be bullied about instead of something else.

As a teacher I've seen children get bullied because of their name. It does happen, sadly.

I think nails it.

I think it's more weird to make the assumption that they WON'T be bullied. It's not inevitable, but it's a very real prospect.

This. You managed to word itmuch better than what I would have written.

I don't think kids get bullied because of their name, I think bullies choose kids to pick on and might then use their name as part of that.

Agree with this. I had a colleague whose surname was Hartley. He used to avoid saying it whenever possible and would rant when people addressed him as Mr Hartley rather than by his first name.

I asked him about it once and he said it was because Hartley was such an awful humiliating name to have and anyone making a point of using it was obviously taking the piss. I said that I couldn’t understand that at all- Hartley is a perfectly nice name, absolutely nothing wrong with it. And then he told me that, ask a child, he’d been bullied by kids who used to call him Hartley’s Jam. He had completely internalised the idea that his name was somehow humiliating. It was a real lesson for me in the long term effects of bullying.

If a bully wants to pick on someone’s name, they will, even if it’s the most boring inoffensive name imaginable. The fault is with the bully, not the name.

I know that there’s some variation across the UK but I’m amazed if anyone would hold it against a child that their parents chose to name them Ptolemy / Nigel / Crispin.

But children aren't thinking "well, it's not their fault their parents called them that, I probably shouldn't comment" they're just thinking "haha silly name!"

Of course children get bullied for other reasons, and of course plenty of children with unusual names don't get bullied, but it's naive to think that kids in the playground won't ever pick up on a funny/unusual/rude-sounding name and make a thing of it.

The only Ptolemy I have known was called Tolly by everyone and was a very popular pleasant boy.