Are children teased for their name on school?

[LizardOfOz]

I see on many threads the sentiment "don't call your child X , they'll be teased in school".

As a teacher for 15 years I have never heard a child's name being teased. At most it's an unwanted nickname eg Alex instead of Alexander. And never in a mean way. Just most Alexanders are called Alex.

What have other teachers/parents found

YABU : children are frequently teased for/about their name

YANBU : I have never heard of a child's name being teased by their peers either

I have a very unusual name. I've never met anyone with my name. It also rhymes with the name of an animal so I'd sometimes be called the name of this animal rather than my own name. A few times growing up I was teased about my name. Twice I was teased by teachers! But they did it in an affectionate way and I have a good sense of humour so didn't mind.
I was also teased/bullied in a much more personal way - people laughing at me, at the way I spoke, the fact I was so shy. This hurt me so much more than the gentle teasing about my name.

Kids might occasionally get teased for their names but it makes absolutely no difference whether it's a unusual name or a really common one.

For example, I was at school with twin brothers called Luke and Scott, which were completely ordinary and common names for boys at the time, but I still remember them getting called 'Puke and Snot' by anyone who wanted to wind them up. Also, there were about five boys called Ben in my year and I'm pretty sure every single one of them got called 'Benny' pretty often, which at the time was a playground insult inspired by the character of Benny from Crossroads.

Same. Secondary teacher of 12 years and never once heard of someone bullied for their name.

Once in my 40's ds told his mate my name... They were in secondary just..
"well it obviously isn't" was his response!!. Cheeky buggar!! Some of my dc have unusual names.. To my knowledge never had any negative reactions.

My brother was named Luke... at school in the 70/80s he got sooooooo fed up of the "I AM your father" comments. It was relentless. So I don't think it is always because of the chosen name, but often popular culture determines the tease of choice

Reyn Reyn go away
Come again another day

Happened to people I knew, in the 80s. Maybe times have changed a bit since then. I'd be wary of doing anything too wild and wacky that's not been thought through though.

there was one kid at school when I was in the early 90's. her name was Ita Peach and yes she got bullied for it.

Not something I am aware of now my kids are in school.

My maiden name was Durt
..so yes I got teased ...in the 1970s

This is exactly it, I think. It definitely happened when I was a child. But even then it was just something the bullies would pick on. It would have been something else if not the name. In all the time my kids were at school (DS1 started in 2006, one is still there) teasing over names just doesn't seem to happen anymore. They seemed confused when I asked them if it ever did - like it just hadn't occured to them that it might.

A little girl I once taught called Ayeshat was teased but didn't really understand why. An older boy at the same school was called Maiyoorin and bless him he decided to shorten it to Mai. This was primary so I dread to think what secondary was like for them.

We also had a little girl called Toto but she left us after Reception. I often wonder if she kept it or changed it.

My DC's name is close to "Isis" although that's not their actual name, and was at secondary during the time when all the news was about terrorism and Isis attacks. She was called Isis, terrorist, asked what she had in her backpack constantly for a year.

So my answer is yes - they do get teased for their name, but also there's nothing you can do to predict what names will elicit teasing.

They used to shout at me Sharon Brown went to town with her knickers hanging down when she got there her bum was bare when she got back her Bum was Brown... and Sharon Brown wears Brown underwear. Very silly and immature but as a kid I was gutted and so so Embarrased.

My friends daughter is Ophelia and gets quite a lot of "giz a feel a ya tits" sadly.

she still
likes her name

I knew a kid called Santiago kids used to call him santi-arse-hole.

I never understand when parents try to pre-empt teasing or even bullying by making their child conform.

Bullies will pick on literally anything, it doesn't have to make logical sense. You can't make your child bully-proof by giving them this name or dressing them in those clothes.

Depends entirely on the school. DD’s is very diverse (40% EAL children) so names are just names to them. No bullying at all.

Friend’s Dd at posh majority white children school yes names are a much bigger issue.

No. But you can mitigate some of it by giving them a normal name.

My daughter has a name from my home country. People generally don't know how to pronounce it but they try with English pronunciation rules, which is wrong. She needs to always tell how to pronounce it. Some pupils call her in the English way just to tease her.

She likes her name and the fact that it's different.

In my experience, yes, kids are teased for their names.

I'm a bethany

I was bear-fanny for years

my original surname is awful. I was fine in primary until one of the kids pointed it out that it was weird, then i used to cringe whenever i was called it, had to say it etc. not necessarily directly bullied by it but it did affect my self esteem and i wouldn’t put myself forwards for things because of that and the embarrassment of others hearing it!!!!!!

reflecting on this, i imagine parents mentioned it to their kids how weird it was and they jumped on it.

I was teased because of my surname.
Don't think my teachers ever overheard it. They seemed to think it was a good nick name.
It wasn't cruel. People thought it was funny. It was th first time.

My cousin is called Iman and kids used to shout "you're a man"

I have an unusual name which I have seen getting a no way on here. Never been bullied or teased. I think one kid has made a comment before but not persistent and didn't phase me