To think this is cruel from the parents? Child's name

[BePoliteOpalQuail]

Recently been teaching in secondary schools and met a kid with the exact same name as a very well-known and and iconic male celebrity, along the lines of Brad Pitt, Harry Styles, Zac Efron.

I imagine the kid gets a lot of stick. A little divided by it, it's cool but the kid will forever be getting comments on it and I just don't think it's fair on them.

I know a Holly Day. Not sure what her parents were thinking.

I went to high school with a Will Smith at the height of his fame. We did all call him the Fresh Prince but he seemed to get through school otherwise unscathed.

I knew a Graham Taylor (I think he was a cricketer at the time) and a Rosemary West. Both named before their namesakes became (in) famous.
Both chose to change their names as soon as they were 18, which tells you something.

He discouraged shortening to ‘Mike’ l presume !!

Come on @BePoliteOpalQuail you know you need to just tell us the name.

Ha! Alas not.

I do know that Lord-Tennysons, but they called their DS Kyle.

Many years ago I came across siblings called John Ross, Bobby and Suellen.

they must have had a childhood of sniggers and eye rolls

probablly not a thing now though

I am in my 50s went to school with a lad called Phil Collins and it was the very height of uncool.

Yes to your last point — a character in a Richard Osman novel who needs to disappear, having faked her own death, changes her name to Alice Cooper for the same reason.

I knew a Peter Cook once, he was always being asked how Dudley was.

Mum was pregnant watching Dallas. I can remember a few girls called Jenna after Jenna Wade.
Suella Braverman was originally named Sue Ellen Braverman as her mum was a huge Dallas fan!

Yeah if the person was famous when the child was name , it’s a silly idea.

I know a 4 year old Harry Styles.

Which is funny to me, as both his parents are full on goths and about as far from a Harry Styles fan as you can get.

😳

If born after the murdering spree, what were the parents thinking?

It was self inflicted by the teacher so not the same as being given the name

But not the surname.

I went to school with an Audrey Hepburn. This was in the 60's.

"Could be worse; I know someone who shares a name with a murderer"
🤣

I imagine being called James Bond could quickly get old.

Wouldn’t mind being called Hot Cross Bun though - it’s cute and nicer than my name which I don’t like. Also sounds like it should be on The Masked Singer.

I taught a Harry Potter who was a couple of years older than the first book. He was normally ok about it. However, once we came back to Heathrow from a school trip and other kids spotted Gary Oldman in baggage retrieval at T3. They ran over to get an autograph and told him we had Harry Potter with us, whereupon he told them to fuck off. I ended up going over as I was wearing a group polo shirt so he could see it was a school party and he was actually nice but said he gets it all the time blah blah and sorry for swearing. I called Harry over and he showed GO his passport. GO burst out laughing, said it was the first proper HP he'd ever met and posed for a gazillion selfies with all the students (including DD1 who was absolutely thrilled).

We thought we had the best celeb story, but the other half of the group was on a later flight and one colleague ended up being upgraded to 1st class and sat next to Nigella.

I used to be a carer and one of my ladies was Naomi Campbell. Never married so was her maiden name. She was at least 30 years older than the more famous one though!!

I know a child called Harrison George. Not George Harrison. Parents genuinely didn't realise until child was 3!

I think it depends on who the celeb is. There will be thousands of Michael Jacksons out there, as both common names.

If it was more along the lines of Myra Hindley where the first name isn't all that common, it'd be different.

I was at school with a Lois Lane. Which had to be deliberate cos you don't meet many Lois's. I felt it was a bit cruel. At least Harry Potter is two fairly common names, though I think anyone doing that should also think twice.

I know a Harry Potter who was born and named long before the books were published but that's not the same.

I work with a David Bowie. He was named after his dad who was born long before David Robert Jones of Brixton in 1947.