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.

How on earth can we judge if it's cruel if we don't know what the name is?
I've known a John Lewis, a Michael Jackson, a Kenneth Williams and a Fiona Bruce. No cruelty from those parents.

I used to know a Jack Daniels. And a Jack Jacks. The mind boggles... ANY other name would have been better.

I taught a John Thomas but I don't think the parents understood the joke

Went to school with a Russell Grant. We did ask for our horoscopes

I used to know someone with exactly the same name as a very famous film star from the golden age of Hollywood. Common surname but an unusual first name. Think along the lines of, eg, Cary Grant, Clark Gable or Rock Hudson. Not a name you’d have as a mere coincidence.

His dad - who would have been born at the height of this actor’s fame - was also called that. So presumably he hadn’t found it too much of a burden. Either that or he hated his son.

I know of a woman who called her dd Tia Maria and yes, she was deliberately named after the drink..

I worked with someone called Vicky Pollard. She must have liked it as it was her married name and she'd being divorced for a while.

I think it's strange but each to there own

We had people warning us that our daughter would get grief for her name as her (beautiful) first name was similar to the last name of an extremely famous actor and our last name was the same as his first name. I remember getting a funny look at the baby clinic when her name was called out last name first but apart from that, no issues at all. Our rationale was that he was a very old man when she was born and the name would become much less familiar by the time she was grown. This proved to be the case.

Ds went to nursery with a girl called Lara Croft. She’d be 18 now. I think the dad must have been involved in choosing the name.

I know it's fictional, but I keep thinking about Neil the Baby - ie Neil Noel Edmund Rogers

Also different, but after DC joined a new school in year 5 his ice breaker moment was the day the school football team returned from their fixture in a nearby town to announce they'd played his Forename Surname Academy. It was like 5 mins of fame that helped him bond with new classmates.

I knew a Roger Moore - lovely guy, too old to have been named after the famous one. It wasn't a problem except if you had to introduce him it was best to omit the surname.

''Twas ever thus.

i'm surprised a 'teacher' finds this noteworthy, there arefar worse names

Years ago I had a student named Clint. I thought it was an odd name, until eventually I worked out where it came from (Clint Eastwood). Obviously I am old, and my knowledge popular culture is almost non-existent. This is not really relevant to the thread but it popped into my head when I read the post. It does make me remember that student, he was nothing like his parents' hero though.

I taught a Sherlock Holmes. The best was Nicholas Balls…

I’m a teacher, this isn’t that unusual. I know a Lara Croft whose parents named her purposefully knowing the character as they were both gamers who met gaming online. I know a Harvey Nicholls whose parents had never heard of the shop. I also know a Sam Smith who was named before the singer came to fame; you never know whether someone with the same name as your child will become famous in the future. It may not have been purposeful to give the child the name of someone famous or their may be a story behind it, maybe the famous persons song was their wedding dance for example.

It means Aunt Mary….

I know a Paul Newman.

If the person was well known at the time of the child's birth, then probably.

The unkindness I will often comment on is adopting an unconventional spelling, as this leads to a child having to spend a lifetime correcting it.

I also worked with a Peter Cook. He must be in his late 60s by now. And a Richard Whittington. He was a bit of a knob tbh. I know a John Lewis. My favourite one was a lad called Tom Baker. Brilliant name. He must be mid 20s now. None of his contemporaries had a clue who Tom Baker was, but all his teachers had a little smile to themselves.

When I worked in a school, I taught a girl with a name the same as an iconic famous person. The kids didn’t give her stick because the famous person was way before their time but the adults were 🤨

I always used to smile when seeing an elderly lady that was local to us, her name was Alice Cooper, a lovley name, but a million miles from the rock star.

Also used to work with a neil Young, around the same age so obviously not named after him

I mean...why would you do that?? 🤷🏻‍♀️
It's not funny, even for a moment.

The Kray twins were fucking awful, and i'm from the East End, and my Nan told me that the whole twaddle that 'they never went after their own' was absolute bollocks.

I can only assume that those parents liked the Tom Hardy film.

Had a Will Smith in my class, back at the height of his fame. Everyone thought it was funny including him. Especially when there was a supply teacher who asked his name and everyone laughed pre-emptively so when he said his name was Will Smith she didn't believe him and asked for his real name.

Clint Eastwood has been a well known actor since the late 50s, though.
He was in Rawhide.

His name isn't a fly-by-night 'Zac Efron', or 'Harry Styles'.

I had a colleague whose name was unremarkable until a person with exactly the same name committed a major terrorist atrocity.

I was at school with a Raphael (his Dad was Spanish), and we had a teacher who didn't believe that was genuinely his name.
The TMNT came out after he was named.

I had a colleague who taught James Bond. And Michael Jackson. Which is probably worse tbh. Wonder if the parents just didn’t think - they are all pretty common names individually after all. Hmmmm James, that’s a nice name !!!