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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Supply Teacher giggling at name of child in class

257 replies

everythingflies · 09/08/2025 22:48

Is it very unprofessional for a supply teacher to start giggling when taking the register in a class which they have not taught in before, because one of the children's names is "Bourbon"? Supply teacher in question is normally very professional but couldn't help themselves when hearing the name of the child.

OP posts:
DustyDood · 10/08/2025 00:08

Are you in East London OP? We recently moved from there but it was very common to name DC's after favourite foodstuffs with charcuterie and biscuits being particularly on trend.

DD is named Saucisson (my choice).
DS is named HobNob (hubby's choice).

Sadly where we've moved to in the country people are much less open-minded and HobNob particularly has been subject to some horrific teasing. We've restored to calling him Nob for short, in an effort to spare the poor ducky.

Onlyhereforthebatshitneighbours · 10/08/2025 00:08

PoorUncleBarry · 09/08/2025 23:45

They tell people it's French 😂😂😂

😂

Skissors · 10/08/2025 00:09

Its a bit sad. My names Glenne Ma Angie and I've heard people snigger when registers are called. 😢

Screamingabdabz · 10/08/2025 00:10

Tbf some of these stupid names need to be publicly mocked.

TinyTempest · 10/08/2025 00:11

DustyDood · 10/08/2025 00:08

Are you in East London OP? We recently moved from there but it was very common to name DC's after favourite foodstuffs with charcuterie and biscuits being particularly on trend.

DD is named Saucisson (my choice).
DS is named HobNob (hubby's choice).

Sadly where we've moved to in the country people are much less open-minded and HobNob particularly has been subject to some horrific teasing. We've restored to calling him Nob for short, in an effort to spare the poor ducky.

I was saying the same thing to my twins, Fish & Chips the other day.

Their Scottish cousin, Deep Fried Marsbar was in full agreement.

OwlBeThere · 10/08/2025 00:13

steff13 · 09/08/2025 23:20

I thought of alcohol.

And Windsor and Tudor would be odd first names.

Tudor or the original form Tudur is a perfectly normal name in Wales. A little old fashioned but there are plenty about.

sanityisamyth · 10/08/2025 00:15

ElfAndSafetyBored · 09/08/2025 22:55

Bourbon? To be fair, it’s probably helping them build them a thick skin for the rest of their life, they’ll need it.

I’m not condoning it, honest I’m not. But why name a kid after a biscuit?

Or a bottle of booze. You call a dog ‘Whiskey’ or ‘Sherry’. It’s a ridiculous name.

DontBuyANewMumCashmere · 10/08/2025 00:15

Play stupid games; win stupid prizes...
Bourbon is a very unusual name.

My DH worked with a name that included Kok and Hung and a name that sounded like Anal Banger (edited to remove actual names!) so I am not above laughing at unfortunate sounding names ....

BUT I would never laugh about the names in front of the people!
Very disrespectful and unprofessional.

WeCouldDoBetter · 10/08/2025 00:16

This is totally on the parents...Bourbon? How ridiculous?

changedwoman123 · 10/08/2025 00:16

ChaliceinWonderland · 09/08/2025 22:55

Com,plain to the head in writing. And the supply agency. I'm a supply teacher this is almost unbelievable.

Really?

changedwoman123 · 10/08/2025 00:20

ThatBlackCat · 09/08/2025 23:28

Oh come on! Stop and think about it for a moment. Who couldn't laugh at that? Maybe she couldn't hold the laugh in and it wasn't her fault. I think you are being unreasonable OP, people can't help a laugh reflex. She probably didn't laugh on purpose! That is a batshit ridiculous and insulting name for a child. That poor child! I swear some parents really hate their children and want to get revenge for a bad labor or something.

This! Thank god for some sense!

Comtesse · 10/08/2025 00:20

echt · 09/08/2025 22:57

Maybe they're linking themselves to the Spanish royal family who are Bourbons.

They were French first! The Spanish line died out and Louis XIV of France encouraged his grandson to take up the throne in Spain. Brits might think of the biscuits but the Bourbons have ruled over half of Europe for centuries…..

capitanaamerica · 10/08/2025 00:22

From a North American perspective - and don't get me wrong, Bourbon itself is not a common first name (or last name) at all - I'd think of it first as a place name, either referring back to France or to the kind of iconic/famous Bourbon Street in New Orleans or in some cases to other "Bourbon" place names in North America (as that was the dynasty in place when France colonized the place). It's unusual, but not necessarily laughable or needing to be publicly mocked.

Also, whether the name of a dynasty is also used widely as a surname among commoners (and therefore pretty inevitably as a first name) seems to vary culturally; in Vietnam, for example, Nguyen is a very common surname (used by c. 40% of the population) and also the name of the last royal house.

Christ0nABike · 10/08/2025 00:23

WeCouldDoBetter · 10/08/2025 00:16

This is totally on the parents...Bourbon? How ridiculous?

His sister Custard Cream isn’t too happy either.

I have a friend called Richard Taylor, obviously known as Rich T.

Breadandsticks · 10/08/2025 00:24

I giggled 🤭 thankfully I’m not a teacher.

definitely unprofessional - but sadly, we are human and maybe the name is associated with a memory. Hopefully they can contain themselves moving forward

NotEnoughKnittingTime · 10/08/2025 00:25

Bourbon is also an drink. Maybe I should have renamed my son Hendrick.

whatacroc · 10/08/2025 00:29

Is this the child?

Supply Teacher giggling at name of child in class
PersephoneSeethes · 10/08/2025 00:29

chunkychoos · 09/08/2025 23:29

Yes it unprofessional.

Having been a teacher for 22 years, there isn't a single name that surprises me anymore but I wouldn't even think to laugh at a name. An internal eye roll at parental choice maybe but not a laugh, that's mean, unprofessional and childish.

What about Abcde? Absedee. I kid you not a friend in Australia came across this poor child.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 10/08/2025 00:30

DollopOfFun · 09/08/2025 22:57

Very unprofessional. Really takes the biscuit.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

PersephoneSeethes · 10/08/2025 00:30

whatacroc · 10/08/2025 00:29

Is this the child?

😅🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️

mathanxiety · 10/08/2025 00:33

Pinkcherry26 · 09/08/2025 23:09

OP is an adult and has just put what she claims to be a real child's name on the internet to be further laughed at, just to make quite sure that if this really happened, she's further in the professional soup. She must be crackers.

It's your choice whether to laugh at the name or not all the same.

I'm not really sure what's so funny, personally, or why grown adults would think laughing at a child's name was unavoidable.

jbm16 · 10/08/2025 00:34

CoconutGrove · 09/08/2025 22:49

Yes it's unprofessional and unfair on the child.

Nearly has unfair as giving the child the name in the first place...

treesandsun · 10/08/2025 00:34

The name's not great but it is hardly so hilarious that a professional can't manage to keep a straight face. There are so many weird and unusual names these days that's nothing compared to many. I's not the kid's fault the parents named them something odd so yeah I do you think the teacher is being unprofessional .

whatacroc · 10/08/2025 00:35

Hope the supply teacher manages to compose herself in September when this new child joins the class...

Supply Teacher giggling at name of child in class
Trendyname · 10/08/2025 00:39

TinyTempest · 09/08/2025 23:02

No, I think they meant complain to the head that the teacher laughed at the child's name in front of the child and the whole class?

Might've been a spontaneous reaction though and there's not much that can be done about that.

Best would be to complain about the parents or to parents for giving child such weird name. Though I love bourbon biscuits, not the drink.