BJ

[Momdeguerre]

How much of an issue do you think the initials BJ would be? I like several B names to go with brothers Charles and Wilfred - Bruno and Barnabus in particular but our surname begins with a J and I'm worried that it will leave him open to teasing.
What do you think?

Don't do it. If you are thinking about so much now then you know it's wrong.

I can't believe how many people have said not to do this!!! Is it really such a problem! If we have a son we have chosen a first name with B and middle J so with surname his initials would be B.J.V and I had not thought this would be an issue!!!???

Bella - I'm still not convinced it is! I've just looked at the names for children at my son's primary school and there are at least six boys with the intials BJ which I'd never noticed before.

Exactly!!! To be honest I think it's so immature!

Yeah, but that's the thing, kids ARE immature, and so are most adults. I grew up with an 'unfortunate' name and the bullying I had to endure because of it was fucking awful. I would never EVER subject any of my children to it, and I feel nothing but disdain for those who would.

I worked with a girl called BJ (Belinda Jane, I think) - that raised a few eyebrows but bizarrely she seemed to get away with it. So for that reason I think initials are ok. I am sure there are many with these initials out there.

I've just realised that my step-father has the initials BJ. It's taken me 40 years to notice. So, probably not such a big deal then. :)

I'm a teacher working with teens and I can tell you - the lot I work with (innocent in the greater scheme of things) would be all over BJ like a rash.

In fact, shamefully, I worked once with a guy whose initials were BJ and that was his nickname amongst rest of staff. He was a tosser though, which didn't help his cause.

Just don't do it.

Like Sarah Hannah Imogen Thorne.
Or William Arthur Noel Kline
Or Philip Oliver Otherton.

Don't do it.

Exactly, there are initials with far worse connotations.

Just because there are worse initials out there doesn't make saddling your child with 'BJ' ok.

I think it's cruel to call a child Bruno or Barnabus, never mind the J part.

In my class at school there were two people with the initials VD. I don't remember anyone taking the piss out of them. However I must admit that, had I shared that monogram, I wouldn't have been so keen to plaster it over all my belongings as one of them was :o

You don't hear 'VD' these days, but it stood for venereal disease, so was the equivalent of STD. Now that meant 'subscriber trunk dialling' then, and had to do with telephone numbers.

I would have send just use the name you want and don't overthink!
BUT .... my ds (13) had to have for secondary school his initials sewn onto the front of rugby/football kits.
So I would say don't!

No don't do it !

Why would you give the school bullies that kind of ammunition against your child? It will more than likely be used against him, don't do that.

I don't undersamd why you would a). recognise a potential problem for your child, b). post about it, asking for feedback on likelihood/possible severity of said problem c). receive feedback that, yes, indeed it can be quite hellish for some people, and then d). go ahead and create the problem for your kid anyway.

It seems remarkably pig-headed. Yes, sniggering at a child with the initials BJ is unbelievably immature. But children, adolescents, teenagers, 20-somethings, fuck - even some adults! - are well-known for their immaturity.

I dunno. There are zillions of names out there. I don't agree to pandering to bullies. But likewise, why hand them ammunition for your child on a plate? Especially when there are 25 other letters of the alphabet at your disposal.

My first and middle initials are BJ and it's never been a problem. I'd never even thought about it until I saw this thread, in fact.

That's different from first name, surname.

I know it might not quite be the same as first name and surname but both myself and DP have BJ as our first two initials and it has never been an issue for either of us. I think kids will always find something to tease about and could probably make a joke out of any name so I wouldn't worry about it!

I know it's different, but posters had mentioned further up the thread about others with B and J as first and middle name initials who'd had problems.

I was teased about plenty of other things at school, but I don't think it ever occurred to anyone to tease me about my initials.

Usually I will say pick whatever name you like but on this one I have to say NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

I'm not being pig headed - we are yet to pick the name for this baby, this is one of a couple we are still considering if this baby is a boy.

I think it will only be an issue if you refer to him as BJ as my grandparents did with my brother. As soon as they stopped calling him that no one else noticed his initials.

It's difficult because you are going to get anecdotal evidence of children being bullied and of people not even noticing the initials.

At the end of the day, a bully is a bully and will find something else about a child to pick on, even if he has a simple name with no rude words hidden in it.

A lot has to do with how you, your child and the school are willing and able to deal with bullies, but that has nothing to do with the name.