So come on then, was anyone actually bullied or knows someone who is/was solely because of their name?

[Polkadotfanatic]

Reading the baby names threads recently there have been a lot of more 'unusual' names that have come up and besides the "He'll never be a High Court Judge" lot, there have been suggestions that a child will be purely bullied by his peers on name only...

In your experience or opinion how true is this?

I always assumed that kids are accepting of things like names and that it tends to be the adults who have the problem with an unusual name, ie - a five year old is not going to know the reason that some adults will have a raised eyebrow or a cat's bum mouth towards a 'Gaylord' - purely example only, I dont want to be slated by any mums of little Gaylord!

It would just be interesting to hear what your experiences are with this - would be helpful to include the name too, if poss.

I think kids can make something bad out if any name if they want to pick on someone though!

I have a very unusual last name which lends itself to a number of puerile puns. There was a period from about 8 to 10 where I was subjected to merciless teasing as a result.

I gave considerable thought to my dc's names as a result.

well, DH's surname is a pick-on-able one, and her never was bullied for it.

i don't know of anyone who had their given name teased.

The kids with the common names got more teasing at my school. If there are five Dans in a class then inevitably one of them will be 'fat Dan', one 'Smelly Dan' etc.

There was actually a boy called Gaylord at DP's school. No idea if he got bullied. Or his brother Garfield.

Lots of research I read in 80's and early 90's showed that adults with popular names self reported as having more friends and being less lonely than those with unpopular names. Also research showing that those who are white but have names that are commonly seen as black names, experience racism when their face cant be seen e.g. job application forms where photos are not included.

Dont know if any of this has changed since unusual names have become more popular. But it does still seem as if it is poorer people and celebrities who name their children more unusual names. So possibly unusual names in the future may mark you down as "common". Much as I hate the concept, this perception does have an impact on how some people treat you.

"So possibly unusual names in the future may mark you down as "common"."

That is ridulous imo. Just because a name is not overused/fashionable/top50 does not mean it will become 'common'. Lots of classic names outside the top 100 are 'unusual' these days (e.g. Robert, Clement, Quentin, Marcus, Patrick, Antonia, Maria, Seraphina etc) - I doubt they will sound 'common'.

Names that become 'common' are those that are overused, especially by certain classes e.g. names like Alfie, Archie, Chelsea, are much more likely to become common imo.

I also think we seem to forget why we name a person/thing - isn't it to identify? So we should be avoiding popular names as these will already have been used lots of times and require the name to have an added modifier (initial, adjective etc) - why on earth would that make you happier and having more friends ?

"The kids with the common names got more teasing at my school. If there are five Dans in a class then inevitably one of them will be 'fat Dan', one 'Smelly Dan' etc."

That was my exprience too! Even in the office, there need to modifiers e.g. little Sarah, fat Sarah, photocopy Sarah etc.....

I read about some music industry bigwig the other day called Dickon Stainer. If he could make it I think there's hope for everyone!

Snort. How about dick Lovett?

I was bullied because of my name. Unfortunately it was my surname, so not really my parents' fault. I was so pleased when I got married, DH's name is much better!

It wasn't just at school, either. I had comments from my lecturers at uni, and my parents still get idiots making "jokes". It makes me so angry, all these comedians who think they're the first person to notice the "taking the piss" potential, as if there haven't been years of the same joke over and over already.

I wants bullied because of my first name. My surname was the same as a cartoon character in the 80s so there were a few stupid comments but not much.

However, despite my parents picking a name that they knew no-one with, there were no less than 6 in my senior school year. At times there were 4 of us in one class. It was quite frustrating not being able to be identifiable, everyone using different spellings for the nickname! I wasn't particularly popular to be fair either :(

I do think you need to think about names, how they go with surnames. I knew if a Richard Head in my teens. I also know K Hunt (often wondered if people twigged on to that one!).

I was picked on because of my name it made me miserable but that's school for you. Also one of the boys in my year got so upset by being bullied because of his name he changed it and it did seem to stop the bullying. I would carefully consider what name you pick.

I knew someone whose initials were ST. It added fuel to the fire that already had plenty by way of flammable material.