Would you let a 6 year old change their name?

[Bricks4]

My son is called Matthew. I liked the name, thought that it was 'normal' and wouldn't cause any problems... no...

For some bizarre reason, his teacher called him 'Maths' once... As it's Math-hugh (I suppose) we call him Matt at times and his friends used to call him that. Ever since this Maths thing, people take the piss and call him English, Science, PE, etc.

It's really getting to him and I know that it's the teasing that should stop, but DS has just become to hate his name...

[purplefox]

I'd say no to changing it completely, but Hugh is just a shorter version so I'd let him, it's not much different from Matthew's being called Mattie/Matt etc.

[Ohyesiam]

The name is not the problem, the bullying is, the school needs to task t it seriously

[Meadows76]

God I am amazed anyone would actually consider changing their child's name rather than dealing with the actual problem.

[Meadows76]

Also how do 6yo's even know the subjects as English, science etc? That's not even a thing in primary school.

[BertrandRussell]

If he wanted to I'd let him-its his name, after all.

But I would also get the school to tackle the bullying. No reason why you can'5 do both.

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

I think Hugh is a sweet nickname for Matthew but I think unless he can change his view of what is happening and unless the bullying is addressed in school I think he will still be unhappy.

[ANewStartOverseas]

No you don't change the name of a child because of what is bullying behaviour.
The first step is to go and see the teacher and to convey how distressed your ds is.
You also need to talk to him about how to stand up to bullies and why changing his name, aka running away and caving under the bullying, will not stop things but will actually make everything 100x worse.

By any chance, is the teacher calling him Mat or Matthew?

[tangerino]

This is a bullying issue, not a name issue. Changing his name will just teach him that right way to respond to bullies is to give in, and will if anything make the problem worse.

I'd speak to school asap about the bullying. In the mean time can you talk together about how lovely his name is- what it means, why you chose it, famous people called Matthew etc, to help him feel positive about it again.

[ThisIsNotARealAvo]

I'm a year 1 teacher and we very much call the subjects English, Maths, Science etc to reflect the latest version of the National Curriculum. It's not as if 6 year olds have never heard the word Maths.

[Meadows76]

I'm a year 1 teacher and we very much call the subjects English, Maths, Science etc to reflect the latest version of the National Curriculum. It's not as if 6 year olds have never heard the word Maths. erm, ok. Like I said they don't in our primary.

[drspouse]

My DS has an unusual name which is similar to a very common name (think maybe he's Farley and there are a few Charlies around).
He really doesn't like it when other childrencall him by the other name but we are teaching him not to react.
Annoyingly even adults do it (by mistake) e.g. we'll get a hospital letter with the name right at the top but the more common name throughout the body of the text.
Sometimes I correct an adult three times and they carry on with the wrong name (they are in that ratio of commonness - his name is pretty unusual). I never know how forceful to be.

[llangennith]

Glad I don't know any 6 year olds who are that mean

[NightNightBadger19962]

Ask him to think about it for a month and then decide? I think he should have some say in what he is called/what shortening to use, but you perhaps ought to prepare him for further nastiness, how to respond to people not respecting his name, how he would even introduce it, otherwise it will be a not great experience. It will, after all, just draw more attention to the name calling and make it more fun.

[princesshaley]

I just saw that your son wants to be called Hugh - that seems reasonable enough of a change, since it's basically the second syllable of his name. He could just use Hugh as a nickname for now.

[Starlight2345]

He is 6 so trying to find a solution..

My DS was bullied at 6...He told me he thought he should move school.. Afterwards told me he was been bullied. My point of this is he wanted it to stop.

Your DS is the same..You need to go into the school.Let them know what is going on and what he wants to do and why..The school should be able to address this.

[AmyC86]

Change his school!

[OlennasWimple]

Tackle the bullying! Changing his name is the proverbial sticking plaster to the wound.

Having said that, if he wants to be Matthew, NN Hugh, that's not so terrible and unreasonable. But still tackle the bullying

[AmeliaJack]

Actually I think if he wants to take ownership of his name by being Hugh short for Matthew I think that's fine.

No different than an Andy deciding to be Drew really.

I'd be going into the school for a firm word though, given that the teasing started from a teacher's comment and hasn't been stopped.

I recommend doing some role play with your DS too around possible future teasing and how to respond to it. This has been very effective with our kids.

I suspect it will blow over and he'll drift back to Matthew but if he doesn't Hugh is a great name.