Bullying?!

[JasmineSinclair98]

Hi! My son Sandy turned 17 in March, and while it had never been an issue before, a handful of his classmates (with the exception of his close friends and those who don't cause trouble) are giving him a hard time about his name. He's a strong lad, and not much bogs him down, but this seems to be getting to him. He's never been touchy about his name airing on the girlish side of unisex but now that they're bringing it to his attention, his attitude regarding his name has changed. That's sad because he loved his name just until a few months ago :/ I can't help but feel halfway responsible for this; my husband and I have called him Sandy instead of his full name Alexander since he was just a kid; any thoughts/advice?! Thank you so much!

That's a shame! But could you encourage him to choose a new school nickname if he feels like it? You can still call him Sandy - but loads of people are called something else at school.

That said, it should be his free choice, not something enforced by these "friends"...

Even if he just got his friends to call him "Sand" instead of "Sandy" some of the time, it could take some pressure off.

Or Xander

My OH is an Alexander. He was known as Sandy up until he was early twenties, but he relocated for work and at that point decided he would rather be known as Alex. I appreciate it would be more difficult with people who already know him as Sandy, but let he could potentially try changing to Alex and at 17 he'll be moving on from school soon so would be an ideal time to do it.

Or Xand.

I'm surprised though as it's not that common for small children to get picked on for their names as almost every name they come across at school is a new name to them.

I have to say I know quite a number of Sandy's and none of them have ever had a problem, I'm in Scotland and it seems quite a normal name to have.

See I’m Scottish and Sandy is a really common name here, nobody would bat an eyelid.

Can he be Xander at school and Sandy at home if it’s bothering him? Although it would obviously be better if kids stopped being spiteful and bullying!

I know of a sixth form boy called Sander. No idea what his proper name is though and I think he might be Swedish. Good name though and not too far removed from sandy.

What does you son want to do?
My DD has a long name and is know by that at school - we call her fanny at home! Wouldn't dream of her being called that in school.

Ask him what he wants

Give into the bullies and they'll find something else to pick on him for

Nothing wrong with being called Sandy, just tell him to completely ignore these very sad pathetic children.
They are doing it with the sole intention to provoke a reaction, so best way to deal with it is no not rise to the bait. If he did change his name they would be bullying him for the new one or for something else. Also why the hell should he?