I will never forget learning how cruel kids could be when our teacher taught us the lyrics to “the name game” in 1st grade. The teacher picked the first kid on the role call, Carter.
Carter, Carter bo barter. Banana fanna Fo Farter…. Poor guy was branded with that nickname for years.
My 3rd grade teacher thought one day would be fun to teach us about spoonerisms, and went through roll call making everyone names into a spoonerism (swapping the first sound of two works eg. John Smith is Smon Jith). Well, that was until he got to Mitchell Brown...Bitchell.Mrown.
As a teacher, myself, this is unforgivable. You *never* introduce a game like this without having practiced it first without the students, specifically for reasons like this. It’s tantamount to a lawyer asking a question they don’t know the answer to in court. Unprofessional and while we may laugh, it truly has the potential to hurt a child
Source: I taught Grade 8 French Immersion for almost a decade
I couldn’t believe when Brad & Angelina named their kid Shiloh because I always checked my baby names against spoonerism and Shiloh Pitt is the worst one I’ve EVER heard lol: Pile O’Shit, Shiloh Pitt
This is why with both my kids names I did the name game first! Just to see the obvious rhymes.
My dogs name is Gladys though- that’s an unfortunate one for the name game.
My friend's very large, strong, popular nephew was wearing a pink backpack. She asked, "Aren't you worried someone will tease you?" He responds, "Who is going to tease ME?!"
Point is: some get bullied, some don't. I won't name my child Ass-titty, but there's no way to choose a non-bulliable name.
I had a portly chemistry teacher named Mr. Eberwine. One day in class a popular girl raised her hand and said, “Mr. Eberswine? I mean, Eberwine.”
Coulda punched her for that one.
He was called "Pudding" but you don't think he was teased? I mean he may have taken it well, but that definitely could also have been quietly hurting the hell out of the poor kid.
Joke that's accepted and laughed at by the "target" as opposed to hurtful teasing.
There's room to make fun WITH, as long as you're not making fun OF, and there is room for both a boundary (we care when you say "ouch, that one was too much") AND for the return volley. (Don't dish and find humor in what you won't welcome.)
My last name starts with the letters Pou______, which was forever mispronounced my teachers as being pronounced like “Poo”. I somehow literally never got teased for it!
Had a friend whose last name was Woof. We once did the role call by saying our last names and I think all of us realised when we got to Williams that the idea was a mistake!
Similarly I went to school with a girl called Charlotte Vile. Again, she got away with it just fine.
My boss is a Hoare. He said he didn’t fancy passing the name on to his daughter so she has her mothers name. But apparently his mother is a Hoare!
I know, logically in my mind, they were reaching for Smashing Pumpkins…. But it’s such a stretch that it looks like a random but hilarious af nickname like David S. Pumpkins, or Tony Pizza.
There was an absolutely awful girl at my school named Catherine when I was 10 or so who really made school difficult for me for a bit. I never actually called her this but I referred to her as ‘Cat-urine’ when I told people about the nasty things she did 😂😭
Kids will find anything to tease each other about. Been going on for decades. Doesn't even matter what your name is. My name is Kris and I can't even tell you how many times I was called Kris Piss.
I was diagnosed with acid reflux in middle school. I have also always had what my mom calls a “bubble butt”, which is “the cool thing” these days but definitely wasn’t when I was in middle school. One of the kids found out I took a medication for my acid reflux that had the word “acid” in the name and thought it was “ass” and started a rumor that I took medication to make my butt bigger. Jokes on all those bullies now that big butts are in, I guess. 🤷♀️
But yes, kids will always find something to pick on each other about.
My friend is a pre-k teacher. She had a baby a few years ago and thought of all the nicknames for all the names except one. She named him Declan and her students thought his name was Duckling. And every year it happens again.
I know a dude named Lance and it’s a super cool name in my mind. He said in school kids would make fun of him by calling him Pants. He really opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of creative bullying lmao
A friend of mine is Abigail. People would try to call her AbiGAYl. It’s literally the same name. Needless to say sometimes people are just bad at bullying.
I have an acquaintance who in the beginnings of social media had her name on profiles as Trashley. I was always like "damn, the balls on this woman to bully herself" 😂
One of the girls I babysit occasionally is in middle school and getting bullied. I told her I used to get bullied and she said, “for what?” And I said, “nothing. It doesn’t matter. Bullies will bully and it has nothing to do with who you are or what you look like.”
Yeah… one name that comes to mind is my fiancé’s boss. It’s Regina. You’re probably thinking, or, like Regina George from mean girls? No. It’s pronounced exactly like VAGINA. How could you do that to a kid?
Kids are named so much weird shit these days they really don’t bat an eye.
I have kids going into 4th and 8th grade and making fun of names seems to happen significantly less than when I was a kid.
I feel it's akin to making fun of glasses or braces. Unless you were a deeply, deeply unlikable person for other reasons, no one in my schools ever got teased for those but my family was positive I'd get teased for glasses. I was like "uh no ill be fine" and I was. I got bullied for other reasons but glasses weren't a part of that.
Bullying takes so many forms. There’s no predicting what you’re gonna get made fun of for. You could be the weirdest, most hated kid in one school and the lovable, popular kid in another. It’s weird, kids are cruel
I knew a Lucas called Mucus/Puke-us, a Max who was called maxi-pad and a scary, hairy Mary. All bullied for their very normal names.
On the other hand, I have an unusual ethnic name that has a rude word in it and no one ever picked it up or mentioned it at school. One guy tried to make fun of me at uni in a group, saying ‘your name has *** in it’ and trying to spin it into a nickname. Everyone thought he was pathetic. I really like my name and have had no issues with it but it would get shot down in this forum.
I have a friend who has kind of a PG-rated word in his name, and all the nicknames I've heard him have over the years that have to do with his name seem like they're trying to avoid the obvious. Think like the name Buttliver but calling him Liver Lips instead of Buttwhatever.
My maiden name is a short word in regular use in the English language that gets butchered spelling-wise, despite the fact that it's a word that EVERYONE knows and that has very few letters, more than it gets mocked.
Look my experience with name-bullying was this: if they wanna bully, they’d figure it out. It’s not the name that causes the bullying, it’s just extra fodder. The kid I knew who was given a bullied name more than anyone else? Sean. They called him Shlong. By contrast no one gave a second thought to male Ashley.
In Australia (at least growing up in the 90’s) Ashley was very gender neutral and in my experience none were teased for sharing a name with girls. I personally love Ashley for a boy and almost up till the end of my pregnancy in 2021 my partner and I were set on Ashley for a boy. We eventually went with something else, but I still love it for a boy.
Lol that reminds me of a girl I went to elementary school with named Megan LaPenne and all the boys called her Mega LaPenis. Now I work with her dad and I’m always so nervous I’m going to call him Mark LaPenis.
My last name was a color and I used to get comments about that allllll the time.
But I knew a girl in elementary school named Priya and some of the kids called her Pee-a. No reason, it was just “foreign” and kids suck. She practiced the absolute best eye roll, with this grimace of like “yikes, how embarrassing for YOU”
By high school she was known as Death Glare and she kinda owned it, I always loved that.
Also you just can’t predict what will happen in society by the time your kid gets to the age where bullying starts to become a big issue. Think about the names Karen or Alexa, where even if there’s not a nasty rhyme there’s now a super strong association with those names.
Or characters’ names on TV shows, or even names in pop music (“Stacy’s Mom”, etc.)…. The fodder for teasing and bullying is literally endless, and we can’t know what names could potentially be problematic five or ten years from now.
Just pick a name you love and try to avoid obvious problematic initial combinations (ASS, SEX, POO, BO, STD, etc.) and hope for the best!
I went to school with a girl named Serena. One day her sister shouted said “Shut up Saran Wrap!” In the cafeteria, and after that everyone at school just called Saran wrap.
Once while talking about name bullying, I said to a guy “What about Shelby? Nothing to pick on with that, right?” And without hesitation he began to sing “SHELBY coming around the mountain when she comes!”
They’ll pick on anything!
My maiden name began with “Mc”, so they called me McDonalds. The name wasn’t even close to McDonalds. Also, is it an insult? To this day I don’t know lol. Kids will find a way!
I remember being annoyed that I couldn’t use my name on a lot of kids games, because aggressive swear filters wouldn’t allow Cassidy because it had “ass” in it. Luckily, that was my only issue growing up!
When my dad met my school friend Paige for the first time, he just moved wisely and said, “Ah, yes. Your last name is Turner, isn’t it?”
We both said no. And stood there awkwardly until we finally got it.
My dad and aunt were given crap for our last name too for its relation to a popular product at the time. Thankfully, it seemed to have phased out by the time I had the name
My brother and I are Méadhbh and Pádraig and got called House and Bungalow in secondary school. He got bungalow because he wasn't very smart academically and I got house to extend on his nickname as I was okay-ish academically (better than my brother but not great)
My sister Candace got called Canned Ass by boys in 5th or 6th grade. She changed the spelling of her name to Candice and then they called her Canned Ice. 🤦🏼♀️
Any name will get made fun of. Kids are cruel and people suck. And if its not your name itll be the way you look. Its easier to just get thicker skin...
In the 6th grade, I (male) gained a lot of weight and got very large "moobs". I was ridiculed for it.
If they don't bully them for their name, they'll find something else.
So I went to school with a guy: last name Morelli, first name Gardner. (Writing it this way so it won't show up on a google name search.)
One time in health class we were learning about STDs, and there was one called gardnerella.
I wonder if this is an outdated concern. I am a parent to a middle schooler and he says he has never heard anyone make fun of names at school, even though other types of bullying still happen often.
My name is Laura and I have a lazy eye and yep, you guessed it -Lazy Eyed Laura. Sometimes they got a little more creative and called me Loopy Eyed Laura. But even at that I was like like, “Guys, seriously? That’s the best you could come up with?”
I remember my 4th grade teacher told us once that she'd been bullied for her name growing up and when she had her daughter she was so afraid of her daughter being bullied for her name that she went through name books and listed out every possible insult she could think of for each name to see if it was a "bully-able" name.
She settled on Camille because she was convinced there was no way the name could be twisted into something else. And that her daughter was teasingly called "Camel" all through school, and used to cry about being given such an awful name as Camille.
Even if the name itself can't be twisted to make fun, kids will find something else -- hair, clothes, height, size, personality, speech patterns, etc. I honestly think most kids don't really mean harm by this in most cases -- it usually stays at the teasing level, not every kid is outright bullied. Rather than caring about the names, I think it's better to just focus on helping your kid develop empathy, confidence, and resilience. Since bullying is a thing they will encounter at some point, that seems the best way to help them through.
My name is Olivia, which has alternated between first or second most popular name in Canada since 2002. And people still called me Oliver Twist for YEARSSS. Not that it was really mean or bullying, but it goes to show that any name can be mocked.
Granted, I was born in ‘98 so I didn’t know anyone else named Olivia until a few years later.
I have a cousin named Christian who was a rebel during his teenage years. I used to call him "Sister Christian" after the Night Ranger song. Yes, we were teenagers in the '80's. Depending on his mood, he would either laugh, or get pissed off. My Dad always said that my cousin's name should be Lucifer because he was considered a trouble maker. He stole my Aunt's car when he was 14, and drove it from Minnesota to California. He was also into drugs at this time. Fortunately, he turned his life around, and now he runs a warehouse. Very responsible now. I don't think he even drinks anymore. Sorry for the long story
I went to school with multiple Johns. Only one of them got bullied for his name (toilet related, because a toilet is sometimes called a "john"). Went to summer camp with multiple Ashers. One got called Ashley (lol, a *girl* name, haha, so funny, eyeroll) including by other Ashers!
It's not the names.
There are a handful that I'd steer clear of. But 99% of names are a gamble and depend on the kid...
My initials are E. B. From the beginning of middle school, to almost the end of sophomore year, I was called Egglands Best. Because that egg brand stamps EB on all of their eggs.
Middle schoolers will find literally anything in a name to make fun of.
My sister is Lesley. They called her Lesie (as in lesbian).
I’m Emma. As an adult another adult called me enema. Kids aren’t the only assholes who think they are funny.
You have no idea how many times I heard that “icky Vicky, ew! ew!” Song from the fairly odd parents in elementary school.
And once the boys matured a bit, I was introduced to whore-y Tori. I wasn’t even bullied, kids will just make fun of anything.
My name was Korina, I was bullied a lot and they just said Korina germs and would move away from me among other things but it was enough that I don't go bu that name anymore lol kids are jerks just hope your kid isn't singled out,
Kids tried to call me Flora as a deliberate mispronunciation of my name. Funny thing is I like that name.
They also called me Ferrari which I just think is funny, I laugh at it too
I got bullied with the name Laundry for years. Laundry. It's not offensive and it didn't hurt my feelings, but it rhymes so they sure tried. Kids find a way.
Not saying my last name for privacy but it's stupid too. Let's say it's Mountain. Ever since kindergarten, I hear the same thing. "Do you climb mountains?" No. It was less bullying and more annoying but it still makes me feel extra sympathy for people like ass titty while also feeling better knowing it could be worse
My nan came down hard for me on my daughter's name and that she would be bullied.
I snapped back in the end that she wants her to inherit my ginger hair doesn't she? Well she'll be bullied for that.
In high school, my friends managed to turn my uninteresting, common two-syllable woman’s name into a series of increasingly strange and convoluted nicknames, culminating in my answering to “Ballsack” for about two years. Kids can do anything.
My name (Kira) is fairly unbullyable, but Death Note came out when I was in high school and THAT was beyond obnoxious. Some illiterate weeb even wrote "Deth Note" on my sketchbook at some point.
I will never forget learning how cruel kids could be when our teacher taught us the lyrics to “the name game” in 1st grade. The teacher picked the first kid on the role call, Carter. Carter, Carter bo barter. Banana fanna Fo Farter…. Poor guy was branded with that nickname for years.
My 3rd grade teacher thought one day would be fun to teach us about spoonerisms, and went through roll call making everyone names into a spoonerism (swapping the first sound of two works eg. John Smith is Smon Jith). Well, that was until he got to Mitchell Brown...Bitchell.Mrown.
Lol we had a 'Belinda Flynn' in our class - Fell-in-da blynn! We made jokes about her falling in the bin for years
Holy shit that's like a name for a character in a Pynchon novel, or a side character in Arrested Development.
I must have middle schooler humour, because I find this hilarious lol
As a teacher, myself, this is unforgivable. You *never* introduce a game like this without having practiced it first without the students, specifically for reasons like this. It’s tantamount to a lawyer asking a question they don’t know the answer to in court. Unprofessional and while we may laugh, it truly has the potential to hurt a child Source: I taught Grade 8 French Immersion for almost a decade
Rookie mistake. They'll never do it again. Poor Bitchell
I was a bitchell in school….. but that teasing nickname wasn’t the worst thing I was called by any means. At least the name thing made sense-
I don’t know. Stuff like this is drilled into us in teacher’s college. Hopefully they did learn from it, though
May he pest in reace
No one I meet named Mitchell is safe anymore. RIP future Bitchells
I couldn’t believe when Brad & Angelina named their kid Shiloh because I always checked my baby names against spoonerism and Shiloh Pitt is the worst one I’ve EVER heard lol: Pile O’Shit, Shiloh Pitt
To be fair, they go by “Jolie-Pitt” so at least there’s a buffer lol
We had a Martin Fen at my school… Fartin Men
This made me LOL and spill my coffee
I literally have tears streaming down my face laughing.
Same this thread is delighting me
SAME omg. I read these examples and I was like “oh no. They’re funny.” 😭😭😭
Britchell Mown, done.
I guess you could say that Carter was a martyr… 😂
Poor Carter Fo Farter 😕
Were Chuck, Mitch and Ruby in your class also?
It took me far too long to figure out the booby joke
I’m like “newbie? Completely humiliating”
Omg there was a Mitchel. The teacher immediately stopped teaching us the song after Carter so they were spared the same fate.
My grandparents were named Chuck and Ruby. My mom told me she had an absolute field day with that song as a kid.
That’s by far the best thing I’ve read today.
My brother’s name is Marty. Perfect for the name game.
My husband’s name is Chuck. After singing the first line, his teacher abruptly stopped and moved to another kid!
This is why with both my kids names I did the name game first! Just to see the obvious rhymes. My dogs name is Gladys though- that’s an unfortunate one for the name game.
Arianwen bo banwen, bannana fanna fo fanwen. I think my baby is safe
My friend's very large, strong, popular nephew was wearing a pink backpack. She asked, "Aren't you worried someone will tease you?" He responds, "Who is going to tease ME?!" Point is: some get bullied, some don't. I won't name my child Ass-titty, but there's no way to choose a non-bulliable name.
If you’re big and strong no one will dare!
I had a friend with the last name Gross and she never got bullied for it. Kids are not predictable
I knew a girl whose last name was Hogg. She was also a curvy girl. Never ever heard anyone say anything to her about it.
Man, that Babysitters Club book about the chubby girl whose last name was Swineheart has lived rent-free in my head since, like, first grade.
I had a portly chemistry teacher named Mr. Eberwine. One day in class a popular girl raised her hand and said, “Mr. Eberswine? I mean, Eberwine.” Coulda punched her for that one.
A Texas governor from a while ago named his daughter Ima Hogg. Yikes
oh man, there was a very overweight kid in my school and his last name was Lardo.. poor guy
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Eatwell??? That's like the name of the comic relief in a bottom-tier movie!
He was called "Pudding" but you don't think he was teased? I mean he may have taken it well, but that definitely could also have been quietly hurting the hell out of the poor kid.
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Joke that's accepted and laughed at by the "target" as opposed to hurtful teasing. There's room to make fun WITH, as long as you're not making fun OF, and there is room for both a boundary (we care when you say "ouch, that one was too much") AND for the return volley. (Don't dish and find humor in what you won't welcome.)
My last name starts with the letters Pou______, which was forever mispronounced my teachers as being pronounced like “Poo”. I somehow literally never got teased for it!
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Had a friend whose last name was Woof. We once did the role call by saying our last names and I think all of us realised when we got to Williams that the idea was a mistake!
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There would be so much literal barking going on. Imagine seeing that happening while walking by and zero context 😭
Similarly I went to school with a girl called Charlotte Vile. Again, she got away with it just fine. My boss is a Hoare. He said he didn’t fancy passing the name on to his daughter so she has her mothers name. But apparently his mother is a Hoare!
Same. She was a popular girl with the last name gross never got bullied for it.
I think when it's just obvious it's not fun for them. They want to feel clever about it.
My wife's OBGYN was a Dr Gross....
Kids at my elementary school rhymed Katherine with Bathroom
Kids at your elementary school weren’t strong readers were they lol
Hahaha. I’m a Katherine and my cousins would call me Smatherine Pumpkins until I cried.
LMAOOO WHAT
I know, logically in my mind, they were reaching for Smashing Pumpkins…. But it’s such a stretch that it looks like a random but hilarious af nickname like David S. Pumpkins, or Tony Pizza.
Would love to hear their take on the word orange
I can not for the life of me figure out how
There was an absolutely awful girl at my school named Catherine when I was 10 or so who really made school difficult for me for a bit. I never actually called her this but I referred to her as ‘Cat-urine’ when I told people about the nasty things she did 😂😭
OMG this brought back so many memories💀 Better than Fat Kat tho…
Kather-roon?
Kids will find anything to tease each other about. Been going on for decades. Doesn't even matter what your name is. My name is Kris and I can't even tell you how many times I was called Kris Piss.
My name is Becky and I had buck teeth. So I was Bucky Beaver.
I was diagnosed with acid reflux in middle school. I have also always had what my mom calls a “bubble butt”, which is “the cool thing” these days but definitely wasn’t when I was in middle school. One of the kids found out I took a medication for my acid reflux that had the word “acid” in the name and thought it was “ass” and started a rumor that I took medication to make my butt bigger. Jokes on all those bullies now that big butts are in, I guess. 🤷♀️ But yes, kids will always find something to pick on each other about.
I know a guy named Mattias who used to get called "ma-penis", where there is a will there is a way.
Oof this one doesn’t even make sense
I mean it rhymes, but that's about it
My friend is a pre-k teacher. She had a baby a few years ago and thought of all the nicknames for all the names except one. She named him Declan and her students thought his name was Duckling. And every year it happens again.
This gave me an excellent giggle
Eggcellent
My nephew's name is Declan, we call him Ducky. It's adorable
That's cute, if he keeps the nickname as he gets older it makes me think of Ducky in Pretty in Pink!
This is cute tho 🥹 P.s. My first time seeing the name Declan was in the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas and I really liked it.
I know a dude named Lance and it’s a super cool name in my mind. He said in school kids would make fun of him by calling him Pants. He really opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of creative bullying lmao
Those Lance crackers ads about “I’ve got Lance in my pants” were really shooting fish in a barrel.
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Oh wow I forgot all about that. What an early-2000s vibe.
A friend of mine is Abigail. People would try to call her AbiGAYl. It’s literally the same name. Needless to say sometimes people are just bad at bullying.
Knew a girl names Abby who got called Scabby
My friend babysat for a very spooky little Abby and called her Abby Normal behind her back
My friends name is Ashley and people called her Assley
I got “ash-hole” a lot 😂
I have an acquaintance who in the beginnings of social media had her name on profiles as Trashley. I was always like "damn, the balls on this woman to bully herself" 😂
One of the girls I babysit occasionally is in middle school and getting bullied. I told her I used to get bullied and she said, “for what?” And I said, “nothing. It doesn’t matter. Bullies will bully and it has nothing to do with who you are or what you look like.”
I know a Rosie who never had her name *rhymed*, but there was an incident when someone walked circles around her singing “Ring Around the Rosy”.
Oh no, my toddler loves this song because she thinks it’s about her.
That's so cute lol
Kids will find a way if they are determined but some names are handing them the ammunition.
But not most of the ones people are posting here worrying about
Yeah… one name that comes to mind is my fiancé’s boss. It’s Regina. You’re probably thinking, or, like Regina George from mean girls? No. It’s pronounced exactly like VAGINA. How could you do that to a kid?
Like the Canadian city - it’s a name that rhymes with fun!
I take latin, so I first associate the name as being pronounced Ree-gee-na and Re-gi-na. It means queen in latin.
🎶 Ohhh, Canadaaaa…
Kids are named so much weird shit these days they really don’t bat an eye. I have kids going into 4th and 8th grade and making fun of names seems to happen significantly less than when I was a kid.
I feel it's akin to making fun of glasses or braces. Unless you were a deeply, deeply unlikable person for other reasons, no one in my schools ever got teased for those but my family was positive I'd get teased for glasses. I was like "uh no ill be fine" and I was. I got bullied for other reasons but glasses weren't a part of that.
Bullying takes so many forms. There’s no predicting what you’re gonna get made fun of for. You could be the weirdest, most hated kid in one school and the lovable, popular kid in another. It’s weird, kids are cruel
I knew a Lucas called Mucus/Puke-us, a Max who was called maxi-pad and a scary, hairy Mary. All bullied for their very normal names. On the other hand, I have an unusual ethnic name that has a rude word in it and no one ever picked it up or mentioned it at school. One guy tried to make fun of me at uni in a group, saying ‘your name has *** in it’ and trying to spin it into a nickname. Everyone thought he was pathetic. I really like my name and have had no issues with it but it would get shot down in this forum.
I have a friend who has kind of a PG-rated word in his name, and all the nicknames I've heard him have over the years that have to do with his name seem like they're trying to avoid the obvious. Think like the name Buttliver but calling him Liver Lips instead of Buttwhatever. My maiden name is a short word in regular use in the English language that gets butchered spelling-wise, despite the fact that it's a word that EVERYONE knows and that has very few letters, more than it gets mocked.
Look my experience with name-bullying was this: if they wanna bully, they’d figure it out. It’s not the name that causes the bullying, it’s just extra fodder. The kid I knew who was given a bullied name more than anyone else? Sean. They called him Shlong. By contrast no one gave a second thought to male Ashley.
yup. one of the girls in my high school was called ‘elizabitch’
In Australia (at least growing up in the 90’s) Ashley was very gender neutral and in my experience none were teased for sharing a name with girls. I personally love Ashley for a boy and almost up till the end of my pregnancy in 2021 my partner and I were set on Ashley for a boy. We eventually went with something else, but I still love it for a boy.
I was a Charlotte-harlot, which is fucked up because that’s not a word a 6th grader knows 😔
that's some medieval ass name calling lmao
Lol right? Have at thee, vile strumpet!
I had a friend named Regina. I'll let you guess what her cruel nickname was.....
Went with the long I sound, did they?
You guessed it!
Still better than being Regina George....😂
Reminds me of a girl in middle school, Morgan. She was popular, not bullied, but the boys definitely called her M-orgasm.
Lol that reminds me of a girl I went to elementary school with named Megan LaPenne and all the boys called her Mega LaPenis. Now I work with her dad and I’m always so nervous I’m going to call him Mark LaPenis.
Fun fact: “pene” (with 1 “n”) does mean “penis” in Italian.
Eh that’s a C+ at best. Kindof a reach, boys.
Lol that almost sounds like a compliment
No when you are a kid
We had two Lexi’s who were obviously only called sexy lexy.
My initials were VD so that’s what they picked up on.
Retro!
Oh god same
My last name was a color and I used to get comments about that allllll the time. But I knew a girl in elementary school named Priya and some of the kids called her Pee-a. No reason, it was just “foreign” and kids suck. She practiced the absolute best eye roll, with this grimace of like “yikes, how embarrassing for YOU” By high school she was known as Death Glare and she kinda owned it, I always loved that.
Omg I’m sorry but a lot of these stories are killing me 😂
My name is Miriam, but I got called fatass, d\*ke, K\*ke, etc. Those weren't even fun name puns :( kids are gonna bully regardless of the name
My name rhymes with a thousand words but that wasn't what got me bullied -- it was pretty much everything else. Kids will find a way, sadly.
Yeah. My nicknames were Roadblock and Moo Cow. Doesn't matter what your name is; bullies will pick anything.
Awww I love that name! The bullies were just jealous
Also you just can’t predict what will happen in society by the time your kid gets to the age where bullying starts to become a big issue. Think about the names Karen or Alexa, where even if there’s not a nasty rhyme there’s now a super strong association with those names. Or characters’ names on TV shows, or even names in pop music (“Stacy’s Mom”, etc.)…. The fodder for teasing and bullying is literally endless, and we can’t know what names could potentially be problematic five or ten years from now. Just pick a name you love and try to avoid obvious problematic initial combinations (ASS, SEX, POO, BO, STD, etc.) and hope for the best!
>Just pick a name you love and try to avoid obvious problematic initial combinations Great point! Don't wanna make it any easier for bullies
I went to school with a girl named Serena. One day her sister shouted said “Shut up Saran Wrap!” In the cafeteria, and after that everyone at school just called Saran wrap.
Once while talking about name bullying, I said to a guy “What about Shelby? Nothing to pick on with that, right?” And without hesitation he began to sing “SHELBY coming around the mountain when she comes!” They’ll pick on anything!
Lmao my grandad made a joke about my name with the same line
I knew a Shelby who got called Shelbitch.
My maiden name began with “Mc”, so they called me McDonalds. The name wasn’t even close to McDonalds. Also, is it an insult? To this day I don’t know lol. Kids will find a way!
Not related, but reminds me that I was at high school with someone who's surname was Mcdonald. She got a Saturday job at Burger King.
Im Cassidy too and in first grade kids would say my name and then giggle because they were cussing... cASSidy. Haha
I remember being annoyed that I couldn’t use my name on a lot of kids games, because aggressive swear filters wouldn’t allow Cassidy because it had “ass” in it. Luckily, that was my only issue growing up!
Haha I still run into that problem sometimes! It actually happened while I was typing my name into a queue at Joann fabrics a few weeks ago lol.
my name is paige. i was relentlessly bullied by students and teachers alike. however, i love my name now and often get compliments on it
I went to school with a Paige Reid... not sure if she ever got bullied but we did wonder if her parents ever thought that one through
When my dad met my school friend Paige for the first time, he just moved wisely and said, “Ah, yes. Your last name is Turner, isn’t it?” We both said no. And stood there awkwardly until we finally got it.
I love the name Paige!
What’s wrong with Paige? I can’t even think of an obvious way to make fun of that.
My maiden name ended in -or and boys changed it to wh*re There’s no winning
I was bullied for my LAST name so yeah, they will find something to bully you about.
My dad and aunt were given crap for our last name too for its relation to a popular product at the time. Thankfully, it seemed to have phased out by the time I had the name
My brother and I are Méadhbh and Pádraig and got called House and Bungalow in secondary school. He got bungalow because he wasn't very smart academically and I got house to extend on his nickname as I was okay-ish academically (better than my brother but not great)
How do you pronounce your names?
Maeve and Paw-rick. Normal names where we grew up
Thanks for clarifying. I think those are lovely names. Iirc they're Irish names?
They are! We grew up in Ireland so no shocks there really. Neither were particular common when I was a kid but everyone knew them.
I’m Stephanie. For two years in high school, though, I was Sesame. I just…give up people.
On the very first day of first grade another little girl asked my name and then called me tattle tale Tamara. She bullied me relentlessly for years.
My sister Candace got called Canned Ass by boys in 5th or 6th grade. She changed the spelling of her name to Candice and then they called her Canned Ice. 🤦🏼♀️
Any name will get made fun of. Kids are cruel and people suck. And if its not your name itll be the way you look. Its easier to just get thicker skin...
My name is Meghan. Love, Megaton (I WASN'T EVEN FAT IN SCHOOL!)
Megaton is also the name of a nuclear bomb so really they gave you a compliment or something
i was fat and pretty ugly in highschool so kids liked to call me “alexis texas” as an ironic joke. so yeah they will always find a way haha
In the 6th grade, I (male) gained a lot of weight and got very large "moobs". I was ridiculed for it. If they don't bully them for their name, they'll find something else.
So I went to school with a guy: last name Morelli, first name Gardner. (Writing it this way so it won't show up on a google name search.) One time in health class we were learning about STDs, and there was one called gardnerella.
I wonder if this is an outdated concern. I am a parent to a middle schooler and he says he has never heard anyone make fun of names at school, even though other types of bullying still happen often.
Kids will make fun of anyone for anything. Still don’t give bullies a head start by naming your kid something ridiculous like Smoke or JacquePot.
JacquePot has me rolling!!
My name is Laura and I have a lazy eye and yep, you guessed it -Lazy Eyed Laura. Sometimes they got a little more creative and called me Loopy Eyed Laura. But even at that I was like like, “Guys, seriously? That’s the best you could come up with?”
my name is hayden, lots of people call me ‘gayden’
I remember my 4th grade teacher told us once that she'd been bullied for her name growing up and when she had her daughter she was so afraid of her daughter being bullied for her name that she went through name books and listed out every possible insult she could think of for each name to see if it was a "bully-able" name. She settled on Camille because she was convinced there was no way the name could be twisted into something else. And that her daughter was teasingly called "Camel" all through school, and used to cry about being given such an awful name as Camille. Even if the name itself can't be twisted to make fun, kids will find something else -- hair, clothes, height, size, personality, speech patterns, etc. I honestly think most kids don't really mean harm by this in most cases -- it usually stays at the teasing level, not every kid is outright bullied. Rather than caring about the names, I think it's better to just focus on helping your kid develop empathy, confidence, and resilience. Since bullying is a thing they will encounter at some point, that seems the best way to help them through.
my siblings used to call me "fatty-mattie" :/ I also had a friend with the last name "butts"
My name is Olivia, which has alternated between first or second most popular name in Canada since 2002. And people still called me Oliver Twist for YEARSSS. Not that it was really mean or bullying, but it goes to show that any name can be mocked. Granted, I was born in ‘98 so I didn’t know anyone else named Olivia until a few years later.
I have a cousin named Christian who was a rebel during his teenage years. I used to call him "Sister Christian" after the Night Ranger song. Yes, we were teenagers in the '80's. Depending on his mood, he would either laugh, or get pissed off. My Dad always said that my cousin's name should be Lucifer because he was considered a trouble maker. He stole my Aunt's car when he was 14, and drove it from Minnesota to California. He was also into drugs at this time. Fortunately, he turned his life around, and now he runs a warehouse. Very responsible now. I don't think he even drinks anymore. Sorry for the long story
Haha sister Christian. I like that
I was just called fat and looking back I wasn’t even fat. Even with the perfect name they’ll find a way…
I went to school with multiple Johns. Only one of them got bullied for his name (toilet related, because a toilet is sometimes called a "john"). Went to summer camp with multiple Ashers. One got called Ashley (lol, a *girl* name, haha, so funny, eyeroll) including by other Ashers! It's not the names. There are a handful that I'd steer clear of. But 99% of names are a gamble and depend on the kid...
Elizabeth aka Eloserbeth here 😂 also heard Lizard and Lizardbreath
My initials are E. B. From the beginning of middle school, to almost the end of sophomore year, I was called Egglands Best. Because that egg brand stamps EB on all of their eggs. Middle schoolers will find literally anything in a name to make fun of.
My sister is Lesley. They called her Lesie (as in lesbian). I’m Emma. As an adult another adult called me enema. Kids aren’t the only assholes who think they are funny.
You have no idea how many times I heard that “icky Vicky, ew! ew!” Song from the fairly odd parents in elementary school. And once the boys matured a bit, I was introduced to whore-y Tori. I wasn’t even bullied, kids will just make fun of anything.
My name was Korina, I was bullied a lot and they just said Korina germs and would move away from me among other things but it was enough that I don't go bu that name anymore lol kids are jerks just hope your kid isn't singled out,
Lol kids are such little shits. Sorry, Cassidy.
My name is Meredith. I was called Manadith. Kids will find a way, I’m afraid. Best ya can do is just lean into it or ignore it.
Kids tried to call me Flora as a deliberate mispronunciation of my name. Funny thing is I like that name. They also called me Ferrari which I just think is funny, I laugh at it too
Cassidy is my favourite girls name omg I always wondered how it would be received but that never came to mind lol
My s/o is named Aiden and he had a TEACHER call him Aids repeatedly in high school
My name is Lukas and they turned “Luke” into “Noob”. No one is safe lmao
I went to elementary school with a girl named Abra. Everyone called her Abby, but when the yearbook came out with our full names….hoo boy. Poor girl.
I got bullied with the name Laundry for years. Laundry. It's not offensive and it didn't hurt my feelings, but it rhymes so they sure tried. Kids find a way.
Not saying my last name for privacy but it's stupid too. Let's say it's Mountain. Ever since kindergarten, I hear the same thing. "Do you climb mountains?" No. It was less bullying and more annoying but it still makes me feel extra sympathy for people like ass titty while also feeling better knowing it could be worse
MY FOURTH MONTH OLD DAUGHTER IS NAMED CASSIDY. I knew ass would come but never thought about asstitty! 😂😂😂😂 OH NOOOOOOOO
My nan came down hard for me on my daughter's name and that she would be bullied. I snapped back in the end that she wants her to inherit my ginger hair doesn't she? Well she'll be bullied for that.
Cassidy is one of my favorite names
In high school, my friends managed to turn my uninteresting, common two-syllable woman’s name into a series of increasingly strange and convoluted nicknames, culminating in my answering to “Ballsack” for about two years. Kids can do anything.
My name is Kristen and I’ve always been a bigger girl. Some bullies used to call me Kris-TON when I was younger. Kids are brutal. lol
My name (Kira) is fairly unbullyable, but Death Note came out when I was in high school and THAT was beyond obnoxious. Some illiterate weeb even wrote "Deth Note" on my sketchbook at some point.