Name Teasing?

[amai-amaya.livejournal.com]

I noticed that many people here don't like unique/uncommon/creative names and often advise people against using those names on their children because they will inevitably be teased.

I don't mean to offend anyone, I am just very curious:

What is your name and did people ever make fun of it because it was unique or uncommon?
Is your name common and you were teased about it nonetheless?
If people made fun of your name, did it bother you so much that you thought you'd rather have another (more uncommon/more common) name?



My name is Kim Sabrina Jennifer Blanka Huehn. Huehn is my last name and very uncommon in Germany. Still, it's German. In Germany, Huehn sounds like the German word for "chicken", so people always and constantly either made fun of my last name (calling me chicken or other variations thereof) or didn't understand it or constantly had to ask how it is spelled.
As if this wasn't enough, my parents named me Kim and gave me 3 middle names.
Kim was (and I daresay still is) a rather uncommon name here. When I was born that name was probably very common in the UK and USA, but it was almost unheard of in Germany 22 years ago.
So all my life, half of the people I met were surprised that I wasn't Asian when they heard my name. The other half was astonished that I was a girl and not a boy, since Kim is a unisex name where I live. Also, due to the rareness of my name here, people loved to invent new variations (like Kimiko, Kimmy, Kimmay, Tim o.0)
I constantly have to spell my first name. Nobody ever gets it right, which really surprises me.

On to my 3 middle names. Sabrina and Jennifer are pretty popular, no problem there. Blanka always makes people think, wtf?! Which I can understand, it still makes me think what the hell after 22 years. It's spanish and means "blonde" but children always said "haha, you have the same name as the green monster in Street Fighter!" I think I got teased about that name the most.
Furthermore I have 3 middle names *gasp* which don't fit on any official document and everyone is always asking me why my parents decided to give me 3 middle names in total.

You see, I think my name is unique, uncommon and on top of that creative. I got teased about it in every way I can think of and I still have trouble whenever I meet someone new.

Still, it's the only name I can identify with, I love my name, I adore it and I thank my parents that they didn't give me a more common name.
Yes, I was teased about it and I wasn't even very self-confident when I was young. But I don't think I had a hard life or that my childhood was horrible just because people have teased me.
I am now a young woman, working in a hospital and I lead a perfectly normal life, although my name is perfectly abnormal. Nowadays I even get complimented for it from many patients and I am, on top of that, proud not to be one of 10 Julias or Christinas. ;)

Comments

[joybelleblossom.livejournal.com]

My name is Joy Christine. I had a lot of songs sung to me (Joy to the World, both versions, and other songs with the word joy in them). My name also rhymes with boy and toy. I like my name. I didn't mind people singing to me, and at Christmas time it just happened a bit more. :) I'm old now, so nobody sings to me, and I miss it a bit. Oh, sure, it had it's embarrassing moments (when a boy liked me, and my cousins sang, "Chris has the Joy, joy, joy, joy down in his heart....Where?"), but for the most part it didn't bother me.