Teasing

[mamasammy.livejournal.com]

How much do you let potential teasing over a name affect your decision on whether or not you would use it?

Sometimes I think the BabyNamesWorld website is a curse! If you're not familiar with it, you should check it out (at your own risk!). I love/hate that it lists the questionairre for people with the name to answer and share what kind of teasing they faced because of their name.

My last name was Todd when I was a kid and I never could quite understand why tons of kids (and even adults) would call me Samantha TOAD. I mean I get making the "o" hard and Todd becomes Tode/Toad, but I thought it was a bit of a stretch, personally.

At any rate, it never really bothered me. I just shrugged it off, and went with it. Meh.

Also, I know alot of people in this community didn't like my boy name choice (Enzo), but  now I'm thinking about the fact that we live in an area that is highly populated with hispanic people, which means my children will be in school with just as many hispanic children as american children. I looked at the questionairre on BNW and a few people with the name Enzo said that kids in school called them Menso/Menzo, which means dumb, in spanish.

Is this something I should be very concerned about it? Like I said above,... How much do you let potential teasing over a name affect your decision on whether or not you would use it?

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/___heyvanity/]

If it's really obvious, then possibly. I read a name the other day - Molly Lester. I instantly thought "oh god everyone must have called her Molester to tease her."

But honestly, I had a relatively normal name and a odd last name and people STILL found ways to make fun of me. Most people didn't use my name, they just made fun of other things. So, I think it's kind of inevitable.

[bandnerd88.livejournal.com]

My thought has always been that if a kid is going to get teased, then it doesn't really matter what their name is. If it's not the name, it'll be their glasses or their clothes or the way they talk or whatever.

I mean, I'd stay away from stuff like Ben Dover or whatever, but on the whole I wouldn't let it bother me if I really liked a name. (For what it's worth, I love Enzo. :D )

[hwar.livejournal.com]

We took it into account but not to an extreme degree. For example, I have always loved the name Ida. My husband pointed out that it's likely she would be called "Ida-HO" since "ho" is such a pervasive slur these days, and particularly negative/misogynistic. I didn't want to saddle a modern girl with an old fashioned name that ALSO had pretty easy and pretty hurtful modern teasing possibilities. Which is a bummer, because I love that name. The point is moot because we're probably not having more kids. Maybe we'll get a cat named Ida someday. ;)

[cardiovascular.livejournal.com]

What about Ida prn: ee-dah?

[hwar.livejournal.com]

We live in a community with a big Spanish-speaking population so it wouldn't be unrealistic. I like the sound of it too. However I think it would entail a lot of explaining and I tend to shy away from names that require a lot of explanation/correction. It's bad enough having the name Hillary-with-two-Ls (i.e. a name that has two "correct" spellings). :)

[mamasammy.livejournal.com]

Or Ada! (Thats my daughters name, 'cept we spell it Aida) :)

[spaceandclouds.livejournal.com]

I would definitely take it into account. I think that's why it's good to discuss names you are considering with others, because sometimes the tease-factor isn't clear right away.

If I were you, I'd reconsider Enzo too. I think it's a pretty nice name, but since you are in an area with a lot of Hispanic people...there's a good chance they'll make the menzo-connection.

[pleasure-past.livejournal.com]

...with just as many hispanic children as american children...

Worry less about your kid getting teased for his name and more about him getting into fights for implying that only white people are real Americans.

I went to a high school that was about 52% Latino. One boy in my class was named Assapopoulos, nick-named "Ass." As far as I know, he was never really teased for it. As for Spanish teasing, most of my school didn't actually speak enough Spanish to make the "Enzo -> Menzo" connection.

I do think that if bullies decide they want to tease a child, they're going to do it regardless of hir name, but I do consider it a little bit when choosing names. At least it gives me a certain amount of control over the type of teasing that will go on. I'd rather name my daughter Holly and have her go through life having Christmas Carols shouted at her than name her something like heyvanit's example (Molly Lester).

I was actually never teased for my first name (Though I did grow up constantly coaching people on how to say/spell it, because it's Yiddish and for some reason that makes it hard even though it's the most phonic spelling my parents could think of, but that's a rant for another day...) but I've been teased a pretty good deal about my last name (which is actually a pretty common surname, that I just happen to share with an infamous individual), so sometimes you'll lose no matter what you do.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

I take it into account very minimally. I wouldn't give my child a name with generally negative connotations like Bertha (a "fat" name) or Eugene (a "dork" name). I wouldn't give my child a name that will OBVIOUSLY lead to teasing like Ima Hogg or something but... that's about it. I guess in your case, maybe Enzo might be kind of close to Ima Hogg in easy teasing factor, but then again, maybe not.

My name is Melissa, and several people on that site had various stories of "Pissy Missy" and "Smelly Melly". I was called Missy and Mel to a certain extent, but nobody ever took it further than that. And actually, even when I discovered that my name backwards is Assilem (Asylum or Ass, take your pick), people thought it was pretty cool and I never got teased about it.

Kids are going to bully other kids whether it's their name or their clothes or their size or how they talk. I think it's more important to teach your kid how to deal with potential bullying rather than over-analyzing if their name MIGHT lead to an inappropriate nickname.

[bookity.livejournal.com]

My husband has said before that he doesn't want to name a boy something that could easily be turned into a girls name. His name is Paul and he gets a few of his friends that think it is funny to call him Paula even thugh he hates it. But I have told him that names like that can be hard to come by. And like everyone else said here... Teasing at some point in their life is probably inevitable and it will be some other reason if it's not their name.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

It depends on the name. If I'm really in love with it, no I wouldn't let it stop me. My only issue with Enzo is that everyone I know who goes by that is actually named Vincenzo. In most cases I really dislike using nicknames as proper names.

[so-there.livejournal.com]

kids will make fun of anything they can, and like you said, with you it was your last name. so too it was with me (Nee--can I have a dollar for every time I got called [firstname] elbow? kthx, got a mortgage to pay.) and actually, for the most part, it was always kids' last names getting picked on in grade school! that's something you really can't do anything about.

[blue-roan.livejournal.com]

Name the kid what you want and teach him to throw a mean left hook?