A recent Reddit thread asked teachers to share names they'd avoid naming their children due to negative associations from past students. Many commented on common names, spellings, and even 'naughty' names they encountered.
Baby names can divide opinion due to the deeply personal nature of a parent's preferences when it comes to naming their child. Lots of families find themselves creating a shortlist of possible names ready for when they meet their baby - with many parents creating a similar list of names they absolutely would not consider naming their son or daughter.
A parent's 'no' list can be down to a number of factors - either fears about bullying, names being too commonly used, or having previously known a person with that name who they didn't get along with. This challenge can be made harder when the parent is a teacher, and comes across a long list of potential baby names in their line of work each day. In a recent Reddit post, a user of the site asked teachers to share the names they would avoid giving their child due to 'past students' who created negative associations with a particular name. The original poster said: 'Teachers - what names would you avoid naming a child due to past students? What names do you now work hard to not have a bias against? For me, Connor is at the top of my list after teaching several Connors. I now have to be aware when I have a Conner that I treat that student fairly.' The post was flooded with hundreds of comments from teachers who shared the names they would never consider naming a baby, after working with a child who had the same name. One commenter said: 'Any name spelled with an x that isn’t traditionally spelled with an x - eg Jaxon.' While another said: 'Please avoid Kyle and Jacob. They were always a handful in my classroom.' A teacher who found the thread on Reddit said: 'Pretty much all common boy’s names that start with J - Jack, Jake, Jacob, James, Josh, Jackson, Jonathon, John. There have been a few nice ones but for the most part they’re super challenging. ' Another teacher said: 'It seems so hard to find the perfect name for your children when you’re a teacher - I've been working with kids for over 10 years so it’s hard to find a name you’ve never heard of. UK if that makes a difference. Every student with these names I have bad associations with. Doesn’t mean all kids with these names are bad just my personal experience - Callum, Charlie, Denim, Edward, Frankie, Henry, Jack, Joshua, Luca, Matthew, Reggie, Rhys, Ryan, Sebastian, Ella, Freya, Isabella/Bella, Jessica/Jessie/Jess, Madison/Maddie, Mckenzie, Millie, Ruby, Skye. On a positive note these are names I’ve only had good associations with - Benedict/Benny, Benjamin/Benji/Ben, Elijah, Harry, Harvey, Jamie, Noah, Ruben, Alice, Amelia, Daisy, Elise, Ellie, Florence, Georgie, Grace, Ivy, Lillian, Lily, Matilda, Rose.' One teacher said they were put off common names that had multiple spellings, saying: 'Names with multiple well known spellings, even if they’re nice names. However you spell it, it’s a gorgeous name , but Catherine, Kathryn, Katherine are exhausting. I’d rather my hypothetical children be called their own names or a random nickname in school than end up getting called, 'Katherine with a K' all the time. 'Catherine WITH A C' like that itself is the child’s full name just rings in my ears. I’m tired of hearing it.' A parent commented on the thread to say they had specifically vetoed names they considered to be 'naughty' names, saying: 'I’m from the UK and totally agree with this list. When we were naming our son I had to veto a lot of 'naughty boy names' and Connor was on there, along with Callum. I also think Mason and any other 'profession' name like Baker, Hunter, Archer etc are all naughty boy names.
Baby Names Teachers Classroom Experiences Negative Associations Parenting Names To Avoid
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