Your opinions please!

Last night we had a parent teacher interview with our son Wally's teacher (who is hot by the way)

He told us mostly all the stuff we knew already, Wally could do much better if he concentrated, or applied himself etc. Then pulled this out of the blue:

"I've been calling him Walt" and asked if we wouldn't mind changing his name on the school roll, because he doesn't think Wally has the resilience to cope with any negative associations his name might have.

WTF!!!

I know there used to be Wally Walpameur ads and "don't be a Wally with water" campaigns on TV in the 80s or 90s, but I don't really think the younger generation would even KNOW about those. When movie Wall-E came out, all the kids loved that and thought he was cool

The teacher said that because the master and me weren't born in Australia, we might not be as aware of the negative impact his name might have.

My husband told him that when he was a kid "Leo Wanker" was a Paul Hogan skit character, and no kid was called Leo, except him. But, the teacher suggested, "you were probably a really resilient kid".

I didn't mention Charlotte the harlot or any number of other insults hurled in my direction, back when I was at school.

I think kids will victimise certain children no matter what their name is, teaching the kids resilience is what is the issue here. So far he has NOT been the victim of any kind of bullying or teasing in school and it may well be he never will be, do we change his name to remove a potential issue (that may well never arise)?

He's going to end up chosing his own name soon anyway.


I remember being called 'Donky' "onkerdonky" and underdog

Of course I was picked on horribly for many many other reasons, namely being the only Asian kind most of the other kids had ever seen in real life, so my early years in school were traumatic for more than just my name.

In the end, I settled on "Dan" because my health teacher refused to say "Daniel" cause he thought it was too cumbersome , but I started to like the name because he was hot....I often wanted him to say "Dan, can you..." Yes, the fuck I can!!!


In the military I ended up wanting my friends to call me 'donk' so it kind of came full circle. I ended up owning a varient of a nickname that I used to hate.



I don't know of any reason why Wally would traumatize the kid. Maybe the teacher is just being as protective as he can be.

C:\Otaassk~.exe




Seriously, this thread makes no fucking sense: http://prince.org/msg/15/321025

vivid is my new boo!

Heeeeck! No! Thats your son! You chose what to name him.
Sounds like he has a problem with the name...


When I was in 4th grade. My teacher gave this kid Mikey a hard time. She refused to call him Mikey because she thought it was childish. And she told him he was going to grow up to be a criminal.
[Edited 9/9/09 18:32pm]

"Nobody makes me bleed my own blood...NOBODY!"
"Time for me to exit into the night"

Hell, I'm white and I be damned if I would live somewhere that has no black folks. I would die of boredom. -vainandy

Fuck that. Call your kid by the name he likes. No need to encourage issues that aren't even there. And while your son's teacher may be very experienced w/kids, he's hardly a child psychologist and has no right to try to influence such a huge thing as your son's identity.

How old is your son? If he's old enough to go to school, he's old enough to decide what he wants to be called.

I went to school with a girl whose last name was Boughner. It was pronounced EXACTLY how you think.

What was even worse was when she and another girl with the last name Cox were in the same classroom. It was a 7th grade comedy bonanza.

The Boughner girl was used to it, though, and she actually had a good sense of humor about it...especially for a 7th grader. I mean, what else could she do?

I think it's silly to change your name for fear of getting teased. Believe me, if you don't have an obviously tease-friendly name, kids will find SOMETHING to call you. Take it from ol' Farton Barton.

Genesia said:

How old is your son? If he's old enough to go to school, he's old enough to decide what he wants to be called.

Anxiety said:

I went to school with a girl whose last name was Boughner. It was pronounced EXACTLY how you think.

What was even worse was when she and another girl with the last name Cox were in the same classroom. It was a 7th grade comedy bonanza.

The Boughner girl was used to it, though, and she actually had a good sense of humor about it...especially for a 7th grader. I mean, what else could she do?

I think it's silly to change your name for fear of getting teased. Believe me, if you don't have an obviously tease-friendly name, kids will find SOMETHING to call you. Take it from ol' Farton Barton.

Tell that bitch to go fuck herself.

God DAMN there are a lot of dumb motherfuckers walking around! - George Carlin
Stalkerwomen of the world unite in delusion!!!!!

Charlotte the harlot!?! That's BRILLIANT!

Anyway... uh... yeah, let Wally decide.

I say you start calling him Sparrow.

You don't need directions and you don't need cash. From your Jimmy Choos to your Ultralash. ~ Prince
And when the groove is dead and gone, you know that Love survives so we can rock FOREVER. ~ RIP MJ

SCNDLS said:

I say you start calling him Sparrow.

God DAMN there are a lot of dumb motherfuckers walking around! - George Carlin
Stalkerwomen of the world unite in delusion!!!!!

Oh... and post pics of this teacher dude.

ZombieKitten said:

Genesia said:

How old is your son? If he's old enough to go to school, he's old enough to decide what he wants to be called.

he'll be 8 in December
I agree, he should decide

Lammastide said:

Oh... and post pics of this teacher dude.

How obnoxious.

CarrieMpls said:

I thought that these things were just possible to happen here in Portugal!
>I had a history similar to my son; his name is João Sebastião (it is common in mine country, the people having two proper names); and for the alphabetical order the teachers wanted always call him for João; but everyone treated him for Sebastião; he asked the teachers for they treat him for that name, and we never got...
Now those teachers' argument is still more fool!

Lammastide said:

Oh... and post pics of this teacher dude.

I've just been googling him, no pics, BUT…
he's vegan apparently!

Fuck that. Either call him Wally, or let him decide what he prefers. I agree with those who say regardless of the name, kids will tease. I was christened "Joni Baloney" on the first day of kindergarten and my grade school friends still call me that sometimes. And if I had a $1 for everytime asked me where Chatchi was , I'd have....enough money for a night on the town!

And as the first name on birth certificate says Joni, I always correct anyone who dares to call me by the icky, old lady name of Joan.

I think this is the one of the awkward things I've ever heard.

I think the teacher was overreacting a little here. If your son hasn't so far had any problems I wouldn't worry about it. If HE wants to be called Walt then let him, but it's your kid. I think you should call him what you named him.

I got called Jill the Pill!

"Jill take a chill pill!

No matter what a kid's name is their gonna get teased at some point.

My friend got called Craig the peg leg.

ZombieKitten said:

ingamilo said:

ZombieKitten said:

I've just been googling him, no pics, BUT…
he's vegan apparently!

>to be vegetarian is good; but can eat cow meat, once a week
behind very rigid attitudes they appear, a lot of times, people full of certainties and... plenty stupid!
> I went like this; vegetarian and full of done ideas; i didn't leave my son to play with pistols and only had wood toys.... and he made their pistols when it bit the bread
> if the teacher goes vegetarian tells him that all ended for killing any thing, per times it can by a name...

hokie said:

I think this is the one of the awkward things I've ever heard.

I think the teacher was overreacting a little here. If your son hasn't so far had any problems I wouldn't worry about it. If HE wants to be called Walt then let him, but it's your kid. I think you should call him what you named him.

I got called Jill the Pill!

"Jill take a chill pill!

No matter what a kid's name is their gonna get teased at some point.

My friend got called Craig the peg leg.

OMG, this teacher is a bit insane

His name is fine! and if the other kids have a problem with it he can tell them to kick rocks!

thekidsgirl said:

OMG, this teacher is a bit insane

His name is fine! and if the other kids have a problem with it he can tell them to kick rocks!

well I guess you should leave the decision up to him

I didn't know Wally was such a controversial name!

thekidsgirl said:

well I guess you should leave the decision up to him


I didn't know Wally was such a controversial name!

My now 26 year old son is named Angel. My husband wanted this name so bad because he was raised by his grandfather, Angel. As hispanics on the org will confirm, Angel is a very popular name in Mexico, but we live in the states.
I had the chicken pox in the first trimester, while pregnant with my son. He was born as healthy as can be, and I finally agreed, Angel would be his name. No sooner had we named him when all of the negativity towards his name started. People actually would tell us to our face we needed to change our son's name or he would be teased in school. In my son's 26 years, he was only teased twice about his name and that was in kindergarden. He is now a young professional writer, and his name set's him apart in a crowd.