Serious said:

My german grandma had a fit when she found out about the name!!!
she told us she would refuse to call him by his name until we said, it's OK! We call him Wally! and she was sooooo relieved! She must have hated a Walter!

I say be proud of being a Wally, and write to the school complaining about the teacher. He should be educating the kids to celebrate their differences - let's all be called John and Jane shall we, just so we don't get picked on

That is totally inappropriate and exactly the kind of attitude which contributes the stereotype the teacher (hot or not) is trying to avoid.

I say be proud of being a Wally, and write to the school complaining about the teacher. He should be educating the kids to celebrate their differences - let's all be called John and Jane shall we, just so we don't get picked on

Mariah the Papaya

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.

Mariah the Papaya

PREDOMINANT said:

It seems a lot of people are obsessed with certain names being acceptable and others not being acceptable all in the guise of concern that a person with a so called weird name might get picked on and then they go ahead and slam, make fun of the names that they think are stupid.

Just look at the Nicole Richie baby thread. It's all so weird to me.

i remember when my husband and i first took our son to church about a week after he was born, the pastor asked us what we named him, we told him "Joshua Luiz" and he looked at us like we were crazy, he said why did you give him the middle name "luiz"? that's such an ugly name! you should change it! my husband was offended, as my husband, his father, great grandfather, etc. all had the middle name "luiz". it's a tradition in his family. i don't think joshua luiz is an odd name? but you wouldn't believe the amount of people here that comment on it being odd....my husband said maybe it's just normal in brazil? hahaha?

i remember when my husband and i first took our son to church about a week after he was born, the pastor asked us what we named him, we told him "Joshua Luiz" and he looked at us like we were crazy, he said why did you give him the middle name "luiz"? that's such an ugly name! you should change it! my husband was offended, as my husband, his father, great grandfather, etc. all had the middle name "luiz". it's a tradition in his family. i don't think joshua luiz is an odd name? but you wouldn't believe the amount of people here that comment on it being odd....my husband said maybe it's just normal in brazil? hahaha?

PANDURITO said:

PaisleyPark5083 said:

How stupid of these people. I went to school with a Mexican guy named Angel, and everyone thought he had the coolest name in the world.

I was never teased about my name while in school,so I can't relate to that here,but there is no way in hell that I would let a teacher tell me that I need to change my kids name. He sure has some balls to even suggest it imo.

I haven't read the entire thread but I still don't quite get what is wrong with Wally.

But maybe the teacher raised the issue because she knows something you don't? Like, she's seen some other kids make fun of his name, or he's expressed embarrassment of it?

NDRU said:

read the thread, I explained everything!!!

ZombieKitten said:

I was afraid you'd say that. I'd prefer to state my opinion without knowing the facts, please.

NDRU said:

the teacher is a guy

and "wally" means stupid foolish person, inept and always making mistakes.

ZombieKitten said:

ah!

I wonder if teachers tell parents to call their kids Richard instead of Dick?

every name has a potential teasing point

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.

NDRU said:

or NOT Andy (Pandy)

every name has a potential teasing point

ZombieKitten said:

hey, that hurts!


yeah kids stretch the limits of what is actually embarassing

as an example, my surname sounds like "gallon" if pronounced in the typical Aussie way and I used to be called Charlotte Gallon of petrol
There was a kid called Frank Milito, he thought he was SOOOO clever having thought of the gallon thing! And I didn't know how it would come out when I started teasing him back but I called him Frank Me Litre of milk and he went beet red and never called me anything ever again