Teachers Reveal The Names They Absolutely Wouldn't Use For Their Own Kids
Parents-to-be considering baby names have all kinds of reasons for excluding certain names from their list. For example, giving a child the same name as a cousin is generally frowned upon — the name is viewed as already “taken.”
People also tend to avoid names they have negative associations with, like a childhood bully or a teenage nemesis. We all have memories of friends (or enemies) that we’d rather not revisit every time we call our kids to dinner.
Teachers, however, face a unique challenge when naming their children. They have dozens, potentially hundreds, of associations with different names, plus an insider’s view of how baby name trends are playing out in their field. You don’t want your kid to have the same name that five of their future classmates will have.
We asked teachers in our HuffPost Facebook communities which names they ruled out when choosing one for their own child. Here’s what they said.
“I had my boys before I taught. But one year I had a Larissa, Clarissa, Marissa, and Carissa all in the same class. They were all quite offended if I mixed up their names. I resorted to calling them Miss _______ (insert last name).” — Jami Nicholette, Pennsylvania
“Mine was actually a parent. The student was fine, but the parent was so mean I just couldn’t handle seeing the kid’s name anymore.” — Jacque Terese
“Aiden. I had two every year in my class for over five years. They were always rowdy and had a hard time sitting still.” — Leanne Kotlarz, Chicago
“Any boy’s name with an x in it that isn’t traditionally spelled with one, i.e. Jaxon, Braxton, etc.” — Joy E Taylor Anderson, Utah
“Any boy J name. My first year teaching, I had 10 male students in a resource class and eight of them had names that started with J.” — Suzanne H. Martin
“Storm. Self-explanatory ” — Jeanne Szwan
“Any name that is also a virtue — Charity, Chastity, Harmony. They are always hell on wheels.” — Kelly Boren, Utah
“I started teaching in the ’80s. I only met one Jason that I could stand.” — Lea Whitfield
“Anything in the Aiden family. Also, the -iley family: Riley, Kiley, etc. Cooper … the list goes on.” — Erin Tarver
“Any form of Jackson!” — Rachel Clark
“Every other girl was Katie, Kayly, Keely, Kelly, Kylie, Kelsy or Kelty. They were all blonde and looked alike.” — Lea Whitfield
“Aiden, Jaiden, Kaiden … any variant of those are, more often than not, handfuls!” — Jennifer Henderson Murray
Aiden. I had two every year in my class for over five years.Leanne Kotlarz, Chicago teacher
“Tyler — every single Tyler I had was a handful.” — Margaret Connolly
“Darius: He swore all the time.” — Heather Schultz
“Names that are initials.” — Brenda Eisenhardt, New Jersey
“Bettie. It was fine till I heard a parent say it about 50 times in a minute because this kid was not listening.” — Adrienne Anderson
“Jared. One was a major behavior issue for our entire multidisciplinary team, and the other just kind of an inappropriate brat. I gave my all to both of them, just like any other student, and tried hard not to let my feelings or judgments show. One is a very successful influencer now and I’m proud of his hard work. His personality obviously has served him well!” — Kelley Peloton Mindrup, Texas
“So many names (especially for boys) were ruled out for me when we were expecting. We chose unusual names for our younger two kiddos because of me working in preschools. P.S.: Kiddos named Angel rarely are!” — Kendra Votava
Any name that is also a virtue — Charity, Chastity, Harmony. They are always hell on wheels.Kelly Boren, Utah teacher
“Braxton. I had several students with that name over the course of a few years, and every single one of them gave me major problems. I couldn’t bring myself to ever use that name for any of my boys!” — Logan Nielsen, Utah
“When I was having my daughter, I loved Adelina. But at that point, everyone was Addie, Maddie, etc. and I just couldn’t do it.” — Elaine Giambruno
“Trent! He was a wonderful kid, but man, he made me age. Some kids just have an aura that draws everyone in like moths to a flame. He was charismatic and always kind, with an edge of malice. I remember telling him, ‘Imagine if you took all this energy and used it for good?’ I loved him and wanted to cry every time he walked in the room. It was Trent’s world and we were all along for the ride.” — Trina David Pace
“I vetoed all names that could be initials, like AJ or JR.” — Allison Reynolds
“Aiden, Aidan, Brayden, Braeden, Caeden, Jayden, Kayden, Hayden, Zaiden … all in one preschool class.” — Jessica Cleveland
“Angel, Sunshine, Rainbow.” — Nicole DiCarlo
“Both my wife and I are teachers at the same school. I have taught 27 years and my wife 13 years, so finding a name not attached to a student for our 9-month-old son was a large task. But we managed to find a name that we not only have never taught, that we have never even seen on any roster: Ellis. And it’s perfect!” — Victoria Bull, Colorado
Responses have been lightly edited for clarity, style and length.
