What's in a name?

On a teachers' website in England, a few teachers got together to debate student names that are either looked at as problematic or charming. What started out as light-hearted and funny has now turned into a politically correct debate. Of Course.

Jordan, K'tee, Kloe and Bobbi-Jo are all names to make some teachers' hearts sink, apparently.

Teachers have confessed to making snap judgments about children from their names on the register.

In a light-hearted debate on a teachers' website, they have listed the names they associate with problematic and charming pupils.

Poppys are seen as hyperactive, Kayleighs as a pain and Ryans as hard work, according to chat on the website of the Times Educational Supplement.

Kyle, Liam, Wayne, Charmaine and Charlie are among the names teachers say they associate with problem children.

Most people associate names with attitudes, and most times they're right. For instance, when I hear the name *Debbie*, I think of someone who is evil, hurtful, cruel, and slow-minded. Where as when I hear the name Mitch, I think of someone who is strong, funny, caring, incredibly smart, and, of course, talented beyond regular human norms.

According to the website, names which get a negative response from teacher include those with hyphens, like Bobbi-Jo, ordinary names with unusual spellings such as Kloe or K'tee, Kristopher, Jayne, Gyaike and Chevaughn, plus the various spellings of Jordon.

Names which teachers associate with delightful children include Kate, Gregory, Sean, Charlotte, Jamie, Daniel, Lucy, Isobel, Ben, Sam, Harpreet, Imran, Asam, Alice and Joseph.

I haven't even heard of most of those names, who names their kid K'tee?

The debate has sparked a row with parents chatting on another website, bounty.com.

Some were appalled, complaining that children were being labeled and pre-judged before they had even stepped inside a classroom.

One mother said she had complained to the Department for Education and Skills, saying: "I and many other parents are disgusted by the attitudes of the teachers on the forum.

"I realise this is a small number of teachers, but they have taken time out of their day to post these comments and I presume... they actually mean what they are saying."

Can I get a group "boo-hoo?"

If your child is named Gyaike (I still can't stop laughing at that name), and he/she is a good child, then you have nothing to worry about, teachers will treat them with the respect they deserve. The main problem I see is that a parent had the audacity to name a child Gyaike. Let's face it, you might as well have named your child Puke.

If your kid is named Gyaike or Laquesha, or K'tay, or anything where you have to make clicking sounds to pronounce their names, you need not worry about the teachers labeling them, the kids in the schoolyard will do that soon enough.

Are there any names that you hear that you associate as problematic? Let us know, we're dying to hear.

Article here.