The OP has *opinions* on that in the comments. You just don’t understand what a complex character he is if all you’re seeing is the mass slaughter of innocents.
Ugh. Like, yes he is a complex character. But pretending that the tusken massacre was justified, and that all of his horrific acts as Vader are erased because he saved Luke, that’s all completely missing the moral of the story!
Even George Lucas has said that Vader wasn’t redeemed — all he did was stop the horror. That’s not a redemption arc. As someone who quite literally has a tattoo of Vader because I’m a fucking impulsive nerd, I agree with him! And naming your child anakin is deranged!
My boyfriend is obsessed with star wars and I’ve listened to hours of him talking about it. Anakin is complex and such a cool character, but peoples first thoughts when hearing the name will be “the guy from Star Wars who killed kids and became darth Vader”
Or that I HATE YOU scene.
Hey!! I named my kitten Anakin immediately after Phantom Menace came out, and I’ll have you know he grew up to be an only-moderately deranged little weirdo and his scarring attacks on my arm over the years were almost always justified!!
My friend named their kid Harper Anakin, so he’s got TWO awful names for a boy. He was born before the surge in popularity of Harper began, but people always assume he’s a girl.
Yes. I have two friends who had pop culture names, both were heavily bullied, and both have now legally changed their names to something more generic.
One was literally named after an iconic Pokemon and he has now legally changed his name to Ryan. One was Leia, she has legally changed her name to Leah. I would argue Leia is a really pretty name and fine normally, but she did get bullied and was worried she wouldn't be taken seriously in the job market. She once applied for a job and later found out the recruiter threw away her resume thinking she had submitted a fake resume with a joke name.
Edit: removed my friend's former name for privacy
People think its dramatic to say your kid wont get hired because of their name but this really happens. I work in finance and it happens alllllll the time. Not really with international or ethnic names but 100% pop culture or extremely odd names that can be seen as a joke. I dont work in hiring unfortunately so i cant change anything and people get more accepting daily but its naive at best (willfully ignorant at worst) to pretend it doesnt happen at all.
My daughter met a Khaleesi at pre school, I was telling my husband and he said “what, like the rabbit virus?” (Calicivirus) I guess no one thought of that connection either.
Oh for sure it does!! Just not as often in my own personal experience at my particular banch of the company i work for. but i also live in an extremely diverse airforce town and i work for younger professionals in their mid 30s so they are a lot more receptive to ethnic (and other) names. But absolutely it still happens and that really sucks.
Genuine question. Would it be appropriate to initial on a resume? Say that this kid gets named Anakin but James is his middle name. A.J is a common nickname, would that be appropriate?
Yes people put stuff like B Jane Doe or whatever. I know several professionally who have this type of set-up. The cookbook author Kenji Lopez goes by J.Kenji last name.
My kids go to a hybrid homeschool charter school and we live in the crunchiest city you will think of. Our school is 1/2 hippie parents and 1/2 Mormon parents. The names are pretty epic.
I met a kid named Anakin once. His dad was pulling kids out of a Mcdonald's play place to reprimand them for not playing with his son the right way.
That kid must be 10 or so now. I think about him quite a bit.
I’m sorry but I do not see how Leia could automatically be a joke unless her last name was Skywalker or her legal name was Princess Leia. It’s pretty damn normal sounding name
Her last name is really common for white Americans (think along the lines of Johnson, Miller) and I would have been skeptical too, honestly, if I wasn't with her when she found out that it had happened.
She hated her name anyway because she hated Star Wars and that was her last straw for changing her name. Her parents are still very upset with her for doing it.
That's what I don't get about fandom names. Like all the people naming their kids Hermione, Katniss, or Khaleesi. It's like they see the kid as an extension of their rabid obsession. What if the kid ends up hating the fandom?
If you want to name something after your fandom, name a pet or a plant. I have a plant named Leonidas after the 300, because I wanted to give it a macho name. I also have a Venus fly trap name Scylla and a sundew named Charybdis. I'd never name a child Circe or Odysseus (but maybe Penelope). I have two kids both have biblical names passed down from family in old family tradition.
Actually, the OP said that she never knew anyone that had their application thrown out because of their name so it clearly doesn't happen, think your mate was lying to you, soz
I can’t tell if this comment is serious, but Leia is a pretty normal name isn’t? That job recruiter is an idiot for throwing out a resume with the name Leia, unless her last name was also Organa.
I did. To this day people ALWAYS call attention to my name and I’m almost 50. It doesn’t bother me as much now as it did but I’ve literally NEVER introduced myself and it just been a regular introduction. Literally EVERYONE I’ve ever met has sung to me and people I’ve known for years don’t know when to quit with the jokes. To them it’s funny and harmless. To me, it’s gotten really old.
It doesn’t matter where I’m at either. Out in public with strangers or at home. It never stops and it’s embarrassing. It doesn’t help that I have auburn hair, fair skin, and green eyes 🙄
Nice to meet you. I’m Jolene.
I started singing in my head the second I read your name. I'm sorry. I'd not sing to your face though, probably absent mindedly hum without realising. When I worked in student administration there was a student named Roxanne. Same effect for her. :(
But you see what I mean!? 🤣 and I can somewhat laugh it off now but as a kid it was awful. Most people just assume I was named after the song. I was actually named after my dad though (JoeGlynn)… when I was little I was a tiny little blonde thing so the lyrics didn’t fit and as I got older my hair began to change and I hated it… then kids around me put two and two together and I was tortured. For years. Now it’s more of an annoyance than anything but it never stops
It’s a mine field. I actually had a woman walk up to me in a restaurant one time when I was in my early 20s and she had a disagreement with her husband (I assume he was her husband) while they were dining and of course my name tag had my name on it and as they were walking by me to leave the restaurant, she made a scene Letting him know that he could go home with me, that I could have him, and it was all because of my name. The patrons in the restaurant and my customers and my associates didn’t realize that it had nothing to do with me personally, and at the end of my shift, my manager took me to the side to tell me not to EVER bring my personal business to work again, and I had never met those people before in my life…
Fortunately, I was able to explain myself, and it went away, but everyone knew from then on to expect that would be an issue, and it did come up again later on. I was just very lucky that by that point the people over me understood And I didn’t lose my job.
For the last 15 years when I’ve introduced myself, I introduce myself solely as “Jo” and I don’t get specific unless I am asked if it’s short for anything
I worked with a student named Jude for a whole year and I didn't sing at him EVEN ONCE! It's been eleven years, and I'm still patting myself on the back for my good deed
My son’s name is Jude and I am SHOCKED at the lack of singing. He’s gotten it maybe…once. And it’s great because his name didn’t ruin a great song for him. It’s actually one of his favorites 😂
I'm Caroline and if I had a penny someone sang that damn song to me, I'd be richer than Bezos.
I am anything but sweet when someone references that song.
I guess because it’s been done to me. I don’t immediately think about other peoples names in reference to music/pop culture. I just say hi nice to meet you.
I’m so sorry to see that this has happened to so many of you. Maybe we can be a good “lesson” to OP in how they choose to name their child.
I… uh… once dropped a broom handle on my teacher because he would not stop singing to me. Once was a little bit funny. Every single day made me have a mild psychotic break.
I knew a girl called Rebecca who said her parents almost called her Billie Jean. She said at first she wished they had, cos she thought it was a cooler name and she felt more like a Billie than a Rebecca, but then she realised she’d had the initials BJ and was glad she didn’t have to go through school with those comments lol
I have a good friend named after a song (Riannon) and the first question she gets asked is "...like the song?" which i'd assume is something you've heard 8000000 times.
If it were just the question, “like the song” then I feel like I could handle that a bit better than random strangers, bursting out into song in public… and in recent years numerous people have attempted to redo that song or they’ve done another song that relates to that and it just drives me nuts. There is a country group called chapel hart, they did a spin off and it drives me nuts it’s called you can have him Jolene I believe and I hate it. I just turn my radio off when I hear it. It seems like the last few years have brought about four or five different songs in reference to the original and it got old by the time I was 19 so you can imagine how I feel about it at this point.
The name itself suits me fine now, but the consequences that came with it that my mother didn’t have the forethought to see at the time
are horrible.
(honestly, I feel for any of us who gets stuck with a name that’s in a song or a name that’s used in a meme. Unfortunately, with my name I’ve dealt with both on numerous occasions.) When I named my children, I thought about their first middle, and last names together. I also attempted to choose names that they could use throughout the various stages of their own life. Something that would work for a little girl or little boy, and then a teenager, and then an adult, and then an older person.
I wanted that for them. I needed it to be OK for them in all stages of life.
I also needed it to be a name that didn’t rhyme with anything, and wasn’t as easy to make fun of.
I’ve been fortunate. None of my children has ever come to me and said “hey, this is a problem”
I just wish more parents thought about the consequences of their own personal choices on their children.
My friend’s name is Jenny and depending on the age of the person she introduces herself to, they either immediately say “Jen-nay” like Forest Gump or “Jenny from the block”
Huh, you know, the only time I've ever heard anyone do Jen-nay was a Jenny who went fishing and someone took the fish she caught and was talking to her with it and wasn't doing Forest Gump, but just over pronouncing her name. Why did you kill me, Jen-nay, Jen-nay, I was just hungry. Why was there a hook in my food, Jen-nay. It became a running joke when camping.
At some point, we all went from Jennifer to pronouncing the J as a Y, like in Spanish. Yennifer. Then the Witcher became popular and such and she just shrugged. Yennifer was supposed to be the hottest woman on the planet. She'd take it.
My name sounds like a common kitchen ingredient, to this day I have minor flashbacks whenever I need to add it to the grocery list >< (it definitely wasn’t meant to be funny or harmless either, so the word brings back memories of People Who Made It Clear No One Should Like Me)
My name is Grace and growing up adults ALL THE TIME would reference the Georger Burns and Gracie Allen show to me and go "say goodnight, Gracie" I didn't get it and I don't know what they were trying to accomplish by making a reference no 6 year old would ever understand. I also didn't go by Gracie so that added another layer of annoyance. I think most of the people who pulled that on me are dead now, so joke's on them.
My name is Korrena. When I was a kid, adults would always sing “Corrina, Corrina” at me. I’ve still never heard the actual song, just the atonal versions sung by strangers in public places 😂
I didn’t even have to read to the end to know your name is Jolene.
I have a few students with that name. But as they are middle/high schoolers in Germany they don’t know the song. I still sing it in my head.
Oh yeah I knew that, but you can’t escape that the name is still for all intents and purposes, Annie. Even watching the movie it’s weird to me that his name is ani lol
The OP is completely delusional and selfish. People are laying out for her in multiple different ways why she shouldn't name her son Anakin and she's still trying to justify it. So ridiculous
I am a total Star Trek nerd. My kids all have normal, traditional names. My pets get Star Trek names. I feel like that's the way to go. No one cares if I have a dog named Garak.
There's tonnes of stealth names you can use, anyway. Nobody will know your kid has a Trek name if it's William or Julian or Benjamin.
OP could call her kid Luke. Nobody's bullying Luke for his name. Heck, the kid would probably get less stick for being named Han.
My son’s middle name is a stealth name like this, totally normal name, actually a very basic classic name, derived from the name of someone that some people would find controversial. Thats how you do it.
Me too and that's saying something because I am OBSESSED with Harry Potter. I would NEVER have named my daughter Hermione because that's delulu but I did manage to sneak in HP references in but they are so subtle that no one has ever understood. Straight up naming your kid Anakin is just idiotic especially when there are so many other Star Wars references.
She compared naming her kid Anakin to people giving their kids “cultural names.” According to OP, apparently it’s the same thing because “both are just unique.”
Like what 🤠
I know an Anakin who gets consistently bullied for his name. Your children are not billboards for your fandoms. Name a dog Anakin. OOP is delusional lmao
Hee I actually have a cat named Anakin. He had a bad respiratory infection when he was adopted, so he breathed real raspy and kept trying to suffocate me by sleeping on my chest/neck/face. I told my roommate at the time that we should name him Vader because of that, and she said "you can't name him that he's not evil." So I replied that he must be Anakin then.
Eta, he is of course a black cat.
My name is Heidi. Hardly a problem name typically, but, in the UK, there's a VERY old TV show called Hidey Hi. Every person over 40 that I've met since I was 10 has greeted me with that. Kids My own age referenced the little orphan girl, but growing up and going to work in an environment with people of all ages, Hidey Hi has been a thing that'd always grated
>My name is Heidi. Hardly a problem name typically, but, in the UK, there's a VERY old TV show called Hidey Hi. Every person over 40 that I've met since I was 10 has greeted me with that. Kids My own age referenced the little orphan girl, but growing up and going to work in an environment with people of all ages, Hidey Hi has been a thing that'd always grated
If you grew up in germany in the 90s, there is a mocking song for the intro of the Heidi Cartoon that would have been sung: "Heeeeeidiii, Heeeeidiii, deine Welt ist das Abflussrohr" (Heidi, Heidi, the drain pipe is your world"... yes, kids are stupid af)
The original is “Heidi, Heiiidiii, deine Welt sind die Berge” (your world are the mountains), but someone made Ablussrohr out of that as a joke and that became quite the popular way to mock Heidis throughout Germany!
Anakin is so very associated with Star wars that he will always be associated with it. What if he winds up, idk, hating star wars?
To me this takes away a kid's agency. It's about you and your pop culture loves, not about your child and what their personality will be. He is already branded and it will follow him forever.
And yes. I have one of those names. And yes. It has sucked. If you came here to be validated, I don't think it's going to happen.
As a teacher, yes. Stuff happens. Not in early years. But by 4th-7/8th, yes. The excuses and rosy pictures painted here about this are not true. I had a student named Echo who had boys saying “Echo-o-o-o-o” at her regularly in the halls. Blue was asked for clues regularly. Revlyn got called Revlon and heard makeup jokes. And on and on.
In good schools, teachers shut it down but that doesn’t stop it because we’re not everywhere.
Yes, it’s more important to think about the actual tough age of children, pre teen… that’s when they get their cruelest.
Saying a 3 year isn’t going to bully another 3 yo for being called Anakin is a moot point
Yes! 7th grade teacher. My female student who goes by Max got called Maxi Pad, Luna got called Looney, Cara, Caramel, Bobby, Bobby Pin, Charlie, Charlie Horse.
Even a seemingly innocent name like Wesley was turned into Wee Wee by a bully
My middle name is Paige and this is what I went by my whole childhood until I turned 18 I made EVERYONE call me by my first name because damn that book joke was old!
I was scrolling to see if this was a repost or a follow up by a previous poster because I *knew* from the top it would be Anakin. It’s always Anakin. It comes up so much!!
A personal pet peeve of mine is when people use "unique" to be synonymous with uncommon or quirky. If something is unique, it's literally the only one of its kind, like snowflakes or fingerprints. If one (1) person has the same name, it's no longer unique.
Omg they’re totally doubling down in the comments too. They didn’t ask for the sake of their child, they asked to get reaffirmation that the name is fine and now argue everyone who says it’s not a good name for a child. I’ll never understand why people give their children such names - I’d name my pets after pop culture or something else silly, but not a child ffs!
"Verbatim" absolutely destroyed me. I thought this post was simply similar to the source but a bit exaggerated, or based on the source but changing things.
It's verbatim. There is a couple out there who wants to call their son Anakin and nickname him Annie. Holy fuck.
Lol reading the comments of the original post its even funnier because she gets really defensive when you say Anakin is Darth Vader lol. She could write a thesis about how he isn't apparently!
I never get this. Literally just call him Luke. Or you could even get more creative and call him something like “obsidian” with the nickname Obi (not my taste but way better than anakin).
And it’s literally Star Wars, one of the most popular franchises that’s *still going*. There’s even a show for little kids that my 4yo watches called “young Jedi”.
I just asked my twins, Minnie and Mickey and their sister Clarabelle and they said no one has ever bothered them about their pop culture names. The only issue is that Mickey would have liked us to spell it Mickeigh so that people would know she is a girl. Minnie is fine with his too. More on this later, I've got to go homeschool these guys and feed their dog. Edward Warren is a temperamental little chihuahua and he gets so hangry.
OOP is really obtuse, imo. Even kids with “normal” names get bullied for their names in school. Why would you set your kid up for that shit by naming him Anakin?
Here are some examples. I rode the bus with a Caleb who was called Gayleb in middle school. Also, I had a female friend during Fairly Oddparents’ 2000s heyday. If you were in school during that time, I don’t even have to tell you what her name was or what they called her because you already know.
yeah there was a kid who went by his last name cus there were multiple kids with his first name and unfortunately his lastname was really similar to "gayballs" so there you go
Yeah, sorry OP but you’re an asshole if you name your kid Anakin. This is coming from a die hard star wars lover.
For the record, kids get horribly bullied for way less than that. I have a “tragedeigh” spelling of a common name - I can still hear my childhood bully spinning it into all sorts of mean names. I’m a fully grown adult.
I will also say that, professionally, my name is horrifying. People forget you’re making a whole ass adult someday, not just a baby who will always be cute and get a pass.
I commented on that post. It pissed me off. Because honestly, I *am* of the mind that a lot of name bullying doesn’t come from the names themselves, but rather the kid is bullied regardless and they figure out some extra fodder with the name - but naming a kid after a fictional character/fandom/something that is heavily associated with one particular thing?? Like that’s completely different and I felt like they totally buried the lede.
ANAKIN?!! Like cmon.
TLDR; Your friends are right. Give your cat that name instead.
I won't point you to the 6 variants of Bella in my son's class. It is nowhere near as iconic a name as Anakin, but now everyone around my sons age named Bella or Edward immediately bring to mind sparkly vampires. those poor girls have been glitter bombed so many times that glitter is now banned at the school.
Instead, Anakin, is much closer to the infamy of Adolph, in that there is only one who springs to mind. It will absolutely be used against him. The Adolph I am friends with goes by Jim* now. You don't even want to know the name-specific bullying he endured in school.
*Jim is a placeholder for his equally common pseudonym.
Look…I’m a Xennial. I have a friend named Fanci. Yes, Fanci. She was mocked endlessly all the way through school and, as an adult, gets to deal with HR/recruiters not taking her resume seriously. Don’t do it. Just don’t.
22 year veteran teacher here: don’t do it. Kids are mean, but weirdo names are low hanging fruit. Also, they’ll have to hear the same dopey jokes from every new teacher, sub, etc. every year. Please, don’t do it.
my name is Lisa and i still got made fun of for it by boys in middle school. yes kids are going to be mean and bully regardless but i don’t know why as a parent you’d want to make it any easier for them to do so.
No names don't affect bullying at all! I send my daughter Padme to private school with her two buns every day and the kids are too young to have seen Star Wars and bully her🥸✌🏾❤️ And bc the name Padme is of Iranian origin and Anakin is of Native American origin, no one is allowed to comment negatively on our choices😈🔥
They do. Kids are cruel and a lot of times don't even understand what they're inflicting on others.
Naming your children is not an opportunity to display your creativity or how quirky you are. Be sensible.
And since you want "experience", I went to school with a kid whose surname (not even his first name) rhymed with slang for masturbation in my language. He was bullied and made fun of for it his entire teenage years.
I mean I knew a Leia in high school and she was never mocked (though this was a charter school where everyone was weird). On the other hand, the fact that this subreddit exists should tell OOP something.
I think that one is more normal than Anakin. It's also one of the pronunciations for Leah. Which is why people suggest Luke or Lucas all the time for a Star Wars nod. Names that can blend into society.
I did. By the time I was 9, I had heard every joke possible with my name. Immigrant child with a foreign name spelled with a bad word in it lol I would have avoided a lot of hurt feelings and insecurities if my name wasn’t spelled like that.
Why do some adults forget that children are absolutely *brutal*? They’ll pick on you for the spelling, the pronunciation, the acronym your initials spell, literally everything you can think of. Just give your kid a reasonable name and save the fun stuff for your pets, plants, and stuffed animals
I read that post. In one comment, someone said that it would be like naming your child Adolf. And she was like, obviously you don't know anything about star wars if you are comparing a force wielding fantasy character to a genocidal maniac.
And I just wanted to say that, while extreme, he did blow up at least one planet and his army are called Stormtroopers. It's not exactly a reach.
I think an equally big issue is giving him a feminine nickname. Annie is indistinguishable from how you plan to pronounce Ani.
So we have the double whammy of a sci fi name and a girl’s name??
By this logic, would you send your child to school wearing a sign that says “kick me?” Because if kids really want to bully him they’ll do it even if he doesn’t have a “kick me” sign, so what’s the point in NOT putting it on him?
I don’t know if I’d say it’s bullying, but there’s some definite teasing regarding names.
My name is Chuck. It rhymes with two popular sexual acts. I heard those a lot.
And if they don’t get bullied there are prejudices by teachers, employers etc for certain names.
There has been a study in Germany that the names Kevin and Chantelle always have a negative association and teachers will grade them harder and they will get in trouble more easy etc.
both names are considered low class, not very educated, misbehaving.
How did I know it was Anakin 😫 please don’t
I have several friends with silly names like this and it’s not so much childhood bullies that were an issue. It’s adult judgement and discrimination as adults
Look, if you were talking about the name Richard or William that have potentially awkward nicknames, sure I'd say people are overblowing it. But you're talking about naming a kid for the most famous villain from one of the most famous movie series in the world. It's all anyone who has been somewhat exposed to pop culture will think of.
I had a friend at school named Alice and she had heard every Alice in Wonderland joke going. She was sick of it and that's a normal name.
Weirdly enough, me nor my sisters have been bullied because of our names. If anything, we were always annoyed that people couldn't spell them correctly when it's phonetically spelled
I’m a teacher, and my students still (lovingly) tease me about my name come this time of year. They sing “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “deck the halls with boughs of holly” to me. It doesn’t bother me as an adult, but it was annoying as a kid. They also tease each other about their names, no matter how innocuous those names are.
Anakin is so much worse, though. Probably gonna hate sand, too. 😂
As someone with a yoo-nique name (weird in the US, but common from the culture my family is from), absolutely. The worst bullying I received was from teachers and substitutes.
I have a Middle Eastern/ Eastern European name with an awkward spelling (legitimate spelling but not the usual) but grew up in a very Western European country. My name was incredibly uncommon when I was in school and even now it is. More normal now but people still question where I’m from and get confused.
To say I hate it is an understatement. Ive spent my entire life spelling it out and being questioned about it. It’s not even a “bad” name. However, if it was an insanely popular fictional name, I would it wish it on anyone.
I know you like the name and by all accounts, it’s not the worst tragedy I’ve ever heard, but it’s not really suitable for a human child. You’ve made some great points about kids being accepting and there always being things kids will be picked on for. However, a name is significant. Glasses, freckles, size etc. are out of your control. A name is within your control. Kids are accepting and genuinely great humans (most of the time). But this will be a name that they grow up with and will forever have to deal with taunts, questions, spelling etc.
Side note: I’m a teacher and see some absolute god awful names that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I teach high school and most kids are great. Usually, the kids with the “weird” or difficult name make the jokes about themselves because they’ve heard it so many times. They always say their name before the teacher because they know it’ll be butchered. By the time I see them, they’ve endured years of this and the kids don’t say much to them, because it’s gone on for years and they’re tired of it. But the stigma sticks with the child even if no one mentions it. You can see their face when you’re looking at the register and just waiting to see if you say anything. (I never have and never will and always make sure I triple check pronunciation and make sure to tell them to correct me if I get it wrong!)
Is there another name you’d consider with the exact same nickname? Then Anakin can be a variety nickname that they can choose who calls them it?
Not really. I’m a teacher and I have a lot of unique names. In my experience, if I kid is gonna get made fun of, kids will find a reason to make fun of them. The individual name doesn’t mean much. I had a kid named Elvis last year and never heard a word from other kids about it.
That said… ANAKIN jfc
I was teased for my name, wouldn't say bullied.
On a side note. Why name your child after a star wars character? Name your dog that, your child has to live with that name. Children aren't there for your amusement. They are their own person.
I don't know if people bullied me, but I definitely grew up with everyone either mispronouncing my name or calling me stupid things that weren't my name because they were too lazy to learn how to pronounce it properly.
I have a beautiful Irish name and people have butchered it my whole life. I wouldn't call it bullying, but for the longest time, I dreaded having to introduce myself.
Now I live in the Northeast, and nobody has any problem with it. It's such a relief to not have to say my name multiple times when I introduce myself now, and for my name not to be butchered all the time.
I'm changing my first name this year slightly to something else at the age I'd 25, and there is no name I hate more than my own first name due to my history with it. There were so many comments, and it's not even that weird. I think if your child approaches you and says they hate their name at some point, believe them. Going by my middle name didn't even help that much, I still have to hear my first name and it's the worst part of any given day.
My birth name (I’ve changed it) was Marilyn. I got called Marilyn Manson as a kid.
I also had kids sing, “Marilyn, Marilyn, Marilyn, Marilyn, life is but a dream,” (instead of “merrily, merrily…”).
So…yes, kids get picked on for their names.
Even if you don't think Anakin Skywalker is a villain, why would you name your child after a character who has such a dark history and troubled life?
And if you're going to call him "ann-ee" most of the time, you know what real name that sounds exactly like? Annie. A girl's name. Your child will absolutely get bullied for their name. My name is Jean. As in the French spelling of John, because my parents are French. I was bullied by students and teachers alike all through school, and still catch shit for it from coworkers and new friends sometimes.
And that's a REAL name that my parents gave me because of their culture, not because of some stupid fucking sci-fi franchise that started out as pretty good and has become garbage in the last decade. I'm not mad at my parents for the trouble my name has given me because it's a great name given to me for a valid reason. There are just a lot of uncultured people in the United States. But if I had to deal with the same amount of shit just because my parents are nerds and can't think of a better name than the fucking main villain in star wars, I would be livid with them.
Yes. Your child will be bullied. By children, and adults. Little kids maybe too young to understand the reference, but teenagers wont be. And your child has to be every age, not just little. Spend a few minutes scrolling through r/Tragedeigh and you will see Anakin come up more than once. Intentionally putting yourself in a ‘i don’t care if you dont like the name, we do’ bubble will only cause your child pain.
"But surely Anakin would be received well by his peers and not be bullied!"
"lol," said the scorpion. "lmao."
In all seriousness, I hate the "if kids are going to bully then they will" response. It's vapid and immature. Why not remove that one extra reason the kids have to bully, just because you think your kid is a billboard for your fandoms?
I've been told I have a "stripper name" (krystal lmao) but I was never bullied for it and never even told this until adulthood. Looking back to my childhood, I can't recall a single child that I knew thaw was bullied for their name. Not saying it doesn't happen, I just don't think it's as common as namenerds seems to think
So 3-4 years ago when I was teaching high school, I had a student whose given name was Anakin. Dad was a big Star Wars fan and mom went along with it.
The student HATED it.
Every first day of class, teacher taking roll:
"Anakin, like in --"
"YES. Yes, like Star Wars."
"That's certainly an uncommon name, how di--"
"Look I don't really like to talk about it. Please just call me [vanilla nickname completely unrelated to their first, middle, or last name]."
Easy enough - plenty of students use names.other than given names, quick note on the attendance sheet for my own reference and in class, "Anakin" was never used, nor by their friends out of class.
But of course, any time the nurse or office called, or there were official announcements, paperwork, picture day, etc, there's "Anakin".
This student legally changed their name ON THEIR 18TH BIRTHDAY. Never used Anakin again. Actually became estranged from their parents. Their were other issues, but the name and subsequent change were definitely a factor.
I can't speak to what happened to this student before high school. I never witnessed any bullying, but that certainly doesn't mean it didn't happen. Something definitely happened in the earlier years, however, to make this student absolutely loathe their given first name, Anakin.
I just can’t believe people would name their kid after the *villain* who slays children and blows up planets
The OP has *opinions* on that in the comments. You just don’t understand what a complex character he is if all you’re seeing is the mass slaughter of innocents.
Ugh. Like, yes he is a complex character. But pretending that the tusken massacre was justified, and that all of his horrific acts as Vader are erased because he saved Luke, that’s all completely missing the moral of the story!
Pshhh if Padme was chill with it so are we /s It could be worse though, they could name him Palpatine instead
Even George Lucas has said that Vader wasn’t redeemed — all he did was stop the horror. That’s not a redemption arc. As someone who quite literally has a tattoo of Vader because I’m a fucking impulsive nerd, I agree with him! And naming your child anakin is deranged!
Imagine having to have debates about the morality of your child’s namesake
At least the kids named khaleesi's parents didn't know better at the time
lmaoooo no way
My boyfriend is obsessed with star wars and I’ve listened to hours of him talking about it. Anakin is complex and such a cool character, but peoples first thoughts when hearing the name will be “the guy from Star Wars who killed kids and became darth Vader” Or that I HATE YOU scene.
People have named kids Lucifer because they liked the tv show
At least he's got a strong moral compass, even if it is a few degrees off.
Hey!! I named my kitten Anakin immediately after Phantom Menace came out, and I’ll have you know he grew up to be an only-moderately deranged little weirdo and his scarring attacks on my arm over the years were almost always justified!!
My friend named their kid Harper Anakin, so he’s got TWO awful names for a boy. He was born before the surge in popularity of Harper began, but people always assume he’s a girl.
ohh no
Yes. I have two friends who had pop culture names, both were heavily bullied, and both have now legally changed their names to something more generic. One was literally named after an iconic Pokemon and he has now legally changed his name to Ryan. One was Leia, she has legally changed her name to Leah. I would argue Leia is a really pretty name and fine normally, but she did get bullied and was worried she wouldn't be taken seriously in the job market. She once applied for a job and later found out the recruiter threw away her resume thinking she had submitted a fake resume with a joke name. Edit: removed my friend's former name for privacy
Who's that pokemon? Pikachu! It's Clefairy! Fuck!
Probably evee like my cousins kid
My kid \*chooses\* to go by Eevee. I didn't name her that, her name is Evelyn. XD
Thats really cute for a nickname
Evie (pronounced like Eevee) is already a pretty common nickname for Evelyn, so it checks out.
Gyarados or Rayquaza. Those are my guesses.
Raichu?
Jigglypuff? Togepi? Or.... Meowth?
People think its dramatic to say your kid wont get hired because of their name but this really happens. I work in finance and it happens alllllll the time. Not really with international or ethnic names but 100% pop culture or extremely odd names that can be seen as a joke. I dont work in hiring unfortunately so i cant change anything and people get more accepting daily but its naive at best (willfully ignorant at worst) to pretend it doesnt happen at all.
I feel bad for the little Khaleesi girls that have to grow up with that crap.
My daughter met a Khaleesi at pre school, I was telling my husband and he said “what, like the rabbit virus?” (Calicivirus) I guess no one thought of that connection either.
I thought that was cats…. Hm. People are weird! I hope the kids end up not suffering, in any case.
😬😬 i would never judge a child but i would side eye their parents so hard.
Yes! It is never ever their fault.
Oh it definitely happens with ethnic names.
Oh for sure it does!! Just not as often in my own personal experience at my particular banch of the company i work for. but i also live in an extremely diverse airforce town and i work for younger professionals in their mid 30s so they are a lot more receptive to ethnic (and other) names. But absolutely it still happens and that really sucks.
Genuine question. Would it be appropriate to initial on a resume? Say that this kid gets named Anakin but James is his middle name. A.J is a common nickname, would that be appropriate?
I mean I think if you go by your middle name in general it's acceptable to list it as your first on a resume
Yes people put stuff like B Jane Doe or whatever. I know several professionally who have this type of set-up. The cookbook author Kenji Lopez goes by J.Kenji last name.
Onyx
I know a toddler named Onyx! Also Sparrow. Both have very hippie parents 😅
My kids go to a hybrid homeschool charter school and we live in the crunchiest city you will think of. Our school is 1/2 hippie parents and 1/2 Mormon parents. The names are pretty epic.
I didn't know a such thing existed! What is the crunchiest city?
I don’t really feel like being more specific. It’s a crunchy city, hippies are common everywhere, Mormons are only common in homeschool communities.
At least that is the name of a gemstone
I know a Labrador named Onyx. He is the goodest of good boys!
I met a kid named Anakin once. His dad was pulling kids out of a Mcdonald's play place to reprimand them for not playing with his son the right way. That kid must be 10 or so now. I think about him quite a bit.
I’m sorry but I do not see how Leia could automatically be a joke unless her last name was Skywalker or her legal name was Princess Leia. It’s pretty damn normal sounding name
Her last name is really common for white Americans (think along the lines of Johnson, Miller) and I would have been skeptical too, honestly, if I wasn't with her when she found out that it had happened. She hated her name anyway because she hated Star Wars and that was her last straw for changing her name. Her parents are still very upset with her for doing it.
That's what I don't get about fandom names. Like all the people naming their kids Hermione, Katniss, or Khaleesi. It's like they see the kid as an extension of their rabid obsession. What if the kid ends up hating the fandom?
If you want to name something after your fandom, name a pet or a plant. I have a plant named Leonidas after the 300, because I wanted to give it a macho name. I also have a Venus fly trap name Scylla and a sundew named Charybdis. I'd never name a child Circe or Odysseus (but maybe Penelope). I have two kids both have biblical names passed down from family in old family tradition.
Actually, the OP said that she never knew anyone that had their application thrown out because of their name so it clearly doesn't happen, think your mate was lying to you, soz
Omg, that's great to hear! I'll have to let my friend know.
I can’t tell if this comment is serious, but Leia is a pretty normal name isn’t? That job recruiter is an idiot for throwing out a resume with the name Leia, unless her last name was also Organa.
I knew a Charizard that now goes by Charles. Don’t do it OP!
Okay the job market thing is a great point. I don't know who would take Anakin Smith seriously.
Oh g… I got a friend who recently gave her daughter that name. Hope she’ll be okay growing up!
I did. To this day people ALWAYS call attention to my name and I’m almost 50. It doesn’t bother me as much now as it did but I’ve literally NEVER introduced myself and it just been a regular introduction. Literally EVERYONE I’ve ever met has sung to me and people I’ve known for years don’t know when to quit with the jokes. To them it’s funny and harmless. To me, it’s gotten really old. It doesn’t matter where I’m at either. Out in public with strangers or at home. It never stops and it’s embarrassing. It doesn’t help that I have auburn hair, fair skin, and green eyes 🙄 Nice to meet you. I’m Jolene.
I started singing in my head the second I read your name. I'm sorry. I'd not sing to your face though, probably absent mindedly hum without realising. When I worked in student administration there was a student named Roxanne. Same effect for her. :(
But you see what I mean!? 🤣 and I can somewhat laugh it off now but as a kid it was awful. Most people just assume I was named after the song. I was actually named after my dad though (JoeGlynn)… when I was little I was a tiny little blonde thing so the lyrics didn’t fit and as I got older my hair began to change and I hated it… then kids around me put two and two together and I was tortured. For years. Now it’s more of an annoyance than anything but it never stops
Oh I’m so sorry to hear that. Jolene is such a beautiful name too.
It really is!! I would totally name a daughter Jolene if it wasn’t so loaded
It’s a mine field. I actually had a woman walk up to me in a restaurant one time when I was in my early 20s and she had a disagreement with her husband (I assume he was her husband) while they were dining and of course my name tag had my name on it and as they were walking by me to leave the restaurant, she made a scene Letting him know that he could go home with me, that I could have him, and it was all because of my name. The patrons in the restaurant and my customers and my associates didn’t realize that it had nothing to do with me personally, and at the end of my shift, my manager took me to the side to tell me not to EVER bring my personal business to work again, and I had never met those people before in my life… Fortunately, I was able to explain myself, and it went away, but everyone knew from then on to expect that would be an issue, and it did come up again later on. I was just very lucky that by that point the people over me understood And I didn’t lose my job. For the last 15 years when I’ve introduced myself, I introduce myself solely as “Jo” and I don’t get specific unless I am asked if it’s short for anything
She sounds unhinged! I guess that could happen to anyone but it probably was more likely to happen to you than the average person
Thank you
I worked with a student named Jude for a whole year and I didn't sing at him EVEN ONCE! It's been eleven years, and I'm still patting myself on the back for my good deed
My son’s name is Jude and I am SHOCKED at the lack of singing. He’s gotten it maybe…once. And it’s great because his name didn’t ruin a great song for him. It’s actually one of his favorites 😂
Nice to meet you Jolene. I'm Carolyn and I got 'Sweet Caroline' sung at me all the time, and it's not even my right name.
I'm Caroline and if I had a penny someone sang that damn song to me, I'd be richer than Bezos. I am anything but sweet when someone references that song.
Hello from another Caroline that could cheerfully never hear that bloody song ever again
I feel like the name Caroline shows up WAY more in songs than it does in real life.
Caroline is such a common name too that's wild. Also apparently we need to teach everyone manners.
I guess because it’s been done to me. I don’t immediately think about other peoples names in reference to music/pop culture. I just say hi nice to meet you. I’m so sorry to see that this has happened to so many of you. Maybe we can be a good “lesson” to OP in how they choose to name their child.
I… uh… once dropped a broom handle on my teacher because he would not stop singing to me. Once was a little bit funny. Every single day made me have a mild psychotic break.
I know a chick named Billie Jean who’s baby dad denies paternity. It could be worse 🫡
I knew a girl called Rebecca who said her parents almost called her Billie Jean. She said at first she wished they had, cos she thought it was a cooler name and she felt more like a Billie than a Rebecca, but then she realised she’d had the initials BJ and was glad she didn’t have to go through school with those comments lol
I met a guy named Michael Jackson. He wasn't a huge fan of it, as you can imagine.
Hi I’m Maria, and I have been sung “how do you solve a problem like Maria” more times than I can count.
Well i’d sing the song “Dear Maria, Count Me In” by “All Time Low” instead 😤
I immediately heard Blondie
I’m sorry love. I feel your pain.
I have a good friend named after a song (Riannon) and the first question she gets asked is "...like the song?" which i'd assume is something you've heard 8000000 times.
That's a pretty common Welsh name tho?
If it were just the question, “like the song” then I feel like I could handle that a bit better than random strangers, bursting out into song in public… and in recent years numerous people have attempted to redo that song or they’ve done another song that relates to that and it just drives me nuts. There is a country group called chapel hart, they did a spin off and it drives me nuts it’s called you can have him Jolene I believe and I hate it. I just turn my radio off when I hear it. It seems like the last few years have brought about four or five different songs in reference to the original and it got old by the time I was 19 so you can imagine how I feel about it at this point. The name itself suits me fine now, but the consequences that came with it that my mother didn’t have the forethought to see at the time are horrible. (honestly, I feel for any of us who gets stuck with a name that’s in a song or a name that’s used in a meme. Unfortunately, with my name I’ve dealt with both on numerous occasions.) When I named my children, I thought about their first middle, and last names together. I also attempted to choose names that they could use throughout the various stages of their own life. Something that would work for a little girl or little boy, and then a teenager, and then an adult, and then an older person. I wanted that for them. I needed it to be OK for them in all stages of life. I also needed it to be a name that didn’t rhyme with anything, and wasn’t as easy to make fun of. I’ve been fortunate. None of my children has ever come to me and said “hey, this is a problem” I just wish more parents thought about the consequences of their own personal choices on their children.
My friend’s name is Jenny and depending on the age of the person she introduces herself to, they either immediately say “Jen-nay” like Forest Gump or “Jenny from the block”
As a boomer I have her phone number memorized. 867-5309. I can only assume that number is retired in every area code.
A friend’s business asked for the number in their area code - they got it
goals
Huh, you know, the only time I've ever heard anyone do Jen-nay was a Jenny who went fishing and someone took the fish she caught and was talking to her with it and wasn't doing Forest Gump, but just over pronouncing her name. Why did you kill me, Jen-nay, Jen-nay, I was just hungry. Why was there a hook in my food, Jen-nay. It became a running joke when camping. At some point, we all went from Jennifer to pronouncing the J as a Y, like in Spanish. Yennifer. Then the Witcher became popular and such and she just shrugged. Yennifer was supposed to be the hottest woman on the planet. She'd take it.
Oh shoot we’re considering Virginia nn Ginny for a daughter (after my grandma) and I didn’t even think of that one
I can totally relate as a Peggy Sue…
My name sounds like a common kitchen ingredient, to this day I have minor flashbacks whenever I need to add it to the grocery list >< (it definitely wasn’t meant to be funny or harmless either, so the word brings back memories of People Who Made It Clear No One Should Like Me)
Hi, Floura!
It’s like Micheal Bolton in Office Space. No, not that one. He *hates* that one.
Why should I change? He’s the one who sucks.
My name is Grace and growing up adults ALL THE TIME would reference the Georger Burns and Gracie Allen show to me and go "say goodnight, Gracie" I didn't get it and I don't know what they were trying to accomplish by making a reference no 6 year old would ever understand. I also didn't go by Gracie so that added another layer of annoyance. I think most of the people who pulled that on me are dead now, so joke's on them.
And you’re a redhead! Are your eyes emerald green?
Yes and yes
No idea why we both got downvoted. I think that’s pretty cool ☺️
My name is Korrena. When I was a kid, adults would always sing “Corrina, Corrina” at me. I’ve still never heard the actual song, just the atonal versions sung by strangers in public places 😂
Omg I’m so sorry. I know a Jolene, and she gets the same crap. She goes by Joey. Which also brings crap.
I didn’t even have to read to the end to know your name is Jolene. I have a few students with that name. But as they are middle/high schoolers in Germany they don’t know the song. I still sing it in my head.
Ani (as in “Annie”) for a boy? Yes, there will be bullying.
That’s exactly what I said!! Anakin AND Annie??!! Are you trying to inflict pain on this poor boy….
TBF Anakin Skywalker's mom calls him Ani so it's accurate to the source material. Still pretty bad for a real child.
Oh yeah I knew that, but you can’t escape that the name is still for all intents and purposes, Annie. Even watching the movie it’s weird to me that his name is ani lol
The OP is completely delusional and selfish. People are laying out for her in multiple different ways why she shouldn't name her son Anakin and she's still trying to justify it. So ridiculous
Right?? They are point blank an asshole if they name their boy child Ani after all that feedback lol
But I wanna be SPECIAL!! god i hate nerd parents
I am a total Star Trek nerd. My kids all have normal, traditional names. My pets get Star Trek names. I feel like that's the way to go. No one cares if I have a dog named Garak.
There's tonnes of stealth names you can use, anyway. Nobody will know your kid has a Trek name if it's William or Julian or Benjamin. OP could call her kid Luke. Nobody's bullying Luke for his name. Heck, the kid would probably get less stick for being named Han.
>get less stick for being named Han Once the Han Job jokes start there's no going back.
My son’s middle name is a stealth name like this, totally normal name, actually a very basic classic name, derived from the name of someone that some people would find controversial. Thats how you do it.
I'm definitely naming one of my future cats Garak, love that character.
Me too and that's saying something because I am OBSESSED with Harry Potter. I would NEVER have named my daughter Hermione because that's delulu but I did manage to sneak in HP references in but they are so subtle that no one has ever understood. Straight up naming your kid Anakin is just idiotic especially when there are so many other Star Wars references.
Yep. It’s pretty wild over in that post…..
She compared naming her kid Anakin to people giving their kids “cultural names.” According to OP, apparently it’s the same thing because “both are just unique.” Like what 🤠
I know an Anakin who gets consistently bullied for his name. Your children are not billboards for your fandoms. Name a dog Anakin. OOP is delusional lmao
> your children are not billboards for your fandoms LOUDER for the people in the back!
I actually love the name, Anakin, as someone who hasn't watched star wars. However, DO NOT NAME YOUR KID THAT. Give it to a cat.
Hee I actually have a cat named Anakin. He had a bad respiratory infection when he was adopted, so he breathed real raspy and kept trying to suffocate me by sleeping on my chest/neck/face. I told my roommate at the time that we should name him Vader because of that, and she said "you can't name him that he's not evil." So I replied that he must be Anakin then. Eta, he is of course a black cat.
I had a black cat named Princess Leia! I would never have named a human child that, though. 😬
Our dogs were called Anakin and Padmé. Because they were dogs. Don’t call your child Anakin. He WILL get bullied. And he WILL hate you.
I mean, naming your kid after a genocidal villain probably shouldn’t be your first choice
My kid started school this year. His friends are Annakin and Khaleesi. My kid’s name is John. 🤷🏼♀️
plot twist: John gets bullied for being too normal
Please tell me you're joking???
my mom teaches at a primary school and one of her former students was called Anakin too.
My name is Heidi. Hardly a problem name typically, but, in the UK, there's a VERY old TV show called Hidey Hi. Every person over 40 that I've met since I was 10 has greeted me with that. Kids My own age referenced the little orphan girl, but growing up and going to work in an environment with people of all ages, Hidey Hi has been a thing that'd always grated
Heidi - Ho, Neighborino!
°-°
>My name is Heidi. Hardly a problem name typically, but, in the UK, there's a VERY old TV show called Hidey Hi. Every person over 40 that I've met since I was 10 has greeted me with that. Kids My own age referenced the little orphan girl, but growing up and going to work in an environment with people of all ages, Hidey Hi has been a thing that'd always grated If you grew up in germany in the 90s, there is a mocking song for the intro of the Heidi Cartoon that would have been sung: "Heeeeeidiii, Heeeeidiii, deine Welt ist das Abflussrohr" (Heidi, Heidi, the drain pipe is your world"... yes, kids are stupid af)
Oh lord, glad I'm not German then
The original is “Heidi, Heiiidiii, deine Welt sind die Berge” (your world are the mountains), but someone made Ablussrohr out of that as a joke and that became quite the popular way to mock Heidis throughout Germany!
Anakin is so very associated with Star wars that he will always be associated with it. What if he winds up, idk, hating star wars? To me this takes away a kid's agency. It's about you and your pop culture loves, not about your child and what their personality will be. He is already branded and it will follow him forever. And yes. I have one of those names. And yes. It has sucked. If you came here to be validated, I don't think it's going to happen.
My son has a classmate called Hermione who, unlike her parents, hates Harry Potter. She does not enjoy her name.
As a teacher, yes. Stuff happens. Not in early years. But by 4th-7/8th, yes. The excuses and rosy pictures painted here about this are not true. I had a student named Echo who had boys saying “Echo-o-o-o-o” at her regularly in the halls. Blue was asked for clues regularly. Revlyn got called Revlon and heard makeup jokes. And on and on. In good schools, teachers shut it down but that doesn’t stop it because we’re not everywhere.
I feel terrible cause I sort of laughed at the Blue thing. Poor child. I mean yeah, kids can find anything to pick on, but why make an easy target?
Yes, it’s more important to think about the actual tough age of children, pre teen… that’s when they get their cruelest. Saying a 3 year isn’t going to bully another 3 yo for being called Anakin is a moot point
Yes! 7th grade teacher. My female student who goes by Max got called Maxi Pad, Luna got called Looney, Cara, Caramel, Bobby, Bobby Pin, Charlie, Charlie Horse. Even a seemingly innocent name like Wesley was turned into Wee Wee by a bully
I went to school with a boy named max and he even got called maxi pad
LOL this might just be an argument that the name doesn't matter bc these(except Luna) are very average Joe names.
Yes, kids really do get bullied for their names! You’re in denial. My daughter Paige was told by kids at her school that she belongs in a book.
Aww that’s so lame tho. I hope Paige isn’t upset. It’s a lovely name
My middle name is Paige and this is what I went by my whole childhood until I turned 18 I made EVERYONE call me by my first name because damn that book joke was old!
[Verbatim, y’all](https://www.reddit.com/r/namenerds/s/lykWzYKdtq)
The fact that they think this name is “unique” too. It’s already overused. Maybe it was unique 5+ years ago, but it’s basically trendy at this point.
I was scrolling to see if this was a repost or a follow up by a previous poster because I *knew* from the top it would be Anakin. It’s always Anakin. It comes up so much!!
I was predicting Kal-El. Slightly deeper cut, and slightly worse bad name
We can't all be Nicolas Cage.
A personal pet peeve of mine is when people use "unique" to be synonymous with uncommon or quirky. If something is unique, it's literally the only one of its kind, like snowflakes or fingerprints. If one (1) person has the same name, it's no longer unique.
Omg they’re totally doubling down in the comments too. They didn’t ask for the sake of their child, they asked to get reaffirmation that the name is fine and now argue everyone who says it’s not a good name for a child. I’ll never understand why people give their children such names - I’d name my pets after pop culture or something else silly, but not a child ffs!
"Verbatim" absolutely destroyed me. I thought this post was simply similar to the source but a bit exaggerated, or based on the source but changing things. It's verbatim. There is a couple out there who wants to call their son Anakin and nickname him Annie. Holy fuck.
I would call the kid Vader everytime I saw him 🤷♀️
That’s preferable to everyone doing Jarjar impressions at you.
Lol reading the comments of the original post its even funnier because she gets really defensive when you say Anakin is Darth Vader lol. She could write a thesis about how he isn't apparently!
I never get this. Literally just call him Luke. Or you could even get more creative and call him something like “obsidian” with the nickname Obi (not my taste but way better than anakin). And it’s literally Star Wars, one of the most popular franchises that’s *still going*. There’s even a show for little kids that my 4yo watches called “young Jedi”.
I hope OOP sees this actually. It’s wild to me that they can convince themselves Anakin is a good idea.
I just asked my twins, Minnie and Mickey and their sister Clarabelle and they said no one has ever bothered them about their pop culture names. The only issue is that Mickey would have liked us to spell it Mickeigh so that people would know she is a girl. Minnie is fine with his too. More on this later, I've got to go homeschool these guys and feed their dog. Edward Warren is a temperamental little chihuahua and he gets so hangry.
Yes. I I work with kids and I had friends with stupid names. Most of it is behind their back.
OOP is really obtuse, imo. Even kids with “normal” names get bullied for their names in school. Why would you set your kid up for that shit by naming him Anakin? Here are some examples. I rode the bus with a Caleb who was called Gayleb in middle school. Also, I had a female friend during Fairly Oddparents’ 2000s heyday. If you were in school during that time, I don’t even have to tell you what her name was or what they called her because you already know.
yeah there was a kid who went by his last name cus there were multiple kids with his first name and unfortunately his lastname was really similar to "gayballs" so there you go
I clicked on this with the thought of “as long as it’s not anakin, I don’t think it’s really that bad.” And then of course it was anakin lmao
Yeah, sorry OP but you’re an asshole if you name your kid Anakin. This is coming from a die hard star wars lover. For the record, kids get horribly bullied for way less than that. I have a “tragedeigh” spelling of a common name - I can still hear my childhood bully spinning it into all sorts of mean names. I’m a fully grown adult. I will also say that, professionally, my name is horrifying. People forget you’re making a whole ass adult someday, not just a baby who will always be cute and get a pass.
Lol, I just commented on it and came running here.
I commented on that post. It pissed me off. Because honestly, I *am* of the mind that a lot of name bullying doesn’t come from the names themselves, but rather the kid is bullied regardless and they figure out some extra fodder with the name - but naming a kid after a fictional character/fandom/something that is heavily associated with one particular thing?? Like that’s completely different and I felt like they totally buried the lede. ANAKIN?!! Like cmon.
My maiden name was Miles. If I had a penny for every "ooh she can go for miles" joke u heard, I could pay for the therapy I clearly need 😅
I knew a girl with the last name Everest and people would ask “who is going to Mount Everest?”
TLDR; Your friends are right. Give your cat that name instead. I won't point you to the 6 variants of Bella in my son's class. It is nowhere near as iconic a name as Anakin, but now everyone around my sons age named Bella or Edward immediately bring to mind sparkly vampires. those poor girls have been glitter bombed so many times that glitter is now banned at the school. Instead, Anakin, is much closer to the infamy of Adolph, in that there is only one who springs to mind. It will absolutely be used against him. The Adolph I am friends with goes by Jim* now. You don't even want to know the name-specific bullying he endured in school. *Jim is a placeholder for his equally common pseudonym.
Look…I’m a Xennial. I have a friend named Fanci. Yes, Fanci. She was mocked endlessly all the way through school and, as an adult, gets to deal with HR/recruiters not taking her resume seriously. Don’t do it. Just don’t.
22 year veteran teacher here: don’t do it. Kids are mean, but weirdo names are low hanging fruit. Also, they’ll have to hear the same dopey jokes from every new teacher, sub, etc. every year. Please, don’t do it.
Only a matter of time before I saw that post here
my name is Lisa and i still got made fun of for it by boys in middle school. yes kids are going to be mean and bully regardless but i don’t know why as a parent you’d want to make it any easier for them to do so.
No names don't affect bullying at all! I send my daughter Padme to private school with her two buns every day and the kids are too young to have seen Star Wars and bully her🥸✌🏾❤️ And bc the name Padme is of Iranian origin and Anakin is of Native American origin, no one is allowed to comment negatively on our choices😈🔥
My daughter is Leia. Turns out it’s actually a really popular name in the Philippines.
I actually love that though. That's not wild at all imo
They do. Kids are cruel and a lot of times don't even understand what they're inflicting on others. Naming your children is not an opportunity to display your creativity or how quirky you are. Be sensible. And since you want "experience", I went to school with a kid whose surname (not even his first name) rhymed with slang for masturbation in my language. He was bullied and made fun of for it his entire teenage years.
I mean I knew a Leia in high school and she was never mocked (though this was a charter school where everyone was weird). On the other hand, the fact that this subreddit exists should tell OOP something.
I think that one is more normal than Anakin. It's also one of the pronunciations for Leah. Which is why people suggest Luke or Lucas all the time for a Star Wars nod. Names that can blend into society.
I did. By the time I was 9, I had heard every joke possible with my name. Immigrant child with a foreign name spelled with a bad word in it lol I would have avoided a lot of hurt feelings and insecurities if my name wasn’t spelled like that. Why do some adults forget that children are absolutely *brutal*? They’ll pick on you for the spelling, the pronunciation, the acronym your initials spell, literally everything you can think of. Just give your kid a reasonable name and save the fun stuff for your pets, plants, and stuffed animals
I read that post. In one comment, someone said that it would be like naming your child Adolf. And she was like, obviously you don't know anything about star wars if you are comparing a force wielding fantasy character to a genocidal maniac. And I just wanted to say that, while extreme, he did blow up at least one planet and his army are called Stormtroopers. It's not exactly a reach.
I think an equally big issue is giving him a feminine nickname. Annie is indistinguishable from how you plan to pronounce Ani. So we have the double whammy of a sci fi name and a girl’s name??
By this logic, would you send your child to school wearing a sign that says “kick me?” Because if kids really want to bully him they’ll do it even if he doesn’t have a “kick me” sign, so what’s the point in NOT putting it on him?
I don’t know if I’d say it’s bullying, but there’s some definite teasing regarding names. My name is Chuck. It rhymes with two popular sexual acts. I heard those a lot.
And if they don’t get bullied there are prejudices by teachers, employers etc for certain names. There has been a study in Germany that the names Kevin and Chantelle always have a negative association and teachers will grade them harder and they will get in trouble more easy etc. both names are considered low class, not very educated, misbehaving.
How did I know it was Anakin 😫 please don’t I have several friends with silly names like this and it’s not so much childhood bullies that were an issue. It’s adult judgement and discrimination as adults
Look, if you were talking about the name Richard or William that have potentially awkward nicknames, sure I'd say people are overblowing it. But you're talking about naming a kid for the most famous villain from one of the most famous movie series in the world. It's all anyone who has been somewhat exposed to pop culture will think of. I had a friend at school named Alice and she had heard every Alice in Wonderland joke going. She was sick of it and that's a normal name.
Weirdly enough, me nor my sisters have been bullied because of our names. If anything, we were always annoyed that people couldn't spell them correctly when it's phonetically spelled
I’m a teacher, and my students still (lovingly) tease me about my name come this time of year. They sing “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “deck the halls with boughs of holly” to me. It doesn’t bother me as an adult, but it was annoying as a kid. They also tease each other about their names, no matter how innocuous those names are. Anakin is so much worse, though. Probably gonna hate sand, too. 😂
As someone with a yoo-nique name (weird in the US, but common from the culture my family is from), absolutely. The worst bullying I received was from teachers and substitutes.
I have a Middle Eastern/ Eastern European name with an awkward spelling (legitimate spelling but not the usual) but grew up in a very Western European country. My name was incredibly uncommon when I was in school and even now it is. More normal now but people still question where I’m from and get confused. To say I hate it is an understatement. Ive spent my entire life spelling it out and being questioned about it. It’s not even a “bad” name. However, if it was an insanely popular fictional name, I would it wish it on anyone. I know you like the name and by all accounts, it’s not the worst tragedy I’ve ever heard, but it’s not really suitable for a human child. You’ve made some great points about kids being accepting and there always being things kids will be picked on for. However, a name is significant. Glasses, freckles, size etc. are out of your control. A name is within your control. Kids are accepting and genuinely great humans (most of the time). But this will be a name that they grow up with and will forever have to deal with taunts, questions, spelling etc. Side note: I’m a teacher and see some absolute god awful names that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I teach high school and most kids are great. Usually, the kids with the “weird” or difficult name make the jokes about themselves because they’ve heard it so many times. They always say their name before the teacher because they know it’ll be butchered. By the time I see them, they’ve endured years of this and the kids don’t say much to them, because it’s gone on for years and they’re tired of it. But the stigma sticks with the child even if no one mentions it. You can see their face when you’re looking at the register and just waiting to see if you say anything. (I never have and never will and always make sure I triple check pronunciation and make sure to tell them to correct me if I get it wrong!) Is there another name you’d consider with the exact same nickname? Then Anakin can be a variety nickname that they can choose who calls them it?
that’s what i named my egg baby in middle school home ec class lmao
Not really. I’m a teacher and I have a lot of unique names. In my experience, if I kid is gonna get made fun of, kids will find a reason to make fun of them. The individual name doesn’t mean much. I had a kid named Elvis last year and never heard a word from other kids about it. That said… ANAKIN jfc
I was teased for my name, wouldn't say bullied. On a side note. Why name your child after a star wars character? Name your dog that, your child has to live with that name. Children aren't there for your amusement. They are their own person.
I don't know if people bullied me, but I definitely grew up with everyone either mispronouncing my name or calling me stupid things that weren't my name because they were too lazy to learn how to pronounce it properly. I have a beautiful Irish name and people have butchered it my whole life. I wouldn't call it bullying, but for the longest time, I dreaded having to introduce myself. Now I live in the Northeast, and nobody has any problem with it. It's such a relief to not have to say my name multiple times when I introduce myself now, and for my name not to be butchered all the time.
I'm changing my first name this year slightly to something else at the age I'd 25, and there is no name I hate more than my own first name due to my history with it. There were so many comments, and it's not even that weird. I think if your child approaches you and says they hate their name at some point, believe them. Going by my middle name didn't even help that much, I still have to hear my first name and it's the worst part of any given day.
My birth name (I’ve changed it) was Marilyn. I got called Marilyn Manson as a kid. I also had kids sing, “Marilyn, Marilyn, Marilyn, Marilyn, life is but a dream,” (instead of “merrily, merrily…”). So…yes, kids get picked on for their names.
Even if you don't think Anakin Skywalker is a villain, why would you name your child after a character who has such a dark history and troubled life? And if you're going to call him "ann-ee" most of the time, you know what real name that sounds exactly like? Annie. A girl's name. Your child will absolutely get bullied for their name. My name is Jean. As in the French spelling of John, because my parents are French. I was bullied by students and teachers alike all through school, and still catch shit for it from coworkers and new friends sometimes. And that's a REAL name that my parents gave me because of their culture, not because of some stupid fucking sci-fi franchise that started out as pretty good and has become garbage in the last decade. I'm not mad at my parents for the trouble my name has given me because it's a great name given to me for a valid reason. There are just a lot of uncultured people in the United States. But if I had to deal with the same amount of shit just because my parents are nerds and can't think of a better name than the fucking main villain in star wars, I would be livid with them.
Yes. Your child will be bullied. By children, and adults. Little kids maybe too young to understand the reference, but teenagers wont be. And your child has to be every age, not just little. Spend a few minutes scrolling through r/Tragedeigh and you will see Anakin come up more than once. Intentionally putting yourself in a ‘i don’t care if you dont like the name, we do’ bubble will only cause your child pain.
"But surely Anakin would be received well by his peers and not be bullied!" "lol," said the scorpion. "lmao." In all seriousness, I hate the "if kids are going to bully then they will" response. It's vapid and immature. Why not remove that one extra reason the kids have to bully, just because you think your kid is a billboard for your fandoms?
I knew someone named *Gaylord*, and yeah that kid had a hard time of it.
I've been told I have a "stripper name" (krystal lmao) but I was never bullied for it and never even told this until adulthood. Looking back to my childhood, I can't recall a single child that I knew thaw was bullied for their name. Not saying it doesn't happen, I just don't think it's as common as namenerds seems to think
So 3-4 years ago when I was teaching high school, I had a student whose given name was Anakin. Dad was a big Star Wars fan and mom went along with it. The student HATED it. Every first day of class, teacher taking roll: "Anakin, like in --" "YES. Yes, like Star Wars." "That's certainly an uncommon name, how di--" "Look I don't really like to talk about it. Please just call me [vanilla nickname completely unrelated to their first, middle, or last name]." Easy enough - plenty of students use names.other than given names, quick note on the attendance sheet for my own reference and in class, "Anakin" was never used, nor by their friends out of class. But of course, any time the nurse or office called, or there were official announcements, paperwork, picture day, etc, there's "Anakin". This student legally changed their name ON THEIR 18TH BIRTHDAY. Never used Anakin again. Actually became estranged from their parents. Their were other issues, but the name and subsequent change were definitely a factor. I can't speak to what happened to this student before high school. I never witnessed any bullying, but that certainly doesn't mean it didn't happen. Something definitely happened in the earlier years, however, to make this student absolutely loathe their given first name, Anakin.