Same thing for most crimes–think about how women are constantly told how to try to protect ourselves from rape from the time we are in 5th or 6th grade (if not earlier), but men aren’t constantly told not to be rapists. It’s starting to change, but it won’t happen overnight.
As for names/bullying, I agree that bullies will find a way to torment their victims any way they can, and even a common name like [name]Jennifer[/name] could become something like “[name]Jenna[/name]-turd” or something. However, some names really are going to be leaving kids open for mocking, at least on some level. I think a few weeks ago there was a thread where someone posted a question about a specific combination of names that would have definitely led to teasing because some little twit of a boy would have made the connection, and once he did, he would have shouted it from the rooftops, and that would have been it. The [name]Berry[/name] who mentioned the name had misgivings about it herself, and the responses to the OP confirmed her fears. (I think the names she mentioned would have been fine in another combination, though.) I just think it’s good to be mindful of potential problems when naming kids, out of consideration for them.
As a teacher, I am very clear from the onset of school in [name]August[/name] that I will not tolerate bullying in my class. [name]Nor[/name] will I tolerate if I see it outside of my class. Too many kids get bullied and when they finally lose it, they are the ones who are punished. I have dealt with two instances this year – for some reason, this year’s crop of juniors are pretty mean – and we switched the main problem to another class and have dealt with the other issue quite well I hope. My students know at this point that I’m a teacher who does not tolerate it. [name]Both[/name] my kids were bullied – they are both special needs – and as a parent it is heartbreaking because there is so little you can do. But both my kids have turned out to be both kind and tough, with compassion for the underdog.
My kids were not teased for their names, although when my daughter went from [name]Katie[/name] to [name]Kitty[/name] she had to endure some meowing. It was her choice to change to [name]Kitty[/name], though, and she just turned it on the meowers, so it was okay. I was teased terribly for my name, but it was because I was already so different that kids just latched onto whatever they could find.
And I think that’s the core. When a child is different – regardless of what the difference is, it can be anything – he/she becomes a target. Working with the bullies themselves is the answer, because these children learned it from their parents and they are desperately unhappy in themselves.
In my school, the only student I’ve known who was teased about her name was Chandelier, and it was good-natured teasing, because everyone liked her. In fact, she made jokes about her name too. There are a lot of kids with really strange names today, so it’s usually not the name that starts the teasing.
There is this site that I’ve recently become aware of (it’s in my signature). It surveys people about their name IE: do you like your name? to people mispronounce it? Were you bullied? Would you tell other parents to name their children it?
I find it fascinating. I would hesitate to name my child something that has a surveyed percentage saying they were all bullied. However I do believe kids can make something out of everything, but there is a limit. Please don’t name your children Assla, or Bam Bam