I subbed while I was in college to see if I really wanted to go back to school and get my teaching certification. Oh, the names I used to have to call roll with! I was in one Pre-K class where I had a China, a Russia, and three Asia's (all spelled different too! Asia, Aysa, and Axa). I had another student one time named Taneka. Unfortunately, it was spelled Tick'nickle. How you turn one into the other, I have no idea...

A friend who taught high school for a while informed me that he intended to name his son "Randall" but intended to spell it "Geoffrey". He had so many students with names that were pronounced in a way that totally ignored the spelling that he thought he would join the trend. (Actually, he named and calls his son Huntley).

I'm a teacher and there are definitely kids that I have had that have ruined names for me (some of them I would never pick in the first place...)...here are kids I'll never parent:

Boys:
Nick
Gregory
Jermaine
Paris
Tyrese
Barnabas

Girls:
Crystal
Skylar
Asshole (yes, you read that correctly...pronounced Ah-shoal-lee)
Ayanna
Tamaya

poor child. poor, poor child.

I've heard of Shithead [pronounced shi-THEED], but never Asshole.

I may have to add that to my arsenal of names to use when I'm irritated, but don't really want people to know the extent of my irritation.

My BF and I were just having this conversation!

Names that make me shudder:
Josh
Jorge
Sergei
Anthony
Brittany
Sheldon
Mikhail
Mason
Sean
Tim
Dana
Kaitlyn
Keya
Zack
Gilbert


And those are just the kids from this past year...

Sergei? Mikhail? Where are you teaching?

Wow, Ashley has appeared in this thread a few times now...

There are parts of the country that have many immigrants or ethnic groups from eastern Europe. Example: we had, like, zero african american kids in my schools when I was growing up, but we had many asian kids and some russian/romanian/ukrainian kids.

I taught one year in 9th Grade in Clayton Co. (GA) Public Schools. There were a lot of terrors on my list, but I actually had some good kids I still keep in touch with.

Names that instantly came to mind:

Jessica
Brittney (too many to count)
Keegan
Charmaine
Omar

I know there were way more, but I think my mind has taken away the names as an attempt to protect me.

That's because there are 80 skillion Ashleys (and Zachs) in the schools now.

Peppy, I was thinking about what you said and my sister teaches reading in a Houston area district that's full of Indians and Pakistanis. I need to call her and see what her 'never again' names are.

Florida, actually!

I was a camp counselor while in college and the following names still make me shudder (I only had girl campers, so no bad boy names):

Shaina
Olga
Jennifer
Natalie
Megan

I did have two campers that were awesome and totally changed my opinion of their names- Mariam and Sari. I thought they were both rather old-fashioned sounding, but the kids were so great that to this day I still like the names!

Hahahaha!!!

LaKeesha (just for the mere fact that she pushed my buttons this past year and when I hear that name i cringe)

I'm not a teacher, but if I hear of or meet one more person who's named their kid Connor, I might scream. (no offense to anyone who has, it just feels like I've met 8 bajillion of them and it's too many)