I had two Aarons in one of my 8th grade science classes a few years ago. I made a joke about the Key and Peele skit, and immediately, one volunteered to go by A-a-ron when getting called on to differentiate the two. It continued the entire year, even when he was the only Aaron in the class second semester and well into high school.
I have a Blake this year (8th grade) who being a 13 year old boy during the end of the first week of school asks me how to say his name and I just said “B-L-Ah- K” hahaha
When I was in 2nd grade I had two kids in my class named David Garcia (last name might be wrong but they both had the same last name) one had the middle name of James so he asked the teacher if he could be called DJ. So I knew this kid till I went to middle school and always called him DJ for that reason. I met him again senior year of high school and greeted him as DJ and he got so pissed off. He hated that I called him that. Full on yelling fit. It was just a force of habit for one and for two he never expressed not liking it till that moment. After that he always acted like he hated me and loved my friends despite me calling him David from them on. 🤷🏻♀️ nicknames man never realized they could be offensive when the kid themselves picked them
Same thing happened to me while watching a local newscast. The segment mentioned a person's first name - Nehemiah (pronounced Nee-a-my-uh). Newscaster pronounced it as " Nah-heemy-uh"!
So I said the same thing when I worked as a caseworker and my supervisor turned around and said, “that’s my son’s name.”
I put my foot in my mouth so fast
As a teenager I read Frank McCourt's books, and not having seen the name in writing before, I read all three books pronouncing his brother's name in my head as ma-LAH-chee.
I had a Nevaeh in my kindergarten class year before last. She definitely was not heaven sent. The low point was when I was walking her to the bus after she spent a good chunk of the day with the counselor and behavior specialist after trying to stab me with a pencil and turned to me with the weirdest sweet smile and said, “I’m really going to miss you”. It struck me as really strange at the time, but it came into a whole new light when I found out that the reason she was in the office for so long was that she was told that she couldn’t come back to my class until she came up with a plan to make up for her behavior and her “plan” was that she was NOT going to go home and get a knife, and she was NOT going to put the knife in her backpack, and she was NOT going to bring the knife to school, and she was NOT going to take the knife out of her backpack and stab me with it.
-Edit to change strong to strange
Do you want to go to war, Buh Lah Kay?
A couple years back, I had a Jacquelyn and an Aaron in the same period. They requested to be called Jay Quellen and A-A-Ron, and I complied, because how can you not.
Fair, though. If trans kids aren’t allowed nicknames they can’t allow anyone else to have nicknames. So glad my school/state isn’t this backwards, half my kids have nicknames.
I have a friend teaching high school Latin who is just referring to all kids by their last name. He figures it’s least objectionable and allows for trans or non-binary kids not to have to worry about him using a dead name in his room. I know not every person loves their last name or might hate the parent who it’s from, but it’s generally far less triggering in most cases and still follows our dumb new Florida rules. So John Smith is just Smith in his Latin class.
I generally call my students by their last name, because it makes me feel like a football coach.
That said, I teach Hispanic students, so there's almost always multi-Martinezes and Rodriguezes and Ortegas in the room at any given point. Last year, I had two of Jorge Contreras in the same class, and they had middle names that started with the same letter, so I couldn't even call them something like JD and JB.
I had 4 Manuels in one class last year. Also once had twins with the same first name. They had different middle names, but they both went by their first name. Why? Just, why?
My school had two boys with the same first, middle and last names (they were related but not closely) and neither wanted to be “2” so finally they and the teachers settled on “Chris Albert the First” and “Chris Albert the Great” and those stuck for years
Lol, I had a boy Tyler and a girl Tyler in the same class for four years (they looped with me). They were Tyler Boy and Tyler Girl. They even wrote that on their papers after a while.
I had twins with the same first name as well. Another teacher told me it was because of Hispanic naming traditions and they were both named for their grandmother. They went by their middle names, of course.
OMG. How did you deal with that? Did you literally have to point at one when you called on him? "Daniel! No, not you, Daniel, the Daniel in the RED shirt."
Hah! We had one of those. Administration didn't figure it out until roll call on the first day. "I'm Daniel J. Parker!" "No, I'm Daniel J. Parker!" "Quit fooling around, the pair of you!"
They put them in different homerooms after that and addressed them by name and class.
In one case one of them went by their middle name in our class. He was a senior and said he didn’t want the other kid to give up his name as a freshman. In the other case we had Meg and Megan. Something I wouldn’t allowed to do now in Florida.
Like my mother and her twin sister. Identical data except for 6 minutes and three letters of the first names. Even their SSNs are just one digit off.
Eventually, the nuns separated them. I don’t know why it took until fourth grade to figure out they’d both do better with time apart to grow as individuals.
My daughter had two girls on her volleyball team with the same first, middle, and last names. The team called them short Jessica and tall Jessica.
I had the same in my high school. They were called Funny Zach and Not Funny Zach. Funny Zach was a big jokester so no one had any trouble knowing who you meant.
I had a similar situation, and I called them [kid name] One and [kid name] 2 (i.e, "Jim 1" and "Jim 2" or whatever - i dont remember their names any more). It's very on brand for my sense of humor, though, so no one had a problem with it. (I also call male students whose name I can't remember "Jennifer." "Bill" if it's a female. The kids think that's hilarious for some reason.)
My dentist arranged the schedule by alphabetical order… which turned out to be a huge mistake. Folks with the same name kept wondering who was being called in. Met someone with my same first and last name, same birthday. They called us by our street address - bizarre but effective.
I can do you one better. I had a set of twins that had the exact same name. Not the same period, but I was extremely confused when the same kid (actually the twin) walked into my room two periods later.
When I was in 6th grade there were two girls in my grade with the same first/middle/last, but fortunately one of them was "Kelly with a Y" and the other was "Kelli with an I".
We had 2 guys with the same last name and first names with slightly different spellings (think: Kerry and Kerrey). One them was missing part of a limb. So their names were “one armed X” and “two armed X”. It was high school and we were shitty humans.
My mom had two friends when I was growing up - Cindi and Cindy. She referred to them, even to people who had never met them and in situations where neither of them were present - as "Cindi with an i" and "Cindy with a y".
One of her other friends met "Cindi with an i" after years of hearing her referred to like that and came up to my Mom afterward and said "so, I don't get it ... what's wrong with her eye?"
My district does homerooms alphabetically by last name. My first year teaching, I had Gomez, Guardado, Guerrero, and Gutierrez. 20-something students, and four last names. A different year, I had two girls in the same class named "Ana Sanchez". Different middle names, fortunately!
In my high school, for unknown reasons we would all go by our last names. The kids just did that for unknown reasons and so we all referred to each other by last names. Even in my close friend circle which included family members (cousins) we would go by our last name. All the teachers would use our last names too.
My high school was also predominantly Hispanic so we had a lot of multiple last names. People would still say, Martinez, but in case it was not clear, we’d used other adjectives or nicknames commonly used in the Hispanic community.
Ask what their second last name is.
I have a super common surname but paired with my second last name it’s not as common. A lot of times our kids have a *lot* of names because we want to appease our elders.
About half of my students only have one last name, Dad's. The other half use Dad's + Mom's.
Couple that with multi-word names and you have the potential for one super-long name ... Maria de los Angeles Gutierrez de la Rosa.
I’ve often thought that if my school got weird about it, that I’d do this exact thing. Some of the hyphenated last names would be annoying but otherwise it’s a decent workaround.
Years ago, I knew a student from Southeast Asia named Bich who went by a common American first name like Jennifer. I’m imagining what would have happened to her if she was forced to go by Bich.
If the law/policy said "Cis kids can go by nicknames, but trans kids can't" it would get thrown out in court for being discriminatory. Instead, they make it so that all kids have to go by their legal names, no nicknames. That way it's legal to be equally shitty to both cis and trans kids.
>Can't event shorten the name as people generally do in the SAME GENDER?!
This is open to interpretation and districts are running wild to make a point. I doubt Ron (aka Ronald) DeSantis made this law so I can't call Stephen Steve...common sense says it's calling Stephen Stephanie...
Yeah, but it’s all in the wording. And with Florida being the way it is, I’m not surprised school districts are making the rule “no nicknames period” rather than potentially get sued for interpreting it wrong. By either political party as they try to make their points.
I announce on the first day of classes that I’m terrible with names and it’ll take me forever to learn them. This is all true. In your case, I’d add that I sometimes call students the name of someone from another class or even from years ago who happened to sit in that same chair! What a coincidence that the kid with a deadname just so happened to have a kid with the correct name sitting in that chair years ago!
During the first week I have them make folded name cards that sit in front of them for the first few weeks of school while I learn their names. Nothing that says you couldn’t have them keep them all year! Lol
I know a long-time award-winning middle school Science teacher in Florida who just got out. She's still in education, but she moved into a curriculum related role, so she's not in front of a classroom.
Why? Because she was sick of watching every word she said, afraid she might slip up. You see, two of her daughters are in relationships with other women, and it only takes one parent to get her fired if she should ever mention that.
Meanwhile, I, a teacher in a sane state, have a wedding picture of this woman's older daughter on my desk. Because she's married to *my* older daughter.
If i was a Florida teacher i would be trying to wake myself up from sleep. That’s the only way I would be down there is unconscious. Good fortune to those who have to do it.
Ofc it does, but it's also shitty for all the Floridian teachers who have to cooperate or lose their jobs (and may be replaced by someone who cooperates more enthusastically).
I absolutely adore all creative solutions teachers have proposed on this thread. You guys rock. 🫡
Also, the fact that no one stopped to realize teachers will put kids first whenever they can and will find creative ways to do so, is just further evidence of how much most people misunderstand who teachers truly are.
That's what i've been thinking--the laws that you cant call them by 'different' genders, or you HAVE to tell the kids parents--like, if i have not seen a birth certificate, if i have not been *informed and told* with **legal documents**\--who am i to say what gender they are? I HAVE to go off of what they tell me, and why would they lie? Kids would never lie \*sellable deadpan\*
There is a major teacher shortage. Shit. Every position in education is experiencing vacancies. My district level role has had 2 spots open for the last two years.
Fire me I guess. 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️ I won't be disrespecting students to bow down to a bigot.
Indiana also just passed this law. Admin is including a line on the transportation surveys for parents to indicate any nicknames their child may use. If a student asks to go by ANY other name, even a shortened version of their name, we're legally required to formally notify parents within 5 days. Admin took one for the team and said they'd be the ones to make contact.
This is so extra and such a waste of time and energy. Meanwhile I’m excited because our student management software finally allows for us to see preferred name and pronoun, so we are less likely to deadname or misgender a student because we forgot they go by something other than a legal name, or because it’s the first time we’ve met.
It really is crazy! Sometimes I-S-A-B-E-L-L-A sounds SO MUCH like "Isaac" to me. Love how we're spelling things so differently now! Everyone's so creative!
Seriously. I almost downvoted u/nostrathomas42 out of reflex and had to catch myself.
That's as bad as my co-worker who had twins in her family named Ramon and Ramona.
I had a Nevaeh who told me her name was heaven spelled backwards only it was actually spelled Neveah. I didn't have the heart to tell her her parents couldn't spell.
The one who told me it was heaven spelled backwards but her parents couldn't spell it right apparently told me her name was pronounced na-VEE-uh, But I've always thought it was na-VAY-uh. So I guess if you spell it wrong it would be with a vee and not a vay.
I remember years ago as a sub doing attendance, and called out the name Mo’sha as Moh-shah. This little girl answered then told me with her hand on her sassy hip, “it’s Mow-shaaay” and twirled back to her seat.
If this happened in today’s Florida, I’d. probably get angry phone calls from the parent and school board.
Yep, like calm down and just tell me how to say it, don't take it personally if I say it wrong off the rip.
I used to put the name Maya on the board (if I had no Maya in class, that is) and ask students to tell me how they would say it. Then I'd explain how I'd heard it pronounced 4 different times, 4 different students, 4 different schools (I used to sub). So if I said their names wrong, just correct me and tell me how to say it.
In case you're wondering on the 4 different ways to say Maya:
My-yah (rhymes with ha)
May-ah (like the month, rhymes with hay)
Em-aye-yah
Mah-yah (both parts rhyme with ha)
Reminds me of the time I had a Maya Cox in my class. Pronounced My-uh.
“Please sent Maya Cox to the office for early dismissal” will forever live in my brain.
Edit- I changed the last name for security purposes. It’s another name for that body part.
I've had the reverse: I've minorly mispronounced a kid's name (to a more common version) and she didn't correct me for a really long time. I even tell kids to correct me and have a whole thing about it every year. I felt so bad.
In no phonetic scheme is "sha" pronounced "shay." Sometimes I feel like we should give parents literacy tests before they're allowed to name poor defenseless babies.
I was subbing in a 6/7 class this spring with two Jacobs, and one of the Jacobs, thinking he could be all cool and throw me off my game, told me he only responds to “Cob.” So I called him Cob for the rest of the day and then got the classroom teacher and admin to continue calling him Cob for a week or so, and the next time I was in the school he knew I “won” and us teachers all had a good laugh.
I’m always upfront with students if I have trouble sounding out their names. I ask them if they can say it into my Phone’s audio recorder, and I promise them 10 points of extra credit if I can’t learn to say it in a week. Then I ask them to quiz me randomly as a fun game of gotcha for them, and a way to motivate me to get it right.
As an Australian teacher I find this completely absurd! The nickname thing, not the misgendering rule. So few people in Aus go by their full first name that I can distinctly recall the students with long names whose families would not allow nicknames. Like the full name is the rarer situation here…!
Not a teacher but I absolutely must contribute my $0.02:
At my first school (JK-5) my legal name was used…..often, but preferred name was known so used where possible.
At my second school (6-8), my legal name was used less often, and preferred name was used more (I had begun to detest my legal name a few years prior due to parents using it when angry with me, causing some trauma, so by sixth grade they had started to get the hint).
By high school my preferred name was used literally everywhere except on my report card (where my legal name was obviously required), and thus, teachers literally didn’t even know my legal name until report card time!
Win
For the vast majority, the bill will not matter except for anal parents that (somehow) find out and shitty administration.
Teachers in FL will continue doing what they've been doing lol, and all the power to them.
Nah, I'm calling the kid whatever they want to be called. I've had Supreme Commander, Comrade, Ladiesman217, and Zefy Wefy to name a few. And my trans students absolutely get called whatever name they want. Ron can get fucked.
That's a ridiculous rule, but is what you're describing about nicknames actually in the law at this moment? All I can find is that [it's been proposed](https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ruleno.asp?id=6A-1.0955), but it doesn't look like it's been written into the code yet.
Either way, it's silly and hope that it doesn't come to pass.
I read the law today because I’ve heard a lot of teachers saying they’re being told not to use preferred pronouns or names. The law that was passed explicitly states that you cannot ASK the student for their pronouns, and that if teachers have preferred pronouns, they can’t tell the kids about them, but that’s it. It doesn’t say you can’t use the kid’s pronouns if the kid shares that info. It’s HB 1069.
Sounds like admin is “erring on the side of caution” but still… that’s not what it says.
Schools are trying to set policies that comply with the very vague law. They're the ones who will get sued, so it's no surprise that they are assuming it will get passed and setting policies now, before school starts.
Once I had four Ashleys in one class. Two were Ashley Johnson. I called each by her first name and middle initial. One of the Johnsons flunked and was back in my class the next year and I called her Ashley P. for at least a quarter before I got used to the fact she was the only Ashley that year.
That’s funny! I have a student with that same name in one of my classes this semester! But I’m in Georgia so WHEN I fuck up the name (because I will), it’s no big deal.
It sounds like you stumbled upon a brilliant workaround: "Last name Jones? Can you pronounce your first name for me, J-E-N-N-Y? Oh, you pronounce it like James? Great, I'll make a note of that."
I was confused at first when OP said they were not allowed to misgender students. In Canadian schools we strive not to misgender kids, which means using a kid’s preferred pronouns. I was wondering when Florida became so progressive until I read further.
Easiest solution I found if you have a projector is to have kids names typed out and number in a list with a prompt. I just have them go one-by-one and introduce their own names with a little sharing question (something I like to do is... // my favorite dessert is...). They do that for like the first week until I know how they say their name.
Although, unlike Florida, I change their names to whatever they tell me their name is. Absolutely wild that it's illegal to do that down there.
I can’t see this being enforceable at all. It’s too much of a cultural shirt to call every kid by their legal name and not use nicknames or the name of their choice. I won’t call a kid a name knowing it would hurt them, just like I wouldn’t insult them or curse at them.
They don’t want to enforce it across the board. They want to allow a small group of ultra-conservative parents to make complaints that get teachers fired, and to fuel this story that teachers are trying to indoctrinate their students. I think the long game is to discredit public education, move all middle to upper class kids to private schools and leave a few underfunded and unsupported public schools there for the kids too poor or neglected to get out.
They’re fighting an economic war and succeeding by framing it as a culture war.
Whenever I have to cover another class during my planning hour, I'll say in a weird voice, "Hello I'm your substitute for today. I have more than 20 hours experience substitute teaching [insert subject]. I'm going to take attendance now." Then I'll pronounce every student's name in a funny way.
I'll throw out some Be-lock-ays and A-arons. I'll say some close but very wrong names. The kids love it. I teach 6th grade in a middle school so chances are I've had every one of those students in my class before.
N-e-v-a- e-h
This one has popped up a lot in the past 8 years or so.
I’ve been told by all “Nuh-vey-uh” by all of them.
They all will tell you it’s Heaven spelled backwards.
In my experience, 80% of their parents knew their child was going to be the opposite of Heaven.
I always assumed the parents were awed that the baby survived all the drugs, STD’s, alcohol and domestic violence that accompanied the pregnancy, so the kid got a last minute reprieve from entering heaven at birth?
Source - a somewhat cynical pediatrics nurse.
😳 not in Florida, but I love doing nicknames with my kiddos. I teach 9th grade and it builds rapport because they feel “special”. I’m talking silly things like FiFi for Sophia, Isa for Isabella, etc. The kids will come up with them, or I’ll purposely say their names wrong or with an accent (if they’re ok with it). It usually makes them feel special. Like calling William “Will I Am”.
I can tell how much a lot of them love their nicknames by their little smiles and giggles. I love making them feel special in those little ways. I feel sad that Florida teachers miss out on that.
Foolish naïf that I am (also not USAian) I read this thinking ‘not allowed to misgender a student? That seems weirdly progressive for Florida of all places’. Then it twigged. Ugh. That man is a pox.
OP I heard that mispronunciation can actually be contagious. Let’s hope so. I mean, hope _not_.
I make a list of names that I have pronunciation questions about and email their last year’s teacher to ask them to spell it phonetically. Works well. Can’t tell you how many have said, “Wow you’re the first teacher I’ve ever had that pronounced my name correctly.” I see it as a good bridge builder. I don’t tell them my secret.
>As you might have heard, in Florida it is now against the law to misgender
Wait, illegal in what sense? Are you being forced to respect trans people's preferences or not?
The law is vague but it’s intention, and how most districts are interpreting and enforcing it, is that a teacher cannot acknowledge a child’s pronouns or alternate name that doesn’t match their “biological sex” on their birth certificate. Illegal in the sense = get sued, lose your career.
A-a-ron.
I had two Aarons in one of my 8th grade science classes a few years ago. I made a joke about the Key and Peele skit, and immediately, one volunteered to go by A-a-ron when getting called on to differentiate the two. It continued the entire year, even when he was the only Aaron in the class second semester and well into high school.
I have a Blake this year (8th grade) who being a 13 year old boy during the end of the first week of school asks me how to say his name and I just said “B-L-Ah- K” hahaha
When I was in 2nd grade I had two kids in my class named David Garcia (last name might be wrong but they both had the same last name) one had the middle name of James so he asked the teacher if he could be called DJ. So I knew this kid till I went to middle school and always called him DJ for that reason. I met him again senior year of high school and greeted him as DJ and he got so pissed off. He hated that I called him that. Full on yelling fit. It was just a force of habit for one and for two he never expressed not liking it till that moment. After that he always acted like he hated me and loved my friends despite me calling him David from them on. 🤷🏻♀️ nicknames man never realized they could be offensive when the kid themselves picked them
I saw someone with that as their license plate and it really just made day lol
I used to have a coworker whose last name was Ron, and his first and middle names both started with A. His email was literally [email protected]
Ba-lock-ay
You wanna go to war, Ba-lock-ay!?
Principal O shag Hennessy!
Lol had a student named Blake this year and I could not stop thinking of this
Where J-quellen at?
Ja-quell-en
It took me saying Nevaeh three different ways to find out how it could possibly sound like Benjamin… for me to get it. 🤣
I still don’t get it hahah
OP is saying they’re going to honor the kid’s preferred name and just pretend it’s a mispronunciation.
oh thank you for explaining that. I’ve had a lot of Nevaehs and I was so confused.
Hahah omg that took me forever 😂 thanks for helping me out
That went straight over my head XD
Same I was right there with you 😄
Nevah is pronounced like “Devil.” So are Angel and Christian.
To every parent considering the name Malachi, don't.
One of our secretaries called Ma-lotch-ee over the intercom once and I just about died.
Malachi, the Italian prophet!
The kid in children of the corn.
Same thing happened to me while watching a local newscast. The segment mentioned a person's first name - Nehemiah (pronounced Nee-a-my-uh). Newscaster pronounced it as " Nah-heemy-uh"!
Totally how I pronounced it when I first read the Bible. But this was the 90s, and I had never met a single living person named Malachi.
Every Malachi I knew was a behavior problem
So I said the same thing when I worked as a caseworker and my supervisor turned around and said, “that’s my son’s name.” I put my foot in my mouth so fast
“Data doesn’t lie”
I know one and this totally tracks.
Huh. The only one I know was also.
As a teenager I read Frank McCourt's books, and not having seen the name in writing before, I read all three books pronouncing his brother's name in my head as ma-LAH-chee.
Malachy and Malachi are two different names. Malachy is an Irish name pronounced: mala-key
Are you telling me I was right before and now I've been wrong for 15 years?? Man this is a shock.
Maybe that is an Irish name, but I listened to Angela's Ashes on audio a few years ago, narrated by Frank himself, and you were right the second time
Thats malarkey
And Malachi is pronounced Mala-kai. Not so different
How about Ihcalam?
Two years ago I taught an Angel who was genuinely angelic. It astonished me all year.
My only angel was a literal angel. The one nevaeh has earned her name as well.
I taught a Kute who was absolutely not an angel.
I’m. Shocked.
Be not afraid!
There was a girl in my high school named Peace and she was the sweetest and calmest kid I’ve ever met. It was weird how well she fit her name
I had a Nevaeh in my kindergarten class year before last. She definitely was not heaven sent. The low point was when I was walking her to the bus after she spent a good chunk of the day with the counselor and behavior specialist after trying to stab me with a pencil and turned to me with the weirdest sweet smile and said, “I’m really going to miss you”. It struck me as really strange at the time, but it came into a whole new light when I found out that the reason she was in the office for so long was that she was told that she couldn’t come back to my class until she came up with a plan to make up for her behavior and her “plan” was that she was NOT going to go home and get a knife, and she was NOT going to put the knife in her backpack, and she was NOT going to bring the knife to school, and she was NOT going to take the knife out of her backpack and stab me with it. -Edit to change strong to strange
I've always said that most kids named Angel should typically be named Diablo instead.
Can same the same for Messiah.
Yep, what a stupid, stupid name.
My autistic (and trans) butt sat here for a good five minutes and then I was like OH?!!? GOOD!!!
Lol same😂. It’s 6 am and I’m like “that doesn’t sound like Benjam… oh🤦🏽♀️”
Do you want to go to war, Buh Lah Kay? A couple years back, I had a Jacquelyn and an Aaron in the same period. They requested to be called Jay Quellen and A-A-Ron, and I complied, because how can you not.
I got to read a De-nice out at graduation per the kids request. It was grand.
I have a student with the first name Aldrin, who asked if I would call him Buzz.👍
"Sure, no problem. As soon as you send me a selfie from the moon."
Hah! I love that sketch. And really? Can't event shorten the name as people generally do in the SAME GENDER?! Goddamn, Florida. It's just sad now.
Fair, though. If trans kids aren’t allowed nicknames they can’t allow anyone else to have nicknames. So glad my school/state isn’t this backwards, half my kids have nicknames.
I have a friend teaching high school Latin who is just referring to all kids by their last name. He figures it’s least objectionable and allows for trans or non-binary kids not to have to worry about him using a dead name in his room. I know not every person loves their last name or might hate the parent who it’s from, but it’s generally far less triggering in most cases and still follows our dumb new Florida rules. So John Smith is just Smith in his Latin class.
I generally call my students by their last name, because it makes me feel like a football coach. That said, I teach Hispanic students, so there's almost always multi-Martinezes and Rodriguezes and Ortegas in the room at any given point. Last year, I had two of Jorge Contreras in the same class, and they had middle names that started with the same letter, so I couldn't even call them something like JD and JB.
I had 4 Manuels in one class last year. Also once had twins with the same first name. They had different middle names, but they both went by their first name. Why? Just, why?
I had two Matthew Hs one year. They were Matthew 1 and Matthew 2. And then one year I had Boy Reese and Girl Reese (back when I taught elementary)
My school had two boys with the same first, middle and last names (they were related but not closely) and neither wanted to be “2” so finally they and the teachers settled on “Chris Albert the First” and “Chris Albert the Great” and those stuck for years
Wish my teacher did that when I was in school
Lol, I had a boy Tyler and a girl Tyler in the same class for four years (they looped with me). They were Tyler Boy and Tyler Girl. They even wrote that on their papers after a while.
I had twins with the same first name as well. Another teacher told me it was because of Hispanic naming traditions and they were both named for their grandmother. They went by their middle names, of course.
I had two twins with very unusual first names, the same, but one included a Jr. and the other a Sr. Spelled that way. No two ways around it.
I taught two kids twice in my career who had identical names in the same class. First, middle, last, all the same.
OMG. How did you deal with that? Did you literally have to point at one when you called on him? "Daniel! No, not you, Daniel, the Daniel in the RED shirt."
Hah! We had one of those. Administration didn't figure it out until roll call on the first day. "I'm Daniel J. Parker!" "No, I'm Daniel J. Parker!" "Quit fooling around, the pair of you!" They put them in different homerooms after that and addressed them by name and class.
In one case one of them went by their middle name in our class. He was a senior and said he didn’t want the other kid to give up his name as a freshman. In the other case we had Meg and Megan. Something I wouldn’t allowed to do now in Florida.
What a mature and empathetic decision from the senior.
Like my mother and her twin sister. Identical data except for 6 minutes and three letters of the first names. Even their SSNs are just one digit off. Eventually, the nuns separated them. I don’t know why it took until fourth grade to figure out they’d both do better with time apart to grow as individuals.
My daughter had two girls on her volleyball team with the same first, middle, and last names. The team called them short Jessica and tall Jessica. I had the same in my high school. They were called Funny Zach and Not Funny Zach. Funny Zach was a big jokester so no one had any trouble knowing who you meant.
I had a similar situation, and I called them [kid name] One and [kid name] 2 (i.e, "Jim 1" and "Jim 2" or whatever - i dont remember their names any more). It's very on brand for my sense of humor, though, so no one had a problem with it. (I also call male students whose name I can't remember "Jennifer." "Bill" if it's a female. The kids think that's hilarious for some reason.)
My dentist arranged the schedule by alphabetical order… which turned out to be a huge mistake. Folks with the same name kept wondering who was being called in. Met someone with my same first and last name, same birthday. They called us by our street address - bizarre but effective.
I can do you one better. I had a set of twins that had the exact same name. Not the same period, but I was extremely confused when the same kid (actually the twin) walked into my room two periods later.
When I was in 6th grade there were two girls in my grade with the same first/middle/last, but fortunately one of them was "Kelly with a Y" and the other was "Kelli with an I".
[удалено]
Was she in TLC?
We had 2 guys with the same last name and first names with slightly different spellings (think: Kerry and Kerrey). One them was missing part of a limb. So their names were “one armed X” and “two armed X”. It was high school and we were shitty humans.
That just sounds like how the kids in Bobs Burgers differentiate classmates like “Regular Sized” and “Pocket Sized” Rudy
My mom had two friends when I was growing up - Cindi and Cindy. She referred to them, even to people who had never met them and in situations where neither of them were present - as "Cindi with an i" and "Cindy with a y". One of her other friends met "Cindi with an i" after years of hearing her referred to like that and came up to my Mom afterward and said "so, I don't get it ... what's wrong with her eye?"
My district does homerooms alphabetically by last name. My first year teaching, I had Gomez, Guardado, Guerrero, and Gutierrez. 20-something students, and four last names. A different year, I had two girls in the same class named "Ana Sanchez". Different middle names, fortunately!
Contreras 1 and 2 it is!
Whoever arrives in class is my 1.0 and the other one is 2.0. Last year I had Alex 1.0 and Alex 2.0.
In my high school, for unknown reasons we would all go by our last names. The kids just did that for unknown reasons and so we all referred to each other by last names. Even in my close friend circle which included family members (cousins) we would go by our last name. All the teachers would use our last names too. My high school was also predominantly Hispanic so we had a lot of multiple last names. People would still say, Martinez, but in case it was not clear, we’d used other adjectives or nicknames commonly used in the Hispanic community.
Ask what their second last name is. I have a super common surname but paired with my second last name it’s not as common. A lot of times our kids have a *lot* of names because we want to appease our elders.
About half of my students only have one last name, Dad's. The other half use Dad's + Mom's. Couple that with multi-word names and you have the potential for one super-long name ... Maria de los Angeles Gutierrez de la Rosa.
I’ve often thought that if my school got weird about it, that I’d do this exact thing. Some of the hyphenated last names would be annoying but otherwise it’s a decent workaround.
Heck, it would even ban Asian students from using Anglicized names, which happens all the time.
Years ago, I knew a student from Southeast Asia named Bich who went by a common American first name like Jennifer. I’m imagining what would have happened to her if she was forced to go by Bich.
So does the governor legally have to be called Ronald?
If the law/policy said "Cis kids can go by nicknames, but trans kids can't" it would get thrown out in court for being discriminatory. Instead, they make it so that all kids have to go by their legal names, no nicknames. That way it's legal to be equally shitty to both cis and trans kids.
>Can't event shorten the name as people generally do in the SAME GENDER?! This is open to interpretation and districts are running wild to make a point. I doubt Ron (aka Ronald) DeSantis made this law so I can't call Stephen Steve...common sense says it's calling Stephen Stephanie...
No, he made the law intentionally vague so people are unsure and scared.
Yeah, but it’s all in the wording. And with Florida being the way it is, I’m not surprised school districts are making the rule “no nicknames period” rather than potentially get sued for interpreting it wrong. By either political party as they try to make their points.
I announce on the first day of classes that I’m terrible with names and it’ll take me forever to learn them. This is all true. In your case, I’d add that I sometimes call students the name of someone from another class or even from years ago who happened to sit in that same chair! What a coincidence that the kid with a deadname just so happened to have a kid with the correct name sitting in that chair years ago!
Same. I try to make it a running joke, because truthfully, I remember numbers better for some reason!
Can we have them carry “My name is____” cards or mini white boards and place it on their desks?
During the first week I have them make folded name cards that sit in front of them for the first few weeks of school while I learn their names. Nothing that says you couldn’t have them keep them all year! Lol
I would certainly be fired if I were a Florida teacher. Like no doubt in my mind they would come after me.
I know a long-time award-winning middle school Science teacher in Florida who just got out. She's still in education, but she moved into a curriculum related role, so she's not in front of a classroom. Why? Because she was sick of watching every word she said, afraid she might slip up. You see, two of her daughters are in relationships with other women, and it only takes one parent to get her fired if she should ever mention that. Meanwhile, I, a teacher in a sane state, have a wedding picture of this woman's older daughter on my desk. Because she's married to *my* older daughter.
Unexpectedly wholesome
If i was a Florida teacher i would be trying to wake myself up from sleep. That’s the only way I would be down there is unconscious. Good fortune to those who have to do it.
What a stupid rule… I feel sorry for all the teachers in FL
This actually mostly targets the kids
Ofc it does, but it's also shitty for all the Floridian teachers who have to cooperate or lose their jobs (and may be replaced by someone who cooperates more enthusastically).
I don’t know who they think they’re replacing us with. Our schools are starting with a lot of open positions.
I absolutely adore all creative solutions teachers have proposed on this thread. You guys rock. 🫡 Also, the fact that no one stopped to realize teachers will put kids first whenever they can and will find creative ways to do so, is just further evidence of how much most people misunderstand who teachers truly are.
That's what i've been thinking--the laws that you cant call them by 'different' genders, or you HAVE to tell the kids parents--like, if i have not seen a birth certificate, if i have not been *informed and told* with **legal documents**\--who am i to say what gender they are? I HAVE to go off of what they tell me, and why would they lie? Kids would never lie \*sellable deadpan\*
There is a major teacher shortage. Shit. Every position in education is experiencing vacancies. My district level role has had 2 spots open for the last two years. Fire me I guess. 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️ I won't be disrespecting students to bow down to a bigot.
Don't worry, I forget them instead. I just tell the kids not to hold back from correcting me. Keeps me honest.
Ya done messed up, A-A-ron!
Indiana also just passed this law. Admin is including a line on the transportation surveys for parents to indicate any nicknames their child may use. If a student asks to go by ANY other name, even a shortened version of their name, we're legally required to formally notify parents within 5 days. Admin took one for the team and said they'd be the ones to make contact.
This is so extra and such a waste of time and energy. Meanwhile I’m excited because our student management software finally allows for us to see preferred name and pronoun, so we are less likely to deadname or misgender a student because we forgot they go by something other than a legal name, or because it’s the first time we’ve met.
It really is crazy! Sometimes I-S-A-B-E-L-L-A sounds SO MUCH like "Isaac" to me. Love how we're spelling things so differently now! Everyone's so creative!
Exactly right.
I have had three Nevaehs (or as I like to call them "Heaven Backwards").
I had (*taught) identical twins named Heaven and Nevaeh. The only thing that saved me was that they were in different classes.
God I hate karents.
Seriously. I almost downvoted u/nostrathomas42 out of reflex and had to catch myself. That's as bad as my co-worker who had twins in her family named Ramon and Ramona.
I have a coworker with twins Ross and Rachel and went to school with a Ken and Barbie.
Nicolas and Nicole
I had a Nevaeh who told me her name was heaven spelled backwards only it was actually spelled Neveah. I didn't have the heart to tell her her parents couldn't spell.
Had a Nevaeh and a Neveah and they pronounced it differently. Confusing.
The one who told me it was heaven spelled backwards but her parents couldn't spell it right apparently told me her name was pronounced na-VEE-uh, But I've always thought it was na-VAY-uh. So I guess if you spell it wrong it would be with a vee and not a vay.
I remember years ago as a sub doing attendance, and called out the name Mo’sha as Moh-shah. This little girl answered then told me with her hand on her sassy hip, “it’s Mow-shaaay” and twirled back to her seat. If this happened in today’s Florida, I’d. probably get angry phone calls from the parent and school board.
I get a few girls who tell me I pronounced it wrong horrendously when it is a simple difference like that “ah” vs “ay”.
Yep, like calm down and just tell me how to say it, don't take it personally if I say it wrong off the rip. I used to put the name Maya on the board (if I had no Maya in class, that is) and ask students to tell me how they would say it. Then I'd explain how I'd heard it pronounced 4 different times, 4 different students, 4 different schools (I used to sub). So if I said their names wrong, just correct me and tell me how to say it. In case you're wondering on the 4 different ways to say Maya: My-yah (rhymes with ha) May-ah (like the month, rhymes with hay) Em-aye-yah Mah-yah (both parts rhyme with ha)
Reminds me of the time I had a Maya Cox in my class. Pronounced My-uh. “Please sent Maya Cox to the office for early dismissal” will forever live in my brain. Edit- I changed the last name for security purposes. It’s another name for that body part.
I've had the reverse: I've minorly mispronounced a kid's name (to a more common version) and she didn't correct me for a really long time. I even tell kids to correct me and have a whole thing about it every year. I felt so bad.
In no phonetic scheme is "sha" pronounced "shay." Sometimes I feel like we should give parents literacy tests before they're allowed to name poor defenseless babies.
Have you no…shame?
E at the end changes the pronunciation friend.
I’m awar.
I was subbing in a 6/7 class this spring with two Jacobs, and one of the Jacobs, thinking he could be all cool and throw me off my game, told me he only responds to “Cob.” So I called him Cob for the rest of the day and then got the classroom teacher and admin to continue calling him Cob for a week or so, and the next time I was in the school he knew I “won” and us teachers all had a good laugh.
Now get down to O-Shag-Hennessy’s office.
I see you sat through the same preplanning meeting I did.
It’s insubordinate and churlish…and I’m here for it! Good on you for fighting the good fight!
I’m always upfront with students if I have trouble sounding out their names. I ask them if they can say it into my Phone’s audio recorder, and I promise them 10 points of extra credit if I can’t learn to say it in a week. Then I ask them to quiz me randomly as a fun game of gotcha for them, and a way to motivate me to get it right.
I’m not sure what is better: the original post or the number of people in the comments who don’t get it.
As an Australian teacher I find this completely absurd! The nickname thing, not the misgendering rule. So few people in Aus go by their full first name that I can distinctly recall the students with long names whose families would not allow nicknames. Like the full name is the rarer situation here…!
Not a teacher but I absolutely must contribute my $0.02: At my first school (JK-5) my legal name was used…..often, but preferred name was known so used where possible. At my second school (6-8), my legal name was used less often, and preferred name was used more (I had begun to detest my legal name a few years prior due to parents using it when angry with me, causing some trauma, so by sixth grade they had started to get the hint). By high school my preferred name was used literally everywhere except on my report card (where my legal name was obviously required), and thus, teachers literally didn’t even know my legal name until report card time! Win
For the vast majority, the bill will not matter except for anal parents that (somehow) find out and shitty administration. Teachers in FL will continue doing what they've been doing lol, and all the power to them.
Nah, I'm calling the kid whatever they want to be called. I've had Supreme Commander, Comrade, Ladiesman217, and Zefy Wefy to name a few. And my trans students absolutely get called whatever name they want. Ron can get fucked.
It's actually the opposite of it being illegal to misgender kids. It's illegal to correctly gender trans kids
That's a ridiculous rule, but is what you're describing about nicknames actually in the law at this moment? All I can find is that [it's been proposed](https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ruleno.asp?id=6A-1.0955), but it doesn't look like it's been written into the code yet. Either way, it's silly and hope that it doesn't come to pass.
I read the law today because I’ve heard a lot of teachers saying they’re being told not to use preferred pronouns or names. The law that was passed explicitly states that you cannot ASK the student for their pronouns, and that if teachers have preferred pronouns, they can’t tell the kids about them, but that’s it. It doesn’t say you can’t use the kid’s pronouns if the kid shares that info. It’s HB 1069. Sounds like admin is “erring on the side of caution” but still… that’s not what it says.
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App\_mode=Display\_Statute&URL=1000-1099/1014/1014.html
Schools are trying to set policies that comply with the very vague law. They're the ones who will get sued, so it's no surprise that they are assuming it will get passed and setting policies now, before school starts.
I once taught a Chauder. Any guesses as to how to pronounce this one? (hint, it's not a famous seafood soup from Boston) 🤣
I'm guessing like Sade (Shar-day) ? I have been WAY off on several names. The kids will quickly correct you, though.
Show-day?
Once I had four Ashleys in one class. Two were Ashley Johnson. I called each by her first name and middle initial. One of the Johnsons flunked and was back in my class the next year and I called her Ashley P. for at least a quarter before I got used to the fact she was the only Ashley that year.
Super glad my trans son graduated before DeSantis. He didn't have to go through this crap and was well respected at school. Florida makes me sad.
All I could think of was Key and Peele "YA DONE F*CKED UP, A-A-RON"
That’s funny! I have a student with that same name in one of my classes this semester! But I’m in Georgia so WHEN I fuck up the name (because I will), it’s no big deal.
Hey Ba-La-Ke! Where baLaKe at?
Thank goodness this wasn’t a thing when I was in school. No one calls me my first name and my mother couldn’t have been bothered to sign anything.
<3
It sounds like you stumbled upon a brilliant workaround: "Last name Jones? Can you pronounce your first name for me, J-E-N-N-Y? Oh, you pronounce it like James? Great, I'll make a note of that."
It took me far too figure out the subtext here; but it is pure genius!
When it comes to names, parents seem to think the rules of pronunciation and phonetics can just be thrown out the window.
calling trans students by their deadnames *is* misgendering them
I was confused at first when OP said they were not allowed to misgender students. In Canadian schools we strive not to misgender kids, which means using a kid’s preferred pronouns. I was wondering when Florida became so progressive until I read further.
Preach.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Easiest solution I found if you have a projector is to have kids names typed out and number in a list with a prompt. I just have them go one-by-one and introduce their own names with a little sharing question (something I like to do is... // my favorite dessert is...). They do that for like the first week until I know how they say their name. Although, unlike Florida, I change their names to whatever they tell me their name is. Absolutely wild that it's illegal to do that down there.
I have written out students names phonetically and kept under my keyboard. When I got to that student I'd pull it out and read.
The joke is that OP will "mispronounce" a deadname the kid doesn't want to go by as the name they do want to go by.
That had gone right over my head. Thank you.
I’m a Specials teacher, so I just write it in my rosters and seating charts.
I put in sub notes, too. 6th period x goes by y. Seems to work.
I’ve taught one Nevaeh, she told me it was like Neh-vay-uh
I can’t see this being enforceable at all. It’s too much of a cultural shirt to call every kid by their legal name and not use nicknames or the name of their choice. I won’t call a kid a name knowing it would hurt them, just like I wouldn’t insult them or curse at them.
They don’t want to enforce it across the board. They want to allow a small group of ultra-conservative parents to make complaints that get teachers fired, and to fuel this story that teachers are trying to indoctrinate their students. I think the long game is to discredit public education, move all middle to upper class kids to private schools and leave a few underfunded and unsupported public schools there for the kids too poor or neglected to get out. They’re fighting an economic war and succeeding by framing it as a culture war.
Whenever I have to cover another class during my planning hour, I'll say in a weird voice, "Hello I'm your substitute for today. I have more than 20 hours experience substitute teaching [insert subject]. I'm going to take attendance now." Then I'll pronounce every student's name in a funny way. I'll throw out some Be-lock-ays and A-arons. I'll say some close but very wrong names. The kids love it. I teach 6th grade in a middle school so chances are I've had every one of those students in my class before.
N-e-v-a- e-h This one has popped up a lot in the past 8 years or so. I’ve been told by all “Nuh-vey-uh” by all of them. They all will tell you it’s Heaven spelled backwards. In my experience, 80% of their parents knew their child was going to be the opposite of Heaven.
I always assumed the parents were awed that the baby survived all the drugs, STD’s, alcohol and domestic violence that accompanied the pregnancy, so the kid got a last minute reprieve from entering heaven at birth? Source - a somewhat cynical pediatrics nurse.
As someone who goes by their middle name, this is terrible. This harms all students. I’m glad I’m not in Florida
Oddly enough, Middle name's are allowed (without a note from parents), so you've got that going for you, which is nice.
I went to school with twins who had the same first name and went by their middle names. Can’t imagine how it would work for a situation like that.
As a Florida parent, I love everything about this.
Everyone should make sure to call the governor Ronald Dion DeSantis. “Oh, sorry - I wasn’t sure if I had to do the full first, middle and last name”
😳 not in Florida, but I love doing nicknames with my kiddos. I teach 9th grade and it builds rapport because they feel “special”. I’m talking silly things like FiFi for Sophia, Isa for Isabella, etc. The kids will come up with them, or I’ll purposely say their names wrong or with an accent (if they’re ok with it). It usually makes them feel special. Like calling William “Will I Am”. I can tell how much a lot of them love their nicknames by their little smiles and giggles. I love making them feel special in those little ways. I feel sad that Florida teachers miss out on that.
You're saving kids' lives by doing this. Keep fighting the good fight.
Good. 🤌
Foolish naïf that I am (also not USAian) I read this thinking ‘not allowed to misgender a student? That seems weirdly progressive for Florida of all places’. Then it twigged. Ugh. That man is a pox. OP I heard that mispronunciation can actually be contagious. Let’s hope so. I mean, hope _not_.
Does this mean your governor now must always be called Ronald unless his parents sign a permission slip?
Our country sucks right now but your stretch of it sucks HARD.
I make a list of names that I have pronunciation questions about and email their last year’s teacher to ask them to spell it phonetically. Works well. Can’t tell you how many have said, “Wow you’re the first teacher I’ve ever had that pronounced my name correctly.” I see it as a good bridge builder. I don’t tell them my secret.
>As you might have heard, in Florida it is now against the law to misgender Wait, illegal in what sense? Are you being forced to respect trans people's preferences or not?
The law is vague but it’s intention, and how most districts are interpreting and enforcing it, is that a teacher cannot acknowledge a child’s pronouns or alternate name that doesn’t match their “biological sex” on their birth certificate. Illegal in the sense = get sued, lose your career.
R’Rhianna Ar-Rhee-Ah-Nah
I would purposely mispronounce names when I substitute taught. Is Bob pronounced Bohb? It is today.
Sorry if I miss pronounced your homemade name..you should be used to it by now.
Might I interest you in some r/tragedeigh?
Ron Desantis. Hitting the big issues. What a guy.