# Airline employee mocks the name of a five-year-old **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 30, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348 "2018-11-30T19:46:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dan\_Turk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dan\_Turk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Turk)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/21 "2018-12-02T02:26:19Z")
Is it true that, as part of an apology, Southwest is naming a row of seats after her on every flight? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/22 "2018-12-02T02:45:19Z")
If parents want to name their uni-sexual offspring 1010000,1000001,1010100 that’s fine. But they will condemn that child to a lifetime of explaining how to pronounce it. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/23 "2018-12-02T03:50:04Z")
> [@Dan\_Turk](#): > > Is it true that, as part of an apology, Southwest is naming a row of seats after her on every flight? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/24 "2018-12-02T06:55:45Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I knew a software engineer who named his daughter Xyzzy (pronounced Zie-zee). I work with a woman named Xixi. pronounced, more or less, as zee zee (more or less, because the pronunciation is probably sort of tsee tsee) It’s her name. Nobody has a problem with it. She’s from a culture where most people have unique names. [Dan Turk +1 🙂] ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/25 "2018-12-02T18:29:56Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Pflugerville? Pflugerville, we have a problem. _squelch tail_ > [@Dan\_Turk](#): > > Is it true that, as part of an apology, Southwest is naming a row of seats after her on every flight? Very seldom is something on SDMB genuinely funny but this is that. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/26 "2018-12-02T19:20:56Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Houston is actually a name in my family. A G-grandfather was named that so alot of boys ( and girls, now) are named Houston. Place names are real popular. > The lil’wrekker had a teacher whose husband was named Rocky. Her kids were Stony and Boulder. Talk of the school, let me tell you. Houston isn’t a bad name because it’s a place name. (The place was named after a person, after all). It’s a bad name because it’s a last name forced to be a first name. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/27 "2018-12-02T19:45:01Z")
Unfortunately, that child will be mocked for many years to come. Deliberately giving a child a joke name is child abuse imho. The airline clerk shouldn’t have said anything. I hope he’s disciplined. But, just imagine what that kid’s classmates will say for the next 12 years. Then it will continue into college. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/28 "2018-12-02T21:34:39Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > But, just imagine what that kid’s classmates will say for the next 12 years. Then it will continue into college. There’s a TV network and a Jackson five song named after her. She’s got plenty of material to work with. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/29 "2018-12-02T21:54:46Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > The mother has a legitimate complaint regarding any information posted by the airline employee that could cause problems not related to the name. That seems to be a big part of her complaint in the video linked by the op. > > She has no legitimate complaint about people’s opinion of the name Abcde. she may not like their opinion but that’s life. They’re doing her a favor saying it aloud. For every person who comments on it publicly there are many more people thinking it. Yeah, I guess I’d agree with \*\*Magiver \*\*on this one (vs being diametrically opposed on a hundred others;)). It probably should be company policy to not publish or circulate customers’ boarding documents gratuituously, especially in the case of minors. As to “creative names” well, as was expounded in a certain collaboration of Messrs. Silverstein and Cash, they can be a character-building tool as the child has to grow up developing the confidence to let it slide off their back or put the other person in their place. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/30 "2018-12-02T21:55:03Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > “Do you think she has a brother named ‘Houston’?” I sniggered. … said the person apparently named _Carol_. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/31 "2018-12-03T03:42:00Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > … said the person apparently named _Carol_. > > :rolleyes: No, she’s named _Cairo_. Can’t you read? Her sister is named Alexandria. (I did once teach a kid named “Memphis.”) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/32 "2018-12-03T04:11:19Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > As to “creative names” well, as was expounded in a certain collaboration of Messrs. Silverstein and Cash, they can be a character-building tool as the child has to grow up developing the confidence to let it slide off their back or put the other person in their place. Sounds like a parenting version of the Broken Window Fallacy. One might as well amputate the nose of one’s child, saying that the mockery it invites will create a stronger and more confident child. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/33 "2018-12-03T04:59:05Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Sounds like a parenting version of the Broken Window Fallacy. One might as well amputate the nose of one’s child, saying that the mockery it invites will create a stronger and more confident child. The scholarly work JRD was referring to is [this one.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR5XGTpophI) ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/34 "2018-12-03T05:28:33Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Like the city in Texas. Waco? ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/35 "2018-12-03T14:37:42Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Houston isn’t a bad name because it’s a place name. (The place was named after a person, after all). It’s a bad name because it’s a last name forced to be a first name. Lots of last names have become first names. My own name, cunningly hidden in my doper name, was a last name originally but nobody finds it odd today. Or the various -son names like Harrison. But I’ll leave it to you to tell Son of Harry Ford that his first name is a bad name. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/36 "2018-12-03T23:32:52Z")
I have had multiple MacKenzies in some classes over the last few years. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/37 "2018-12-04T01:24:06Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I still can’t get over, “La-a.” Ladasha And I’m nitpicky enough to say that should be pronounced Lahyphena. Ladasha would be La–a. ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2018, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/38 "2018-12-05T03:07:57Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Waco? It’s pronounced ‘Dah-lis’ ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348/39 "2018-12-05T15:49:44Z")
If I were an airline employee and someone had “ABCDE” or “QWERTY” in their first-name section, I would think it was some kind of computer glitch, something that made the machine substitute in letters in sequence instead of the passenger’s actual name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-employee-mocks-the-name-of-a-five-year-old/825348.md?page=1)