Mom Furious After Southwest Airlines Employee Publicly Mocks Her 5-Year-Old Daughter’s Name

Does anyone here have the misfortune of carrying a “weird” name? Now, don’t get us wrong–we love when parents give their newborns unique names, but sometimes, that decision can end up being a nightmare for the kiddo as they get older. Case in point: a Texas 5-year-old who just so happens to be named Abcde.

What? Don’t know how to pronounce that name? Well, according to Abcde’s mother, Traci Redford, the three-syllable name is pronounced “Ab-city.” Got it?

So, we’ve established that Abcde is quite an unusual name and, unfortunately, those who have unusual names sometimes suffer as they get older. Sadly, the 5-year-old experienced her first taste of taunting when, according to her mom, a Southwest Airlines employee at John Wayne Airport publicly mocked the moniker.

In an interview with local news station ABC 7, Redford gave her account of the bullying that took place before her and her daughter’s flight. “The gate agent started laughing, pointing at me and my daughter, talking to other employees,” Redford said. “So I turned around and said, ‘Hey, if I can hear you, my daughter can hear you, so I’d appreciate if you’d just stop.”

Of course, it seems the little Abcde heard the commotion. “She said, ‘Mom, why is she laughing at my name?’ And I said not everyone is nice and not everyone is going to be nice and it’s unfortunate,” Redford reported. 

To make it even worse, the same gate agent that mocked the girl, ended up posting a photo of the girl’s boarding pass on Facebook for the world to see.

Not. Cool.

Understandably, Southwest has apologized for the employee’s behavior. No word yet on whether or not this name-shamer is still with the company.

To learn more about this recent airline debacle, be sure to watch the video below!

We’d love to hear your take on this case of ‘name-shaming’. Do you think that Abcde’s mother was right to go public with her story? Do you have any unusual name? If so, have you suffered because of it?