A mother from Tennessee has gone viral after revealing that she’s allowing her daughter to legally change her name following bullying at school over accusations that the name was racist.
Danielle Remp published a video to TikTok where she stated that her daughter, Dixie, 16, had been targeted by classmates who claimed the name had a connection to the Civil War-era South.
The harassment grew so bad that Dixie asked Danielle if she could legally change her name, and the concerned mother consented straight away.
“She gets made fun of for it… I said yes, no questions asked!” Danielle said in her TikTok video.
The teenager ultimately chose Skye as her new name, after reportedly being called “Dixie Dust” and “Dixie Normous”, among other things.
“They just give it all sorts of crude meanings, and they’ll call me that in the hallway,” Skye told Today of her tormenters.
She also revealed that it was her dad who had chosen the name Dixie when she was born, and that her mother had intended to call her Skye.
“Her choice feels more ‘like me,’” the 16-year-old said.
Danielle, 35, is reportedly saving up the $200 needed to complete the legal name change.
“She’s a good kid,” said the mom, who works in Burger King. “She’s doing great in school, she doesn’t give me trouble. So if changing her name makes her feel better about herself, why would I say no?”
Unsurprisingly, there were mixed opinions beneath the video on TikTok, with commenters debating whether Danielle is doing the right thing in allowing her daughter to change her name due to the opinions of classmates.
“What no. Teach your child resilience,” one person wrote. “If you let her change her name, what else will she want to change about herself?”
Another said: “I got bullied but now I love my name.”
One commenter, who was pro Danielle’s decision, wrote: “As someone who was horrendously bullied for their birth name growing up and changed it as an adult, thank you.”
The name Dixie is traditionally associated with the Confederate States of America. Dixie became the unofficial anthem of the South in the 1800s, and the word continues to be linked to the Old South, slavery, and secession.
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