The human brain is obsessed with associations. As it navigates novel stimuli and experiences, the exposures of the past come up big for understanding what the heck we're looking at in a given moment.
Unfortunately, that holds true when the past stimulus was a huge jerk face.
Negative associations to common first names are a sad, but common truth in a long life. After all, with so many repeated names, a few are bound to be rotten eggs.
That can make things unfair for someone at a party that shares a name with the infuriating dingus of yesteryear. But sometimes a brain hangup is far more powerful than rational fairness.
AutisticAtheist999 asked,
"What name is ruined for you, because of one person you hate?"
30 Years of Fuming Rage
Paul, the guy who bullied me every year from kindergarten through 12th grade. I'm 48 now, and, every time I meet a person named Paul, I automatically feel hatred towards them.
GiphyBand Geeks
"Mason, someone with the name was a section leader at my marching band and let's just say he wasn't really a nice person."
Pain Runs Deep
"Allyson. My husband loves the name but I wouldn't/couldn't name our daughters it. Allyson was a big and tall girl in elementary school and she didn't even push me around. Her bullying was strictly psychological. She did her best to make sure I was never happy."
[deleted]
Nooo.
"Jake Paul, ever since some of my friends started nicknaming me Jake Paul."
[deleted]
Benefit of the Doubt
I have never met a Tyler or Ashley that wasn't an absolute piece of sh*t.
Sorry to those nice ones out there.
Worst Line of Work for Names
My spouse and I are both teachers... a lot of future baby names are ruined because of a**hole students we've had in our classes. Every Mike out there.
GiphySide Effects
Hannah. I dated a girl named Hannah and she ruined my life temporarily by stealing all of my friends and embarrassing me in front of most of my school by getting her brother to beat me up.
It's been 2 years and there are still side effects.
Certainly Narrows it Down
I worked in post secondary student housing for 15 years, supervising literally thousands of 17 - 21 year olds.
When it came to naming my son, I had to veto dozens of names my wife came up with because I had to deal with entitled sh!tbuckets as part of my job.
Liam, Jason, Tyler, Dylan, Ryan, Taylor, Cody, Kyle, Xavier, Zack, ...all were unacceptable.
You'll Know Him When You See Him
Callum.
If you're reading this you know I'll kill you if we meet again.
Authoritative Spoiling
Victoria
She was a manager at my previous job, the type to describe herself as 'brutally honest' when she was actually just mean.
An Unholy Trauma
Angel
Long story short: He does not want to see me happy, get a girlfriend, live a normal life, etc. He'd be better off named Demon.
Quite the Pattern
Anyone named Sam.
Every time I meet one they seem nice at first but that's only so then they can find a nice spot to put a dagger in my back.
GiphyCasting a Wide Net
Abigail, Abby, Abbie, Abbe, however you spell it.
They're not to be trusted.
Hard to Recover From That One
I always loved the name Theo for a son, and always had intended to name a son that.
In late high school my girlfriend at the time told me she was pregnant and we decided we were going to do the whole thing. Told our parents, started getting our sh*t together. Decided if it was a boy we were going to name him Theo and were working on girl names.
Then, after a month or so of this, she told me she had miscarried. We broke up about a year after that, and I learned when we broke up that she had faked the whole fu**ing thing. Decided to fake a pregnancy to 'test my loyalty.'
May Be a Biased Sample
Justin. Literally every Justin I have ever crossed paths with has been an absolute insufferable douche. susannahmio82
I've met one Justin in my life. This description fits. Slushy13
True. Disgusting. Potatoe-Peaches
Sounds Like We Have a Consensus
Like others have said, people named Tyler generally suck. I had a high school friend named Tyler that was the most annoying narcissistic a**hole and I cut him out of my life the day I graduated.
The Full Name Rage
Lindsey. I hate the name because of a girl from high school. You know the person sucked if every time you think of the person you say both their first and last name.
Sorry, Todds
Todd. Never liked a Todd, I've known some really d*ckheads named Todd. Fu** you Todd. blahsdeep
Todd from breaking bad fits it. But Todd from Bojack Horseman is an exception. BasicUsername_1
Too Many David's. No More David's.
David. I know about 8 Davids, 6 of which are dumba**es or idiots who I had conflict with, or who did wrongs to me.
David 7 was a pal with whom I used to play Warhammer. The only David I actually like. I hope he's doing fine.
She Sounds Lovely
On a lighter note, Deanna, because in sixth grade one was in my class. And her nickname was what I wanted my nickname to be, since I didn't like the name I had at the time. It's very petty.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
@weistling/Instagram
store.focusonthefamily.com/morgan-weistling 
@DHSgov/X
Department of Homeland Security/Facebook
Department of Homeland Security/Facebook
Department of Homeland Security/Facebook
Department of Homeland Security/Facebook
Department of Homeland Security/Facebook
Department of Homeland Security/Facebook
Department of Homeland Security/Facebook
@itsbaxterrn/TikTok
@canadian1999/TikTok
@arbee/TikTok
@ezra119/TikTok
@vickyb/TikTok
@emilyshortshortreads/TikTok
@thegoldenwick/TikTok