In a video on her social media page, Danielle, who lives in Tennessee, said that her daughter ‘gets made fun of for it’, saying: “I said yes, no questions asked!”
Underneath the video’s caption reinforced her decision, with the mom saying: “I’ll always stand by her side no matter what.”
Danielle, who works at Burger King, became aware that her daughter was being targeted over the name she was given at birth.
The name in question was ‘Dixie’, though the 16-year-old has now changed her name to Skye, which her mom revealed in a comment on her TikTok was ‘the name i [sic] actually wanted to name her’.
The name ‘Dixie’ has historical associations with the Confederacy in the US Civil War, which attempted to break away from the Union in an unsuccessful bid to preserve slavery in 11 Southern states.
More specifically, ‘Dixieland’ is a slang term which is sometimes used to refer to the Confederacy.
Speaking to Today.com, Skye said: “They call me things like ‘Dixie Dust’, or ‘Dixie Normous’. They just give it all sorts of crude meanings, and they’ll call me that in the hallway.”
Now, her mom is saving up the $200 to cover the administrative fee of a legal name change.
“She’s a good kid,” said Danielle. “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?”
Danielle’s support for her daughter’s name change has been met with a mixed reaction online, as some people disagreed with the approach.
One wrote: “What no. Teach your child resilience. If you let her change her name, what else will she want to change about herself?” as another said: “I’m Dixie! I got bullied but now I love my name.”
But others were more supportive of Danielle’s standing with her daughter, praising her for the decision.
“As someone who was horrendously bullied for their birth name growing up and changed it as an adult, thank you,” one person wrote.
Someone else took things even further, arguing that ‘everyone should get one free name change’.
UNILAD has reached out to Danielle Remp for further comment.