NEED TO KNOW
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A teen says being the only sibling without a “Jo” name makes him feel excluded from his family’s nickname, “The Jo’s”
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He says his parents and siblings proudly use the nickname even though his name differs from the rest
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When he expressed his hurt, his family dismissed him as “oversensitive” and accused him of throwing a “pity party”
A teen feels unsupported by his parents after expressing disappointment over his name, which varies from the rest of his family.
In a post on Reddit, the 16-year-old explains that his parents both have names beginning with “Jo,” and they passed that tradition on to all of his older siblings, such as “Josephine, Joseph, Josalyn, etc.”
However, the poster, who has an eight-plus-year age gap with his siblings, “was given a C name.”
“So I’m the only person who doesn’t have Jo in my name,” he explains. “While in some ways it’s less confusing, it hurts because my family often get called The Jo’s as a nickname and sign cards from everyone like that, it excludes me. They never use the Doe Family. It’s always The Jo’s.”
“More often than not people either forget I’m a member of the family or act weird when my name is so different,” he adds.
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Stock photo of a teen boy keeping to himself
He notes that he doesn’t have a close relationship with his family, which makes the exclusion sting even more. His parents, he says, frequently boast about the family having correlated names, even though it isn’t true.
“My parents even talk about how important it was for them to keep it going,” he writes, frustrated that they left him out of that narrative. When he asked about how they chose his name, the answer wasn’t comforting.
“They said it was just one they heard and decided to use and there was no reason for it,” he shares. “They didn’t even give it any real thought.”
On a recent family vacation with his older siblings and their in-laws, things escalated. Social media posts from the trip were filled with captions about vacationing with “The Jo’s.”
“I was actually left out of lots of photos where that was focused on,” he writes. Some of the in-laws’ relatives even assumed he wasn’t really part of the family.
“Some of the kids in their ILs families thought I was a cousin or a foster kid or something,” he reveals. The experience left him withdrawing from the trip entirely. “When we got home my parents didn’t notice,” he shares. They continued to post photos from the vacation that didn’t include him, of course, captioned with the family nickname.
Later, when his parents asked him for more photos to add to their collection, he decided to speak up. “They said they wanted to keep them all in the Jo albums,” he explains.
Seeing an opportunity, he told them how the family nickname makes him feel. However, the conversation didn’t go as he hoped. “My parents got annoyed at me,” he writes. “They told me to quit being dramatic and I’m family so what the hell does it matter.”
They dismissed his feelings, saying he was “oversensitive.”
“They wouldn’t apologize for not pandering to my emotions,” he says, noting that his parents then complained to his siblings, who also sided against him.
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Stock photo of teen boy
“They were all like way to throw a pity party or make it about yourself,” he shares.
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Despite his family’s feelings, users in the comments were quick to support him.
“At first I thought this was going to be a NAH because it’s not the end of the world that your parents named you something off theme,” one person wrote. “Referring to the family as ‘The Jo’s’ should have stopped the day you were born and actively posting family photos without you in them is beyond rude!”
The teen agreed, noting that the name itself isn’t the real issue. “The name thing alone would definitely be a really small thing if it wasn’t for the nickname always being used and the way they talk,” he replied. “It’s like they acknowledge I’m not really a part of the family.”
Read the original article on People
