"Few subjects stir stronger opinions than names: too unique, too old-fashioned, too trendy. In Tennessee, Danielle Remp drew national attention after saying she would let her 16-year-old daughter change hers. "She gets made fun of for it," Remp, 35, wrote on TikTok. "I said yes no questions asked." The internet, of course, had plenty of its own questions, starting with what kind of name would make a teenager want to leave it behind."
"The answer was Dixie, the name her father had chosen when she was born in 2008. These days, she prefers to be called Skye. In a joint interview with her mother, Skye said she had been the target of constant taunting. "They call me things like 'Dixie Dust,' or 'Dixie Normous,'" the soft-spoken high school junior told TODAY.com. "They just give it all sorts of crude meanings, and they'll call me that in the hallway," she adds."
"The word Dixie first gained popularity in the 19th century through the song of the same name, which became an unofficial anthem of the Confederacy, according to the Gettysburg Compiler. In the years since, the term has remained charged. In 2020, the Dixie Chicks dropped "Dixie" from their name and became The Chicks. "We want to meet this moment," the band wrote on their website at the time."
A Tennessee mother publicly allowed her 16-year-old daughter to change her birth name after ongoing teasing. The daughter, given the name Dixie in 2008, now prefers Skye and reported repeated taunting with nicknames like "Dixie Dust" and "Dixie Normous." Some classmates linked the name to racism because of its Civil War–era Southern connotations. The term Dixie originated from a 19th-century song tied to the Confederacy and has remained controversial; the Dixie Chicks removed the word from their name in 2020. Public reaction to the family's decision ranged widely, underscoring how names affect identity, family ties, and lived experience.
Read at TODAY.com
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