A mum has had to change the name of her daughter after being bullied at school.
The woman states she named her child Alexa but since Amazon brought out a virtual assistant with the same name her daughter had been getting bullied.
According to the Mirror, the mum wrote on Reddit: "My daughter is Alexa. The bullying she got was horrific. F*** Amazon.
"She was born in 2007. Any time the class teacher called register everyone laughed and said stuff like, 'Alexa turn the lights on', 'Alexa play me a song', 'Alexa what is the weather'. That then graduated to yelling across the yard: 'Alexa! What is that smell?', and 'Alexa! What is a diet?'."
The mum explained the bullying got so bad she was forced to change her daughter's name to Lexi and move her to a different school.
Amazon introduced its smart speaker Alexa in November 2014. The speaker uses artificial intelligence to respond to users' questions and requests.
Commenting on the mum's post, one user said: "I’m an Alexa, I get lame jokes and it’s annoying to be in the same house as one."
Another user added: "I don’t know any Alexas but I'm still angry that’s what Amazon chose. Alex is such a common name they never should have chosen something so close."
A third user said: "I would prefer if those things like Alexa or Siri didn't have equal to regular names.
"I prefer that call out of 'Hey Google' as I don't see google as a normal name, it's a company, a search machine."
One more user added: "My spouse worked with somebody who went by Ciri and they often set off their iPhones when hailing her."
An Amazon spokesperson said: “We designed our voice assistant to reflect qualities we value in people – being smart, considerate, empathetic, and inclusive. Bullying of any kind is unacceptable, and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms. As an alternative to Alexa, we also offer several other wake words customers can choose from, including Echo, Computer, and Amazon.”
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