When it comes to naming a baby, most parents spend months mulling over their options to make sure they get it right. But despite all her efforts, one mum was forced to change her daughter's name after she was harshly bullied for it at school.
She explained how she named her daughter Alexa before Amazon brought out the virtual assistant technology with the same name. Taking to Reddit, she said: "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?'."
She went on to explain how the bullying got so bad that she was forced to change her daughter's name to Lexi and move her to a different school.
Amazon Echo introduced Alexa to its smart speakers in November 2014, as the artificial intelligence responding to users' questions and requests.
It has been claimed voice actor Nina Rolle provided the voice of Alexa now used on devices all around the world.
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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