I knew a kindergarten girl named Lessie. She was very sweet and religious. It was a good name for her: gentle, soft, and innocent. This was maybe around 2010 or 2011.
My name is Leslie Ann (pronounced with a soft “s”) and am a woman. I had my share of teasing with it. Mostly “Lezz” “Lezbo” “Lesbian”. Yawn. It only was an insult if I gave people that power. I usually found a great shocking way to verbally retort. “Yeah, I’m a lesbian, wanna kiss?” I remember in the school bus once, only once, a girl said (like she was a sudden genius) “wouldn’t it be fun if your middle name was Ann because then you would be Lez-b-Ann”. I stared at her with malice, of course and laughed and laughed and then paused. I said, “No, it’s not funny and, my middle name is Ann. How about you try to float that joke one more time?”. Miraculously, no one even called me Lezz again. At the time I likely would have said I didn’t like my name. But, that’s not wholly true. I like my name and can’t imagine going by anything else. I like that it’s not common and not religious. Someone else on here said it was, I haven’t found proof of that. Did I have to defend my name from time to time, sure. I also correct people when they pronounce it wrong for me with a z. I was always called Leslie with a soft s not because of teasing about lesbianism. But, every kid has their teasing cross to bear and as far as teasing goes, it really wasn’t that bad. I just shot people down.