Using apostrophes in names

Every couple of years as a teacher, I had a student in my high school English class with an apostrophe in his or her name. When we got to the lesson about apostrophes (which stand for missing letters and possession), the other kids would point to that kid and say, "Is your mom stupid?" I would have to scold the students making the comment.

I know apostrophes feel trendy, and if this is the main reason you are choosing to use one, I recommend considering their actual use before you plop one in a name. Teachers talk about apostrophes almost every year, and it leads to teasing every year. If you MUST use an apostrophe, then use a hyphen. Hyphens only make sense if you are combining two names, but at least it won't lead to teasing and jobs/colleges wondering why the mom included punctuation for little reason.

Bottom line, we can name our kids whatever we want, but as a teacher (and further college admissions board member) my stomach hurts when I see the punctuation used incorrectly in names because of how it impacts the child. It stamps the child as coming from an uneducated parent---even if that isn't the case! When jobs and colleges make decisions, it is often because of fickle reasons. I mean no offense by this post. I just want moms to be aware of the way others may perceive this choice.

***UPDATE: After a couple of the comments, I want to add that I am fully aware that apostrophes occur in other languages, but every student I've had has not used an apostrophe for this reason. This was a post to make parents aware of teasing I've seen, and I fully assure you that I spend more time teaching tolerance than anything else. My lessons on tolerance won't prevent the jerks out there who will judge them based on their name on the resume. My hope is for a brighter future where this judgment will be nonexistent, but we've seen the studies about names and job rates, and this is a reality we cannot deny at this moment (regardless of whether I spend every breath teaching my kids about being tolerant).***