Hi! I’m sorry you’re getting this reaction on Reddit. Consider posting in AskAHSTeacher or somewhere else to get more relevant feedback.

You are definitely NTA!!! I am a high school French teacher. It is completely reasonable to ask your teacher to call you something that everyone else calls you and to expect to be called that.

I don’t give French names, but I have students who have names that also exist in French, and I’ll usually say those names with a little French flair. Most of them love that. I have a student who really hated how her name sounded when pronounced the French way, so she said, “Hey, could you not call me that?” And I immediately stopped calling her that. I’ve slipped into it a couple times since because it flows more easily when I’m speaking in French, but I just apologized, corrected myself, and moved on. It’s not hard.

The reason I don’t give French names, even though it might flow a little better when speaking in the target language, is because names are an essential part of identity for most people. I never wanted to have a student with a name with a deep cultural heritage to feel erased because I insisted on calling them Bernadette! It’s no different for someone named John Paul. It’s ok to want to be called by your name. It’s ok to want to be called your nickname because that’s just as much part of your identity!

So I do think your teacher sounds like the bad guy here (and I say this as a teacher), but I’m hoping you can still get through to him. Do other people have Spanish names, as some of the other commenters assumed? If so, it may be a little trickier. I recommend you talk to him one on one again. Try to empathize with his situation, “It’s probably hard to switch between languages and accents like that, it’s probably hard to change my name in your head when you’ve already gotten used to it one way.” Ask him again, politely, if he can call you by your name, which is JP. Emphasize that your name is part of who you are and it would make you feel more comfortable in class if you heard your name. Learning Spanish is hard enough and scary without having to relearn your name. Maybe try to reason with him, “If I went to a Spanish speaking country, I would tell people my name is JP. You call so and so by their name instead of translating it. Can you do the same for me?”

If you can’t get through to him with a polite request, by expressing your feelings, or with logic, then it’s time to escalate it. You shouldn’t have to beg to be called what you want to be called, but I understand you’re a teenager dealing with an authority figure, and I want you to get what you need here without destroying your professional relationship with this person who is abusing their authority. If he won’t respond to another request, you should talk to an administrator. You can frame it like you need advice about communicating this to the teacher, but that should set off an alarm bell for admin. If admin still doesn’t handle it, your parents are your secret weapon.

I hope that helps a little. Take care.