A schoolgirl has been allowed to legally change her name after being mercilessly bullied by classmates.
The six-year-old’s parents, who have not been named, baptised their daughter as Alexa just before Amazon’s virtual voice assistant boomed in the tech market.
As the virtual Alexa grew in popularity, the little girl, from Goettingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany, began to get bullied on the playground.
The schoolgirl’s peers would constantly give her orders, leaving her upset by the teasing.
Her parents subsequently applied to city officials in a bid to officially change her name, in the hope of putting an end to the mean comments.
However, the family’s application was turned down, leading them to take the case to the city’s administrative court.
In court, they described how Alexa was taunted by other children, who would shout commands at her in the playground.
They also recalled one unknown man, who after hearing their daughter’s name, asked her to “dance for me”.
Court officials agreed that the girl had been "emotionally burdened" by her name and gave her parents permission to choose a new one.
The court found: "The name is not only apt to form a pun, but rather invites the issuing of insulting and demeaning orders."
Local media did not report what Alexa's new name will be.
Amazon reported in January 2019 that more than 100 million Alexa devices had been sold.
The voice AI assistant can answer commands like "Alexa, what's the weather today?" or "Alexa, how many ounces in a pound?"
Last year The Mirror reported on another mum who helped her teen daughter change her name from Alexa after she too suffered relentless bullying at school.
"She started to not want to introduce herself because of the jokes and the backlash. She was and still is a child, yet adults thought it was okay to make a joke of her. It's devastating", the mum said at the time.
"The school was unhelpful and told her she needed to build resilience.
"She's in a much better place now. We have cut off friends and moved her to a new school to allow a fresh start. The injustice will never leave her, or us. Amazon must change the default wake word on its devices.
“There was clearly not enough ethical research into using Alexa."
Amazon previously said in a statement: "We designed our voice assistant to reflect qualities we value in people - being smart, considerate, empathetic, and inclusive.
"We're saddened by the experiences you've shared, and want to be very clear: bullying of any kind is unacceptable, and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms."
