Remember as a little kid when wearing t-shirt with our first names on the back of them was a thing.

Posted by andyr072@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 50 comments

It was really only a trend for us boys. I don't recall that being a thing with the girls. I think this trend later was seen as a stranger danger risk since a stranger might be able to lure a really little kid into believing he was trustworthy since he knew his first name right out of the gate. Of course this was probably just stranger danger paranoia since I really doubt any kids got kidnapped simply because their first name was on the back of their shirt.

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meatwads_sweetie@reddit

I was a kid in the 70s. I had a baseball type shirt with my nickname on the back.

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MissAnth@reddit

It was required for gym class. Other than that, it was never a thing where I lived.

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MsElena99@reddit

I don’t remember any of this but I wasn’t born til ‘75, maybe before my time, lol

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ancientastronaut2@reddit

No, only on my PE clothes.

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tommyalanson@reddit

Hell yeah! In mirror/rainbow colored bubble-font!

McCrory’s in the mall had a wall of designs you could get on the front and a bunch of styles you could do your name in on the back.

Lick your color shirt (black, obviously) design on the front, Van Halen, and name on the back!

Skateland USA here we come!

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smythe70@reddit

I had a shirt that "I'm Eileen – Fly Me, from Pan Am. Not my name but wtf was that??

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IamGypsyStarr@reddit

I was probably 4y and my mom took an undershirt and in plain black letters, ironed on GYPSY on the front and on the back a large Flick my Bic. I still have it 50y later somewhere in the attic.

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TexasmyTexas1@reddit

Yep, mid 1970s. I had my first name put on the back of 2 t-shirts at the mall. The iron on letters were block and had a velvety feel.

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LtLemur@reddit

I had one with a 4x4 truck on the front that read “Here Comes Trouble”, which is ironic because I was an only child who hardly ever got into trouble. Of course my name was on the back, too.

I think my parents had it made for me at the 4H county fair.

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CampVictorian@reddit

Yeeeeup. And yet, I constantly see decals in rear windows of cars with kids’ names alongside their school and specific sport. It’s incredibly stupid in terms of risk.

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The_AcidQueen@reddit

I work in a security-adjacent field and I remember a seminar in which this was brought up!

The example was "CEO of large company" and there were several scenarios. One scenario was an email that said "we have kidnapped your daughter from soccer practice. Click here to pay the ransom of one million bitcoin. You must pay by 3pm."

If the bad guys want to be very thorough, just the surname and the location on the license plate and the Stick Figure Family decals are enough for them to gather intel.

The security organization always emphasized to the C Level executives that they should minimize this kind of thing. As should everyone.

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dbrmn73@reddit

WITH their Jersey #s as well.

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Chibi-Skyler@reddit

There was a place at the mall (Hobby Tech) that specialized in personalized merch. Almost every kid in elementary school had a t-shirt with a fav design on the front and his/her name on the back.

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Diasies_inMyHair@reddit

I remember necklaces and bracelets and cups and pins.... from the time I was about 6 through my teenage years. By the time I was driving, you could even get a decorative plate for the front of your car with your name on it. From the air-brush stall at the flea market.

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nadiaco@reddit

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Temporary_View_3303@reddit

There exists a picture of myself, my brothers and all my cousins wearing matching 3/4 sleeve t shirts (white sleeves, but each a diff body color) with a number printed on the front (corresponding to our order of birth) and our names printed on the back. It’s The most 70s thing I’ve ever seen.

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Ianthin1@reddit

Maybe as a sports jersey, but otherwise I never saw such a thing.

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smithe68@reddit

Never heard of this, seems weird.

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Mugwumps_has_spoken@reddit

I remember even as an adult parent someone telling me I shouldn't put my daughter's name on her wheelchair because a stranger would try to use it to kidnap her.
This person knew damn well that my daughter was not only non-verbal, but never not in the presence of an adult who knew her (since she is unable to move her own wheelchair herself). So I'm not sure exactly how her name being on her wheelchair would present any kind of "stranger danger". It would only allow people to be friendly towards her since she couldn't say "Hi my name is..." to other kids like a typical child.

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tdawg-1551@reddit

My daughter found my old tennis team shirt with my name on the back when we visited Grandma. She would wear that thing all the time because of the last name on it.

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BebopTundra76@reddit

My dad took my sisters and i to a shop where we could pick out different iron ons and get our names on the back of tshirts. My sisters got the smurfs and my little pony images and i picked daisy duke. The back of my shirt said "Schlitz" this was in 1982🤣😂

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boybrian@reddit

I remember getting an iron on Jaws shirt but I don't recall anything about names on the back

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magnottasicepick@reddit

80s kid, 90s teen, don’t recall these at all.

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LizTruth@reddit

'70s kid '80s teen does.

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Sitcom_kid@reddit

girls, too

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fridayimatwork@reddit

Yeah everyone did it, and if dating in jr high in my school we’d exchange shirts

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railworx@reddit

There was a small piece in a cartoon about this, forget which one it was

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BPposy@reddit

Bonus points if it was air brushed on.

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MienaLovesCats@reddit

Or last names

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MassCasualty@reddit

Yup. Suddenly some kid in Iowa was murdered in a mall because he was eating an Auntie Annie's pretzel with his name on his clothes.

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No-Big-2512@reddit

Then there was a warning to parents about not having your child’s name on their clothes/backpacks

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Pristine_Poetry1340@reddit

hoodies with your name on the sleeve were a thing where I grew up

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NotedSkeptic@reddit

Girls had these where I grew up in Northwest Georgia. I had a few of them in the like 77-78.

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pippi_longstocking09@reddit

It worked (when it did ) because the dangerous stranger(ous) had watched the kid for days, weeks, months, whatever, and remembered their name from the day they wore the shirt, then created a story where they knew their name because they knew their parents. (I'm not the paranoid type; I much prefer free-range play for kids, but nevertheless I did get semi-obsessed with the Steven Stayner story a while back).

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Pedadinga@reddit

The fact his brother, Carey Stayner murdered that mom and those girls in Yosemite just blows me mind.

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pippi_longstocking09@reddit

Yeah he's a psycho.

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EvolutionCreek@reddit

Yep. Usually it was fine, but I remember my parents took me to brunch after my game once and I had to walk through the bar to use the bathroom and some dude day drinking with his buddies called out to me by name and I was so confused how he knew because I didn’t recognize him. His girlfriend eventually told me my name was on the back of my jersey and they had a good laugh but I didn’t. World Famous in Pacific Beach circa 1982.

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