CORNELIUS -- Does the name of a new Charlotte-Mecklenburg high school connote drugs and loose  morals? 

Some parents in north Mecklenburg think so, touching off a furor over a school named for a distinguished principal, a full nine months before the doors open.

Those parents are urging the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board to reconsider the name of W.A. Hough High School set to open in August, saying the name will cause lasting embarrassment for their children.

But first the name will have to be mispronounced.

Nevertheless, one incoming school board member says the issue has become so divisive that she'll recommend the board rename the school after letting parents vote on new choices offered by the school's nominating committee.

For now, W.A. Hough (it rhymes with rough) High honors the legacy of a longtime North Mecklenburg High principal who died in 1998. He was principal from 1955 to 1974.

The name was recommended by a panel of parents, students and educators led by Terri Cockerham, principal of the new school. The school board OK'd the name Nov. 10.

Yet numerous parents whose children will attend Hough now say students at rival schools will purposely mispronounce the name in a way that describes women of ill repute.

“My two girls will never attend ‘Ho High,'” James Good said in an e-mail to school board members, one of dozens sent by parents this week, most against the name.

Parent Lori Owen said her daughter cried when she learned the name of her new school.

“How can they expect the kids to enjoy and/or respect a high school that is going to be constantly ridiculed?” she e-mailed the board. “Huff” or “huffing” is also a form of drug use, Owen said.

Hough's son, Dr. Bill Hough, 63, of Winston-Salem said the negative reaction astounds him. His dad guided North Meck peacefully through integration and was N.C. principal of the year in 1970, Hough said.

“If they had only known him,” Hough said of critics of the school name. “We're talking about somebody whose character is without blemish.”

CMS held three meetings in September, inviting the public to weigh in on names for the new school. Fewer than 20 people attended in all, and no one objected to the name, CMS spokesperson Kathleen Johansen said.

Some parents — and grandparents — support the original choice.

“Please DON'T tell me that mispronunciation is a legitimate reason to deny someone an honor earned!” e-mailed Eleanor Payne, a senior associate dean at Davidson College and a student under Hough from 1958 to 1960.

School board member Joe White said he was offended when a woman “maligned” Hough's name at a recent board meeting. Hough hired White to teach and coach at North Meck in 1963. He called his former boss “a unique leader.”

White recalled a similar dustup when Olympic High was nicknamed the Trojans in the 1960s. He said he's not about to go against school policy by voting to change the name recommended by a community panel selected by the school's principal.

Board member Trent Merchant agreed.

“I anticipate a brief revival of hilarity as the school opens, but it will soon fade to the dustbin of juvenile humor,” Merchant said in an e-mail.

Yet, school board member-elect Rhonda Lennon said the issue has become so poisonous in her District 1 that she plans to make a motion to name the North Meck High stadium for Hough and reopen naming of the new school. “We don't need more divisiveness in District 1,” she said.

Have similar names been the subject of taunts?

Because of the time difference, no one was available Friday afternoon to speak to the experiences of Thistley Hough High School in Stoke-on-Trent, England.

Teal Britton, a spokeswoman for the Horry County Schools in Conway, said her system has never encountered such a flare-up over a name that comes from a famous French Huguenot.

But be assured, Britton said: If they don't mock the name, rivals will find something else to tease Hough High about.

“They” means grownups, too, she said.