What does 呼ばれてる mean in this context?


I’m reading a story, and in it 2 students are talking about a teacher. One
says, ね、榎本先生ってさ。。。 男子にエロ本って呼ばれてるらしいよ。This is followed by a scene where the
boys were caught with a prön mag, and the teacher telling them they have to be
more careful about it. She later confronts him about it saying,
先生はエロ本って呼ばれてるじゃん。

I have no clue how to interpret this usage of 呼ばれてる as I’m certain it can’t
mean “call” as that wouldn’t make sense.




I think this in fact something that the boys have been calling this teacher
(presumably behind his back), as a kind of pun on his name, 榎本{えのもと}. (They
are deliberately mispronouncing the first character as エロ instead of えの.)

Edited to add: The above answer was premised on the assumption that you
understood the grammar but thought 呼ぶ must have some meaning other than "call"
because you couldn't understand why the boys would be calling the teacher such
an odd thing. Since Chocolate has suggested in a comment that it might be the
use of the passive voice that's throwing you off, I'll just add that 呼ばれてる
doesn't mean "call," but "is being called."




I think this in fact something that the boys have been calling this teacher
(presumably behind his back), as a kind of pun on his name, 榎本{えのもと}. (They
are deliberately mispronouncing the first character as エロ instead of えの.)

Edited to add: The above answer was premised on the assumption that you
understood the grammar but thought 呼ぶ must have some meaning other than "call"
because you couldn't understand why the boys would be calling the teacher such
an odd thing. Since Chocolate has suggested in a comment that it might be the
use of the passive voice that's throwing you off, I'll just add that 呼ばれてる
doesn't mean "call," but "is being called."

