A boy who was bullied for sharing a surname with Donald Trump has been invited to tonight’s State of the Union speech.

Joshua Trump, an 11 year old from Wilmington Delaware was invited as the guest of First Lady Melania Trump .

Critics noted that President Trump has frequently used bullying language and name-calling to attack his opponents.

His name-calling has included referring to "Low IQ Maxine Waters", "Crying Chuck Schumer", "Little Marco" and "Crooked Hillary".

President Trump has also referred to Elizabeth Warren as "Pocahontas" – a racist reference to her Native American ancestry.

During a press conference during his Presidential campaign he made fun of a disabled journalist by mimicing his voice and body movements.

And within months of Trump coming to power, there were reports of an uptick in bullying in American schools , which has been widely attributed to his rhetoric.

In December Joshua Trump was allowed to change his name after being bullied for several years because of his name.

Joshua’s mother, Megan Trump, said the bullying started when Donald Trump began his presidential campaign and has become worse since.

She told HuffPost: "He said he hates himself, and he hates his last name, and he feels sad all the time, and he doesn’t want to live feeling like that anymore, and as a parent that’s scary."

Joshua was taken out of school and home-schooled for a year after the bullying started, but is now back in school using his father’s surname, Berto.

The State of the Union is the US President’s annual speech to congress, where he updates lawmakers on his priorities for the coming year.

Traditionally the President and First Lady invite several members of the public to sit in the Senate Gallery during the speech as his guests – often referring to them directly in the speech.

It’s unclear whether the President will do so.

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