WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A family court judge in New Zealand has had enough with parents giving their children bizarre names here, and did something about it.
Just ask Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. He had her renamed.
Judge Rob Murfitt made the 9-year-old girl a ward of the court so that her name could be changed, he said in a ruling made public Thursday. The girl was involved in a custody battle, he said.
The new name was not made public to protect the girl's privacy.
'Very poor judgment'"The court is profoundly concerned about the very poor judgment which this child's parents have shown in choosing this name," he wrote. "It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap, unnecessarily."
The girl had been so embarrassed at the name that she had never told her closest friends what it was. She told people to call her "K" instead, the girl's lawyer, Colleen MacLeod, told the court.
In his ruling, Murfitt cited a list of the unfortunate names.
Sex Fruit?Registration officials blocked some names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, he said. But others were allowed, including Number 16 Bus Shelter "and tragically, Violence," he said.
New Zealand law does not allow names that would cause offense to a reasonable person, among other conditions, said Brian Clarke, the registrar general of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Clarke said officials usually talked to parents who proposed unusual names to convince them about the potential for embarrassment.
Just ask Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. He had her renamed.
Judge Rob Murfitt made the 9-year-old girl a ward of the court so that her name could be changed, he said in a ruling made public Thursday. The girl was involved in a custody battle, he said.
The new name was not made public to protect the girl's privacy.
'Very poor judgment'"The court is profoundly concerned about the very poor judgment which this child's parents have shown in choosing this name," he wrote. "It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap, unnecessarily."
The girl had been so embarrassed at the name that she had never told her closest friends what it was. She told people to call her "K" instead, the girl's lawyer, Colleen MacLeod, told the court.
In his ruling, Murfitt cited a list of the unfortunate names.
Sex Fruit?Registration officials blocked some names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, he said. But others were allowed, including Number 16 Bus Shelter "and tragically, Violence," he said.
New Zealand law does not allow names that would cause offense to a reasonable person, among other conditions, said Brian Clarke, the registrar general of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Clarke said officials usually talked to parents who proposed unusual names to convince them about the potential for embarrassment.
8 comments:
It's about time someone stepped in and corrected the horrific names people give their children! I have never understood why people think it is funny to give their kid a funny name--Pilot Inspektor anyone (which is, in fact, the name of Jason Lee's (from "My Name is Earl") daughter)). And quite naming kids names that mark them as extraordinary. I mean how are you supposed to go through life with a name like "Imunique"--yes, in fact you do pronounce that "I'm Unique." My students and I had a discussion about names recently, and one student has a cousin with this name. I mean, this poor child will never measure up to her name.
Um...maybe it is about time that the parents decided that they should name their children normal names.
Leaving this responsibility to a judge is well beyond the judge's means to provide a good judgment.
Great find, p-duck!
Have to agree with solon here, as Harrogate suspects all Readers would, in the end. What an excellent test case for examining the distinction between relying on cultural pressure, and on the point of a gun, to effect reasonable behavior.
The New Zealand judge, however so much his heart might be in the right place, represents a caricature that is quite popular in the discourse of the devoted Right.
Ahhhh. Can't ye just hear Fred! Thompson now:
"Put em in power, and pretty soon they'll be telling you what you can name your own children! They think government's the answer to everything."
Somehow, too, they get from there to gutting government services like education, children's health care, and disaster relief.
What a strange world we live in.
When Frank Zappa wanted to name his first son Dweezil, the hospital wouldn't let him. They refused to register him under that name, so Frank instead named his son after the four members of his band: Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa. Of course, he was still known as Dweezil by family and friends, and when he was old enough to do so, he legally changed to name to Dweezil.
An excellent bit of trivia, Oxymoron. Don't forget about Moon Unit Zappa (didn't she change her name to Rainbow or something like that?).
It's just so disrespectful of the kid to give him or her a goofy name like that. I appreciate the desire to be creative and unique--but save it for the pets. A dog isn't going to worry if her name is Imunique or Talula Does the Hula. She won't have to get a job with that name.
There's always the story of the girl named "female" (pronounced Feemallee). And my brother-in-law loves to recount the story (which he swears is true) of the boy named Shithead (pronounced Shittheed).
I totally get what you're both saying, Solon and Harrogate, but even Moon Unit Zappa has admitted that her name has been a detriment to her--it has kept her from being taken seriously. She legally dropped the "Unit" from her name and is now only known as Moon. I hope that this judge just draws attention to the fact that naming a child is a serious matter--and what you name a child can affect the child for the rest of his or her life.
Wow. I'm going to agree with Solon and Harrogate here. Can you imagine how you would feel if the government took away your parental rights and then renamed your child? Of course, people should give their children sensible names, and we can give an enormous list of terrible names that people have had to carry throughout their lives. But this is not the place for the government to get involved. Naming your children? I can't even imagine. But I also could not imagine a kid writing Tulula Does the Hula on the top of her kindergarten worksheets.
I have seen a man on a talk show who legally changed his name to Trout Fishing in America. So it is possible that someone would appreciate a crazy name--he chose it for himself. We can't say across the board what names are good or bad or what people would consider a weird name a life-ruining curse or who might see it as an opportunity to nurture individuality and creativity. We can't assume the parents' motives or the kids' eventual personalities. Clearly, a crazy name is a good thing to some people or they wouldn't do it. And when the time comes to get a job, the option to legally change your name is available to adults.
And this is all coming from a woman named Sarah, so I have zero personal experience to draw on.
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