Libertine: On the Prowl

Vidi, vici, veni -- I saw, I conquered, I came. _______________________________________________________________

Italian Court Usurps Parents' Right to Name Their Child

12:02, 2007-Dec-19 .. Posted in news .. 7 comments .. Link

When a little boy was born to an Italian couple fifteen months ago, they decided to give him the unusual name of "Friday". They went on to register his name at city hall as Friday and a priest also baptized him under that name.

Five months later, a busybody city hall clerk was sufficiently bothered by this unusual name to inform a tribunal, which then notified the parents that the boy's name was "invalid" because Italian law forbade parents from giving children names that were "ridiculous or shameful".

When the parents declined to change their son's name, the court ruled that the boy would be registered thenceforth as "Gregory", as he was born on the feast day of a saint with that name.

In other words, the government told the parents what their child's name was.

As of yet, this particular type of governmental meddling has not occurred in the US. But I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the Good Taste Nazis hit the department of vital statistics here.

It's not that I think that Friday is a great name. On the contrary, it's annoyingly trendy and gaggingly cute. My taste in names runs to the classic; names that have stood the test of time and which have not been altered with "creative" spellings.

But neither is "Friday" a "shameful" name as the court claimed. It's easy to say and easy to spell, and if the boy doesn't like it, he's always free to change it as an adult. I'd never name a kid Friday, but I think these parents were well within their rights to do so.

And governmental meddling doesn't get much worse than to tell a parent that they cannot name their own child.

I could have understood the Italian court's position if they'd given him a name that was truly degrading, such as "Shitload" or "Cumstain". I'd not have had a problem with the court refusing to register such a "name" then. But even in such an instance, I still would allow the parents to choose a more appropriate name, instead of choosing one for them. And don't even get me started on choosing a name for someone based on religion.

For their part, the parents have vowed to continue calling their son Friday, even though he will be compelled to sign his name as Gregory on all official documents when he gets older.

Thoughts?

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Untitled Comment

06:05, 2007-Dec-19 .. Posted by itsmylife
I think it's way out of line for the gov't to tell someone what to name their child. But on the other hand, "Friday"??? What were they thinking?

A few years back one of the girls in customer service had a baby and they named him "Crash". We all shook our heads at that one...

Untitled Comment

08:16, 2007-Dec-19 .. Posted by Minda
My brother-in-law wanted to name his son 7.

Yes, the digit 7.

Our government won't let you do that.

So they named him Cevan, which still sounds like 7, but also is a rearrangment of his father's name, Vance.

Untitled Comment

01:50, 2007-Dec-19 .. Posted by Aielman
"As of yet, this particular type of governmental meddling has not occurred in the US."

Actually, yes it has. There are a whole host of state and federal regulations regarding what you can and can't use in a legal name. You can't use a number, for instance. There's a few other ones.

Untitled Comment

08:34, 2007-Dec-19 .. Posted by DeeJay
I like to start my classes with a few odd news bits and this was one I used yesterday. All three of my German foreign exchange students said that names must be approved in their country as well. I found that rather interesting.

EclectaComment

06:27, 2007-Dec-20 .. Posted by Eclectablog
*yawn*

Untitled Comment

09:21, 2007-Dec-21 .. Posted by littleMissConfused
I see a lot of names go thru at the check out. Some days I just have to wonder what the parents were thinking when they picked the babies name. Like yesterday....I had a young man with bright red curly hair (think carrot top only much longer) and so many piercings on his face (looked like a tackle box blew up) and tattoos all over (walking comic book). I was thinking "I wonder why he would do that" ...... He handed me his credit card and drivers license. There was my answer...his parents didn't like him. They named him JACK...and his last name was Mehoff! I thought that name only existed in a bad joke.....Jack Mehoff! You would think the parents would have thought about the other kids teasing him and named him Bill or Bob or David.....

Untitled Comment

11:29, 2007-Dec-21 .. Posted by mothman
Hey... my Grampa's name was Cumstain... what's your problem?