Now, really. I know that, sometimes, governmental bureaucrats get a little bored. Restless. Touchy, etc. And I'm sure in this day and age of political correctness, subversive motives and overall odd things, what name a child is "legally" saddled with could stir up some angst over here or over there perhaps. Apparently it is legally sound (and makes for mighty good press) to name your kid Dweezil, Apple, Romeo or Jarhead. But that's where the line stops? I found this article - which, shockingly, is front page stuff - slightly entertaining. And kind of pathetic. For heaven's sakes, we have suspicious monkeys being smuggled country-to-country. Who has time to worry about a little bloke named (or maybe not) 4Real? Good grief, let's hope they get him official before he needs to get his drivers license. Anyway, trifling as I know it is , here's the story.

Edited for typo

Well, I don;t know if it is still true, but you must follow the rules in France, and only name your baby from an official list of acceptable names. Does someone know if this is still the case?

I read that article earlier this morning and wondered why they could not name their baby whatever they want to. On the other hand, think of the teasing that poor child will get in school.

And Gats, Jarhead? Please! Don't use my name in vain! There is absolutely no Marine blood in my veins.....

I was listening to the radio and someone called in with a friend whose name was Vodka. This is not a child either!

France, well it is going to depend on the nature of the 'officier de l'etat civil' and if there is a precedent elsewhere. There has been a gradual liberation of the rules but up until a short time ago, if you were a Dallas fan, and wanted Sue Ellen, you had to name the baby 'Suzanne Helene' and call her the nickname.

If you could find a precedent in your local area, like Magali in Provence, or a Breton name in Bretagne, then you might get it past them.


There was a very big case in which a man wanted to name his daughter Megane and his last name was Renault. They didn't want him to, because it was the name of the car by Renault...but I think he was able to.

I personally find the name Prune in French silly, but have heard it. It means plum though.

If they were really intent on naming the poor kid, 4Real, why not do it without the number? For Real. As I understood it, the number 4 was the problem. Well...not their ONLY problem!

Surely someone has to protect a voiceless child from his parents who want to name him 4real. He'll be happy about it one day.

I've copied this off a blog about this poor child's name.
'...when pulled over by a cop.
“What’s your name son?”
“Superman”
“Are you getting smart with me”
“No, my name’s Superman 4real”'

The poor child when he goes to school, imagine how he will be teased. I thought Apple was bad but Superman!

Copago, the trouble is that Superman is acceptable and 4real isn't. It's Hobson's choice, but personally I'd prefer the latter!

(I'm slow, but...) it just occurred to me that those parents assigned that innocent child , or planned to, (essentially) an internet screen name - which would explain the use of 4 for the 'for'. Oh, my ... if that becomes a precedent, imagine the craziness teachers face when taking attendance a decade from now...

Gats, the craziness during roll call in the U.S. schools has already begun. Here are some names I have encountered recently:

Boss Man
Shazaam
Classique Styles
REL (pronounced Ariel)
Abcde (pronounced ab-sih-dee)
Princess Mae
Wildchylde
Raven Storm

...and the list goes on, unfortunately. The names become more unusual every year!

I don't quite know how I can do this without being offensive, but I'll try.

In the book "Freakonomics," by economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner, there is a case of a woman who had given her daughter a name pronounced "Shuh-TEED." I'll leave the spelling of that name to your imagination, but yes, it was spelled as you might imagine. The situation came to the authors' attention when the child's aunt expressed her distress on a radio show.

Included in this chapter were the names of twins: Lemonjello and Orangejello, pronounced "Le-MON-jello" and "O-RAN-jello."

*shakes head in wonder*

I know a woman that called her daughter Jhorjhi (also has a sone called Jaymz). For God's sake, if you're going to call a child Georgie why not just spell it that way?

The latest fashion over here is to name the children with the name of a celebrity, from whatever domain the parents are attracted to - using both names(!!) of the 'star' as a first name. It is true that it happens mostly (but not exclusively) among the Romani population.
So you can easily find in here a Cassius Clay + surname, Jennifer Lopez + surname, Neil Armstrong + surname, and many others.

I always said that if my parents would have named me anything similar to the above listed, once I reached 18 I would have sued them for psychological damage .

We have a couple in the village who called their first daughter Ameena. Around here she is known as Amino acid.

The locals here are the champions at name picking
I have in my classes, a Rainbow, a Moonie, a Wind ( imagine later asking someone if you passed HER on the way to school!), Cornelius, Money, Apple, Ocean, Sincere, Windy(I am sure they MEANT Wendy) , the list is endless.

Gats my first thought was they named him after a text message which I think is even worse than an internet screen name. Just my opinion.

Some people should have their children taken off them for what they name them - the French policy of having acceptable names was a boon. I mean, come on - here in the UK, there was a story of a couple who named their child Ikea.

Now, if anyone is unsure what Ikea is, type it into Google. And order me a bean-bag chair.

That's too funny, Flynn_17!

*Bean-Bag chair on back order.

What causes some upset locally is that unmarried women, even if in very longterm relationships and with partners permission, cannot register the child with his surname, the child has to take the mother's maiden name by law.

One couple recently took the Registrar to court as he registered the child under the mother's maiaden name despite them wanting it registered in the man's name. They lost the case.

There is nothing to stop them changing the child's name by deed poll to his surname, it just cannot be registered at birth.

What makes it more confusing is that if the woman had previously been married and still used her ex-husband's surname, as I do, then the child has to be in her maiden name, not her current surname.

As for first names, more or less anything goes so there is nothing to prevent them calling the child Superman if they so wish.

I have thought for some time, people should be IQ tested before they are allowed to breed.

The names that these intellectual giants are giving their offspring only add support to my argument.

I know a little girl who is unfortunate enough to have the last name of "Dick" - which has gotta be bad enough when you're a child of school age. To make matters worse, her idiot parents (and I can say that, we've met) had the brilliant idea of naming her "Crystal".

Madness.

Wow some of those names are just really weird, i know a guy who called his kid Luke Sky, all because the last name is Walker, so his name all together is Luke Sky Walker, and i thought that was lame enough, and he is my cousin.

I like unusal names, but some are just ridiculous. I have my kids names picked already - Gerard and Hunter - And they are normal. I would never call my kid Jarhead or 4Real or Superman, imagine the crap they would have to take when they are of school age.