Should it be illegal to give kids stupid/horrendous names?

[hermes]

Who decides it? How do you define what is an horrend name?
I have a friend who named his kid Aragorn; however, people mess up on the papers and his name is now Aragon.

Luckily for him, people have usually have 2 names, so he can switch to it when he grows tired of it.

 

[The Stonker]

I want to name my girl.
Cassiopiea.
JUST BECAUSE I CAN!MWHAHAHAH

Oh yes and my boy, Rock.

 

[Jackal403]

Some names really do have the potential to create persona's or targets for kids. My cousin named her first son, Max. Not unusual. Middle name: Danger. Great. This kid, whose parents are huge UFC fans, will probably grow up to either be a huge bully, or get picked on relentlessly.

To make matters worse, they named their second: Silas Action.

I hope they never have a daughter.

Also, used to work with a guy whose son was named Raistlin.

Yeah...

 

[Mikeyfell]

Violet

that's the best idea ever
I'll have 7 kids and name them all after colors
and only buy them shirts in the color of their namesake
it'll be awesom

but seriously I know what you're getting at
I was about to be called Shazam middle name Presto
before my parents decided on Harrison...
so when I was a kid everyone got to call me Hairy........
now you understand why my screen name is Mikeyfell

 

[Brutal Peanut]

It depends. Naming one of those kid-things, "Violet" or equally sounding names is kind of sweet, but a little usual because you don't hear it very often, which makes it nice and refreshing. But naming it: Audio Science or Marijuana Pepsi (look it up), Lasagna, or Muffin, like it's just a pet and it wont have an effect on their entire lives, gets to me.

Unless they are a child with celebrity parents and have a lot of money, believe it or not, a super silly or stupid name can effect major parts of someones life - from people who aren't so sensitive or generous to parents wild and unrestricted imagination.

However if it's too outrageous and they are still children, they could have a different name, a "Christian name" (as my Mother used to say) for school and can be called whatever at home.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

My sister has told us for years that she wants to name her first child (presuming of course that it's a girl) Prairie Bell (possibly with a different spelling for Bell, but the Prairie part is presented verbatim). Take a moment to digest that factoid.

...

Okay, now that you've processed that for a moment, consider what I told her literally the second after she first informed me of that plan: "That sounds like something you would call a race horse, not your child. Unless you WANT them to grow up hating you that is." Every other member of her extended family thinks she is crazy and agrees with me that yes, that does indeed sound like a good name for a race horse.

If this is what otherwise completely sane and rational individuals can come up with before the onset of massive amounts of hormones enter the equation (and quite possibly a heavy dose of painkillers depending on just when in the process they get around to formulating that name), let's just say I feel very sorry for those unfortunate children possessed of parents who apparently hate them judging by the horrible names they selected.

Don't give your kids stupid names, seriously - it isn't going to go over well at all. If you absolutely cannot restrain yourself, at least bury the stupid name you insist on foisting upon your unsuspecting offspring somewhere deep within all the other normal names you've assigned them, like the family I know where all the children were named after the stage names of various individuals from the show American Gladiator - their son's full legal name was Christopher John Alexander Flash Johnson[footnote]He just went by John, which I think was actually something of a waste of potential - if I could tell people my name was Flash Johnson and not be lying, I'd be all over that, ha ha![/footnote], and both his female siblings had equally elaborate and ridiculous middle names. The point being that they were middle names - you don't generally have to tell people those.

But naming your son Violet? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you - that is a girls name. You may as well tattoo the words "Please make my son a social pariah" on his forehead, it's pretty much the same thing; here's hoping you gave him a normal middle name at least, so he can go by that for his entire life until such time as he can legally get rid of the terrible first name you saddled him with!

 

[NinjaDuckie]

Nobody is going to bully someone named Metallica. They'll stare and bow, not insult.

I totally never said that. Hell, I'd be happy to hang out with someone called Metallica.

 

[Rofl-Mayo]

No, but I wouldn't really intend to give my kid's stupid names. Some kid at the place I used to live was named Pooder (A very terrible name).

 

[Burningsok]

There shouldn't be any laws against it. But it does say alot about you when you name your kid something horrendously idiotic.

 

[Bre2nan]

Sometimes the weirder names are better.

My real name is Brennan (not too far removed from my screenname, I know). It gets messed up all the damn time by people. Back in school during roll call, I was called Brandon, Brenden, Brian, Brett, Brenner, even Breeann. And when Step Brothers came out, I really got an earful from annoying preteens on XBL asking if I have a man-gina.

If only my parents bit the bullet and called me Clark Kent Hickam like they were planning to, all this would have been avoided. People wouldn't get the reference my ass.

In reference to the OT, a lot of weird names come not just from parents naming their kids, but adults changing their names later. There's people in Eugene, Oregon not far from where I grew up that changed their names to Captain Awesome and Mister Oolala

 

[Les Awesome]

there are rules in china about names
a couple wanted to name their child @
but it was rejected

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

The bullies will be all over the little gremlin, named Violet.

SO what you say is that the right thing to do is to conform to what the bullies tell us all to do?

Should homosexual people be prevented from having or adopting kids because the kids might get picked on by other kids?

Should ex-pornstars be forbidden from having kids because their kids might get picked on for it?

I don't know about you, but my morals tell me that bullies are the ones who should be fought and opposed. If they pick on someone (the reason is irrelevant because harassment like that is completely unacceptable. You don't have to like everybody, but that doesn't give you the right to harass, bully or abuse them), then it is THE BULLIES who deserve to be punished, chastised and overall stigmatized for their transgressions.

If you refuse to do something that doesn't really harm anyone (like naming your offspring a certain name) because someone might decide to bully them, then what you're doing is basically saying that the actions of bullies are completely justified.

So how about growing a pair and oppose the bullies rather than conforming after their subjective and arbitrary standards which they often try to enforce through intimidation and even violence?

I am not sure where you got the whole "conform to bullies thing" but I am talking about slapping parents from naming their children with forsaken names. In one instance I did mention that horrendous names has a chance of increasing your profile to bullies above the default level, so if you think that your child will be incapable of handling such mental scarring, do him a favor and don't make him stick out.

That isn't conforming..that's camouflage. Some may call it sensible even.

Bottom line: If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

 

[The Grim Ace]

I heard of a situation in New Zealand where a couple tried to name their 4 Real. It was blocked only because of their insistence on spelling it with the number four, people theses days, oy.

Anyways, they can change their name one day and, more importantly, I think this is just a weird passing fad since the descendants of these usually air-headed parents are probably going to be giving the most traditional names they can find when they become parents, so, after awhile the H3vans and 4 Reals and Moxie Crimefighters of the world will be taking care of Anna, John, and Julia.

 

[Taxicab Samurai]

Penn Jillette named his kid Moxie Crimfighter.
And if you think something Penn does is wrong, then you're wrong sir.

 

[Roxie Rose]

I just don't understand why anyone would name their kids such crazy names. I would love to know what they are thinking when they come up with this stuff.

My real name that my parents gave me is a bit odd (I've never seen or heard of anyone else with it before) but at least it sounds normal compared to what I see on this topic.

My real name is my screen name btw.

 

[SimuLord]

Life ain't easy for a boy named Sue.

Should it be illegal? No. That kind of government intervention in the daily lives of its citizens is simply unacceptable under ALL circumstances. And as others have pointed out, changing one's name or going by something else is allowed.

Should it be VERY frowned upon and should you hold your ground if your significant other proposes a truly ridiculous, loony-bin name for your future children? Of course. To me it's a red flag if a girl dreams of saddling kids with "trendy" names because it reveals other things about her personality.

 

[LC Wynter]

Officer: Sir, I'm afraid I'm placing you under arrest.
Bob: B-but... why? I haven't done anythi-
Officer: You named your son Antidisestablishmentarianism. That's illegal, apparently.

Honestly? The thought's ridiculous. It's subjective, you can't control that sort of thing. That's like telling people that it's illegal to wear blue suede shoes, or that it's illegal to grin more than three CM across.

Besides, you can't actually change your name to something that's an inconvenience to the name-ee. I suppose the same goes with parenting.

 

[Zantos]

A quick question related closely to the thread and based on an arguement i had the other week. Does where a name comes from make it bad, or is that solely based on the name. For instance, i think Thane would be a good name because it's quite interesting and i like the way it sounds without it being really really stupid.

My friend however believes it's a bad name, because i got it from a mass effect 2 character. Does anyone have any feelings either way? Not to this specific name, but just to the whole idea of getting names from games/films/whatever (providing they arent ridiculous).

 

[shogunblade]

As far as it goes on the stupid name thing, I think that there is a line that should be drawn in the sand about what to name your child.

When my Ex and I were talking about kids (Yes, another "Ex" story), She wanted a girl named Neveah. While I recognize that it is "Heaven" backwards, I feel that naming a child that particular name would be a big mistake. It just doesn't sound right. Of course she called me out when I wanted a Kincaid (She told me it was a good middle name, though).

But at least it was a name. I like really unique names, not names based on what words you filled your mad-libs out with (I swear to god, the guy who names his son Penis McMichaelson should have his testicular fortitude liberated from his body).

But that is my personal feelings on it all. I just don't want to meet somebody whose happen to have had parents who thought Chlamydia or Formica were good names for their children.

P.S. - If you are named Neveah, I apologize if I have offended you.