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

[2xDouble]

Without having read all the comments... here's my take:

Should it be illegal? No. Parents should have the freedom to name their children whatever they want.

WITH ONE CONDITION: If the child's name is judged to be offensive, inconvenient, or otherwise detrimental to the child's normal social interaction by more than one person (presumably a committee of the maternity workers), then that child must be given a nickname that may be used legally in place of his/her "inappropriate" name.

Another comedian has a similar rant on children's names... "Parents have to stop this, giving their kids crazy names. 'So you named your first daughter Chandelier, and your other daughter Chlamydia?' ... I knew a woman who had twins, 'Yeah, I named the first one Dewan, and the second boy Deottowan' *facepalm* ... I met another woman who named her kids... looked like their names were lemon jello and orange jello. *in a big attitude voice* 'nuh-uh! it's Lemonjello and Orangello...'" (I can't remember her name, or I'd have searched out a youtube clip)

 

[annoyinglizardvoice]

There is somewhere in the world (Australia I think, but can't be sure) where social services have taken parents to court over the really daft names their folks have given them (it helped the the kids hated the names aswell).
Personally I feel that silly names are just one symptom of a larger problem, utter morons having kids

 

[GeorgW]

Actually, in Sweden, where I live, it is illegal.

 

[Vkmies]

Some neo-nazis gave their boy the name "Adolf". They are basically forcing him to either be totally miserable, or a nazi. Shit like that should be banned.

 

[MisterM2402]

So which is it? Who are at fault? The bullies or the parents who didn't think of conforming according to the bullies arbitrary rules?

Well...
Obviously, the bullies shouldn't be bullying in the first place, BUT, since they do anyway, and the parents know that that's what kids can do, the parents are at fault. If kids didn't bully, giving people names that are considered "stupid" by the vast majority of the world (I'm sure it's a given that the "vast majority" of the people think the name Penis McCrotchgrabbin is, at least, somewhat stupid) would be A-OK. Of course, people would still think it's stupid, but at least the kid wouldn't be bullied for it.

Think about this analogy: there is a madman (the bully) driving down the street at full speed in a pickup truck; there is a mother who throws her son out into the road (giving him a stupid name) - the kid is gonna get mowed down (bullied). It doesn't matter if the mother thinks "well, that man shouldn't be allowed to run my poor Moonshine over - I don't want to give in to him (the bullis), so I'll do it anyway!".
Now think, if that man was sitting in his vehicle, stationary (not bullying), the kid wouldn't have a chance of being run over, so it would be fine (if a little weird) for the mother to throw the kid out on to the road (give him a stupid name).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have interpreted your views as being like "as long as we don't "give in to" bullies, it's fine that my little Boggis gets emotionally scarred for the rest of his life" - it would seem you put your pride over your child's emotional wellbeing.
[If this ISN'T a fair observation, please correct me and tell me what your views REALLY are]

 

[Captain Booyah]

It'd be hard to enforce any kind of actual law over it, I think, and I'm 100% behind free will, but this is undoubtedly one of my biggest pet peeves. Yeah, it's hilarious, but it's also incredibly selfish on the parents' part. After all, what are the chances that that child, who is going to have to live with that name for the rest of their life unless they change it, isn't going to see the funny side of it? Pretty damn high. I have a sense of humour in the worst of situations, but I'd be seriously pissed if I knew my parents thought it was a genuinely good idea to call me Apple, or Violet if I were a boy, or whatever.

Then their kids are going to get unnecessary shit just because 'But it sounds nice' / 'It's really unique' (no shit, Sherlock). They aren't valid excuses -- if you're naming your kid Rainbow Petal Blossom (actual name, BTW), it's just either batshit insane or downright cruel. Rainbow isn't going to be a sweet little baby forever: they're going to be an actual person who has to put that shit on job applications. There isn't an excuse.

 

[BlackWidower]

I completely disagree. I think there should be a law banning generic/cliche names. I've met too many people with identical names, and it gets confusing, especially when they're identical to mine. See, if I was named something like Gishna, or Gillan. No problem, because it's unlikely anyone on earth has a similar name. Having such a generic name pisses me off. At least I can change it if I want to, but it's already on my College Diploma so that kinda sucks.

 

[feather240]

Meh, make it illegal if you want. How the hell does it obstruct freedom? You can have a nickname until you can legally change your real name.

 

[Naeo]

I think we should go the way of Hungary. Catalogue all real names that are in use, excluding nouns (older names like Faith/Hope/etc discluded, maybe). Make them into a list. Tell parents, "You have to name your kid something on this list," but if they want to name them something else they can request that a name be added to the list. So none of this bullshit naming your kid Je T'aime (why would you name your kid "I love you"? Why?) or the like.

Honestly, were it not such a weird name, I would name a hypothetical female child of mine "Europa". But that name has kinda been stolen by the moon of Jupiter.

 

[elbrandino]

Unique names are fine but don't put in sweat words or stupid things like house or work appliances, etc. I would hope people would be more mature than to came their child McCool. And if not, the kid can change it at some point. Or just go by something else.

 

[TeeBs]

Would you consider me giving my child the middle name of Danger stupid/horrendous, because I think its one of those things where you don't have to tell people your middle name, and most kids I know would be proud.

 

[DarkRyter]

Don't like the name?

Change it. We can do that, you know.

Sure, it's a rough few years as a child, but with enough prompting, you can just take a nickname.

 

[skitzo van]

I think there shouldn't be laws against what you name your child, I think there should be laws about what the parents have to do to name their child. For instance, if the parents can prove their smart, they get to name their kids whatever they want, if they don't there's a predetermined list of standard names they can choose from. I have no problem with what name a person has, I just have a problem with what the hell their parents were thinking. For instance, Frank Zappa named his kid Moon Unit because he was going off on a tour and didn't have time to talk to his wife about kid names, while the guy who tried to name his kid 4 real probably loaded up his crack pipe before choosing names.

 

[LCP]

Phhss you people have it easy. I had 2 uncles with funny names

Teofiloenvidio
Nacorespedito


...

 

[dex-dex]

Eh, nothing wrong with naming a boy Violet. It is quite a nice name. Sure, normally a girl's name, but does that matter?
If he really hates it that much when he is older, he can always change it.
Anyway, yeah, there should be some rules in place, I suppose.
At least there are some rules, such as numbers cannot be used in the name, which I discovered when some cuckoo couple tried to name their kid 4 Real. Yep. They really hated it that much.

But if you are given what is usually a girl's name you will be bullied non-stop. Changing your name later will not make that never happen. Hell, people get bullied for having names that can belong to either sex.

I knew a guy named Josclen. What is even more hilarious is that he is named after a hockey player and his parents did not know how he spelled it so they went with their interpreatation of the spelling phonetically.
He was not really bullied. soo it all depends on the person's social interaction.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

It's a last name, so it isn't the parents fault, but there was a kid at my school named Michael Shithead. It was pronounced Shitheed, but no one ever did.

 

[rutger5000]

No cruelty or down-ride-retardedness can't be made illegal, otherwise most of the world would now in prison, and we don't want that. Or do we ?
However if you were to attempt to give your child a name that will seriously lower his quality of life, then your parental rights ought to be taken away from you. The poor children with such names should be taken away from their parents, get new nice normal names and be raised by people that are actual sane and do love them.