Comments on: How To: Change Your Name

By: l

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 13:19:28 +0000

I’m Polish and have been on a first-name-change crusade for a while now.
Because the name I chose failed the ‘official list’ (which in fact was a big fat book of names the clerk fished out of her drawer) test, the only thing they agreed to do for me was to let me change my last name into what I have been and still are using as first. I still had to justify the choice and the need for such alteration, and attach a collection of proofs to testify that I’d been using the name in daily life.

One thing is to not let a parent choose a potentially offensive name for their kid (though who’s to state such potential objectively); an adult who is not allowed to change their own name is a whole new ridiculous ball game.

By: MR Graham

MR Graham — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:36:43 +0000

Sikhism, the 5th largest religion in the world, has an unusal naming practice, which like the Puritans mentioned by Jessie, involves randomly opening a book.

They randomly open a book, and using the first letter on the top left hand side of the left page. Male children’s middle names are always Singh, and female children’s middle names are always Kaur.

By: teo

teo — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:57:16 +0000

No names based on days in Italy.
Italian Child Cannot Be Named Friday
By ALESSANDRA RIZZO – 1 day ago

ROME (AP) — Friday’s child is loving and giving — but not if he lives in Italy.

Italian judges forbade a couple from naming their son Friday, saying it would bring the child shame and ridicule to be named after the character in “Robinson Crusoe.”

“They thought that it recalled the figure of a savage, thus creating a sense of inferiority and failing to guarantee the boy the necessary decorum,” the couple’s lawyer, Paola Rossi, said Wednesday.

Mara and Roberto Germano, whose son was born on Sept. 3, 2006, had the boy named and baptized Venerdi, Italian for Friday.

Even though the boy was not born on a Friday — it was Sunday — his parents liked the name, said Rossi.

“They wanted an unusual name, something original, and it did not seem like a shameful name,” Rossi said in a telephone interview. “We think it calls to mind the day of the week rather than the novel’s character.”

Since City Hall officials are obliged by law to report odd names, the matter ended up before judges in Genoa, the northern Italian city where the couple live.

Last month, an appeals court stated that Friday falls into the category of the “ridiculous or shameful” names that are barred by law, because it recalled the native servant in Daniel Defoe’s novel.

The judges wrote that naming somebody Friday would bar him from “serene interpersonal relationships” and would turn the boy into the “laughing stock of his group,” according to a report in La Repubblica this week.

According to the daily, the judges also said that, as a day of the week, Friday raises a sentiment of sadness and penitence, when not being associated with bad luck outright.

Rossi said the court, which upheld a previous ruling in June, also ordered the boy to be named Gregorio after the saint on whose day he was born.

The couple are considering appealing the decision to Italy’s highest court, she said

By: gus

gus — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:46:24 +0000

I was lucky, my Grandfather and Uncle were named Augustus, with no middle name. My father was named Bob. My son got my first name, but to avoid the “Junior” moniker he got a middle name.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:05:15 +0000

I read that the Puritans would sometimes name their children by opening the bible at random and pointing blindly at the page, giving the child as a name the word their finger landed on. I gave it a shot, using bible.com, and my future Puritan child will be named According. It could be worse. In the same verse (Leviticus 5:10) the baby could have been “Burnt”, “Sinned” or “Him” (rather unfortunate if she was a girl).

By: J.Soul

J.Soul — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:09:37 +0000

There are other reasons to change your name; for instance, if in the phonebook your name appears as “Polish, Harry” and prompts bored silly teenagers to ring you looking for a one Polish Harry. Or if you’re poetic and the scansion of your first and last name produces a monotonous ugly set of six stressed syllables in a row, and it kills you that there’s no lyricism to your name… then you may want to reflect the rhythm in your life and change your name to something like J.Soul.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:43:09 +0000

I dunno, some name regulation may not be all bad. I went to school in what could be called “the ghetto” and some of the names you heard there were difficult to pronounce and damn near impossible to spell. Add to that all the kitschy names that are in vogue and their myriad of possible spellings and its no wonder some countries want an official list!

But, I have to admit, my great-grandparents had some of the more original names I’ve heard: Gernie Delmar and Gladys Arzula!

By: CJ

CJ — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:26:28 +0000

The comment about people with the names Singh and Kaur was true – sort of. It was the policy of the Immigration Office in New Delhi for the last 10 years to require applicants to pick a less common name as an identifier since Singh and Kaur are very common. This was an administrative convenience(?) and thankfully that ‘policy’ has been repealed.

By: Ron

Ron — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:36:24 +0000

The Catholic church does put restrictions on baby names. Years ago my cousin’s “half-baked” husband wanted to name their frist-born son Cochise (like the Indian Chief). There was no objection with NJ state birth certificate, but the Catholic church refused to baptise him unles his name was changed to a Christian name. So they changed it to Michael Cochise.
They subsequently had a set of twin boys and they named them Frank James and Jessie James to avoid the same problem. Did I say that the father is a “whack-job”???

By: Fernando

Fernando — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:38:03 +0000

I am a Spaniard and I confirm what Anni said: No news has appeared in Spain about someone called Darling which has been denied Spanish nationality. If it has been denied to such a person, there will be another reason.

Actually, in Spain there is not a “name-list”, but the Registers for newborns (nationalized people and name-changers) are in charge of a judge who can deny a name on the basis of lack of respect towards the baby, or confussion (you cannot have two babies with the same name, or give a boy a name which is clearly identified as femenine or reverse).

Actually there are people with names in Spanish as in other languages (Spanish and foreigner ones).

You can see the most common names (and family names) in Spain in http://www.ine.es/daco/daco42/nombyapel/nombyapel.htm