I know, at least for some, this US story and name will be old news. I had heard this story a bit ago myself. But I ran across it today again, and it set me thinking. My gut reaction when I read things like this is, basically, that the parents are horrible and they shouldn’t be allowed. Am I judging this family I don’t know based on two words? Yes. [name_f]Do[/name_f] I feel uncomfortable about that? Actually a little. It’s not my nature to tell others what they can or can’t do.
I don’t even like it when I run across threads on Nameberry where the OP is being told, bluntly, that they “can’t” name their kid a name with the same beginning letter as a sibling or that they “must” stay away from unisex names because big sister does or doesnt have one. And that’s not even me giving, or agreeing with, these decrees.
So while my gut says that someone should make these parents change this poor child’s name, understand that this thought runs against the grain of my nature. On the other hand, other countries have naming laws. Is anyone really hurt by that? Is that loss of freedom or protection of children against poor decisions and negative messages?
I think most people would find [name_m]Adolf[/name_m] Hitler offensive, even those who dont have a personal connection to the horror he incurred. In my case, some of my distant ancestors were caught in his bloodbath. [name_m]Even[/name_m] if that weren’t so, I would be horrified and appalled by this poor boy’s name.
What do you think? Should there be a limit on what we can name children? What would that look like? For those not in the U.S., what are some of your name laws? [name_f]Do[/name_f] you agree with them or find them restricting?
Yes, I agree with our naming laws since they are there to make sure the name is chosen in the best interest of the child and won’t embarrass or hurt them in the future.
Here, gender benders are not allowed unless they have a known pop culture reference or something else that makes them unisex here. So no [name_f]Anna[/name_f] for boys and no [name_u]Michael[/name_u] for girls. Names like [name_m]Jona[/name_m], [name_f]Noa[/name_f] and [name_u]Luca[/name_u] are allowed on both genders since they have different roots as both feminine and masculine names. I do think it makes sense to not allow gender benders here, as few people would use them and those who do would set their child up for a lifetime (or at least in school) of comments and name calling (or just “haha, you’re a boy”- read in a mean 7 year old’s voice).
Yes, there should be laws on what you can and can’t name your child. Those parents very definitely named their child that because of their disgusting worldview, not because they just liked the name. Hopefully their child would not grow up to share these views (although, let’s be honest, there is a pretty good chance that it would - children are very easily indoctrinated with their parents’ beliefs, no matter what those may be), but either way, the child’s right to not be associated with hateful, racist ideologies trumps the parents’ right to pick a name with absolute freedom.
I find so often in these sorts of debates, concerning what parents should and shouldn’t be able to do, the child’s rights are completely ignored, or considered to be quite rightly secondary to the parents’ rights. People say things like, ‘Oh well, I wouldn’t do it myself, but ultimately a parent should have the right to decide what’s best for their family’. I say, no, spawning a child does not give you absolute authority over that child just because it’s too young to have any opinions of its own yet, and some parents aren’t fit to decide on certain issues. You don’t own your child. It’s a separate human being and the law absolutely should protect its interests at the expense of ‘parental rights’, with regards to all kinds of issues, not just naming.
We have quite extensive naming laws in Iceland, and although I don’t 100% agree with every article of the law, I like the general principle and I find the justifications for it very convincing. In reality, I don’t think there’s a country in the world that doesn’t have naming laws of any kind, even though people tend to consider them to be ‘common sense’ where they would consider another country’s laws ‘strict’ (lacking the appropriate cultural/linguistic perspective). E.g. in the USA you can’t use characters outside of the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet commonly used in English. That rules out a lot of names used in other countries, but it’s the law and it makes sense.
[name_f]Edit[/name_f]: Sorry, I cross-posted. I notice that Lumen already made the point about the Latin alphabet!
Well, the family that named their son [name_m]Adolph[/name_m] Hitler also had other children named with the white supremacy theme. In that case, it isn’t a stretch to think that they were (last I read, the children had been removed from the parents’ custody) being raised to hold those values, since the parents so blatantly did. A tamer story that is related to your topic is the story of little [name_f]Tallulah[/name_f] Does the Hula From [name_m]Hawaii[/name_m].
Anyhow, I caution to say that we should have naming laws, since what is good and acceptable in one’s eyes isn’t necessarily that in another person’s eyes. Who would get to decide what is acceptable? Where would we draw the line? Someone may think that it is terrible to name your child [name_m]Walter[/name_m] or [name_f]Hazel[/name_f], or [name_u]Jayden[/name_u] and McKynzi, and ban those names, even though while they are not everyone’s cup of tea, they aren’t awful names. What about [name_m]Christian[/name_m], [name_u]Messiah[/name_u], [name_m]Cohen[/name_m], [name_f]India[/name_f], or other names which may be seen as offensive to some, but not to others? Should we just ban them all?
I’ll admit, when I hear some names, which I won’t mention, I think “man, did the parents think about the fact that the child has to LIVE with this name??” Granted, I reserve that opinion for very extreme cases.
All of that being said, I think that we would benefit from a basic list of banned names, which should be common sense swear words and body parts. I’m sure there are those out there who would completely defend their choice to name their child Anus, but come on…really?
In the case of that family, they gave their child a name that they know would cause offense and disgust to most. I doubt job interviews or college visits would go well. I’ve never really understood why so many Americans were against naming laws. The European ones aren’t very restrictive, imo. Many Americans just take a few names and butcher the spellings, so it’s not like they’d miss 5,000 names anyway I kid, but I think that if a name can hinder a child’s success in life because it’s offensive to most. Honestly, a lot of our laws are like that; If I remember correctly criminal law uses the “reasonable person” idea, where the jury is asked to consider whether a reasonable person in the same situation would act similarly or not. Old names, nickname-y names, etc. likely wouldn’t be on the list except maybe [name_m]Dick[/name_m].
The thing about [name_m]Adolf[/name_m] Hitler is that, in addition to the atrocious crimes committed, it isn’t a distant crime. There are still people alive, although they are few, that were in the Holocaust or fought in the war. There are some names that I still would raise my eye at if I saw, for example [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] Bathory, [name_m]Ted[/name_m] Bundy or, in the US, [name_m]Benedict[/name_m]. Who knows if time will lessen the negative association to his name. Personally, I hope not.
swear words and body parts. I’m sure there are those out there who would completely defend their choice to name their child Anus, but come on…really?
I kid, but I think that if a name can hinder a child’s success in life because it’s offensive to most. Honestly, a lot of our laws are like that; If I remember correctly criminal law uses the “reasonable person” idea, where the jury is asked to consider whether a reasonable person in the same situation would act similarly or not. Old names, nickname-y names, etc. likely wouldn’t be on the list except maybe [name_m]Dick[/name_m].