When it comes to the government getting involved in child rearing, I'm usually of the step-away-from-the-kid school of thought, but sometimes intervention is necessary for the sake of the kid. Take baby names for instance. While deciding what name to bestow upon one's child is a parent's right and privilege, when parents want to call their kid "Lucifer," they really should be stopped.
Some names are just stupid, but others are mean and really could border on some kind of mental abuse. In New Zealand, at least, the government is putting a stop to such nonsense. Currently, there are 102 names on the government's list of those it has rejected in the past two years, including Lucifer.
Others that haven't made the cut in New Zealand include names like: "89," "/" (Slash?), "Mr.," and "Messiah." All pretty good calls I'd say. Countries around the world have banned all sorts of names as well, most of which seem like merciful rulings. The problem, however, is that when you try to regulate names, there's huge room for interpretation in what's good taste.
It seems New Zealand has also rejected names that sound too much like titles such as: "Baron," "Bishop," "Duke," "General," "Judge," "Justice," "King," and "Knight." That seems a little too aggressive in my opinion. The council also balked at, though later accepted, names like "Fanny" and "Nevaeh" (heaven spelled backwards), which seems crazy as they're pretty popular names.
And I guess that's why even though I'd like to see some people stopped from giving their children ridiculous names, it seems more problematic to start determining what a ridiculous name actually is. I suppose a couple little Lucifers running around is a small price to pay for the freedom we have in this country to name our kids "Apple" and the like ... for those not named Lucifer at least.
Which baby names would you like to see outlawed? Do you think governments should outlaw certain names?
Image via Omar Omar/Flickr
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Comments 96
Lucifer actually means "light bearer" so I don't see what the big deal is, just because some uneducated christians don't like it becuase it was satan's name before he was cast out. I'm a christian and have no problem with the name.
i'm all for it, and i'm American. Some people take their freedoms to far. I'm sick of meeting kids with god awful names that i would say is setting the kid up for life long issues because of their names. I have known in person the following babies, Phist Fight Car Crash, Vincent Van helsing, Agony Payne and her brother Sy Co Payne. Those are real babies out in the world and someone should have stopped their parents. Also I really hate the, long ridiculous against the english language, names that the nurses cant even pronounce when calling a child back to see the dentist.
well, fanny is short for francis. just so yo know
My daughter, who happens to be called Serendipity or Wren for short) , went to nursery with a Lucifer. You want to guess what I think about uncommon names being banned? :P
Ironically, Serendipity was planned and thus not really serendipitous but I still think we are lucky to have her.
I can agree looking over some of the names on the list, like Sexfruit, nobody should be allowed to name their child that. I could consider it abuse. It's sad that the government has to get involved and in some countries they take it to the extreme but really calling your child Smelly Head, that is just unacceptable.
Lucifer was an Angel before he became the Fallen Angel known as the Devil-Satan.
You know, I once met a little girl named Shame Anya. Her mother was a self proclaimed satanist and I was horrified. I was sure that was some sort of abuse and am to this day. However, I don't believe its the governments job to tell people what they can and can't name their kid. Even if I find it deplorable. Its just too slippery a slope. And frankly, Lucifer isn't even that bad. It actually the name of the Arch Angel of Light and supposedly gods most trusted angel. Its only because stupid people who pontificate but don't actually read the bible that think Lucifer is synonamous with Satan. And banning Duke? King? Baron? I mean, really? Get a life! What if they create a list of just a few appropriate names that we get to pick from? LAME.