Alternatively, should children be allowed to change their names to one in a restricted list anytime before 18, then to anything after 18?
Yes.
Children with stupid names should be allowed to change their parents’ names!
The chaotic option, I like it.
If you are going to propose a law, you need to define “stupid”
If you’re in a state with a conservative Registrar of Names, names that are too “ethnic” will be considered stupid.
Misspellings of popular names (Anna but spelled Aeigheynneah) and things that are judged to be too othering.
Judged by whom?
Aeigheynneah
how is that even close to pronounced the same as Anna? most half the word would have to be silent.
look up spelling systems of Gaelic languages (e.g. Irish, Scottish Gaelic), that is not too far off
For example Caoimhe, pronounced Keeva.
Despite having heard the name Siobhan (pronounced Sheh-vaugn), I never saw it written until many years later and in an unrelated circumstance so I assumed it was pronounced “Sigh-Oh-Ban”. Irish names are insanely confusing for anyone who isn’t Irish and I’ll eternally argue there’s no shame in getting one wrong.
Plenty of countries have this. Examples of forbidden names are “Hitler”, “Asshole”, “<Insert demeaning word here>”, and “Quisling” (name of a Nazi collaborator, commonly used as a synonym for “traitor” in daily speech).
The point is that “stupid” is defined as a name that is objectively likely to severely negatively impact the child. It’s not based on “I think X sounds stupid” but on whether “X” carries significant cultural baggage like being the name of a famous Nazi, a slur of some kind, etc.
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Least deranged QA parent
Several countries have laws about naming to prevent stupid/abusive/non-traditional names (use cases vary by country)
ooh ooh I know about this because of this silly thing:
I’m all for being able to change your name legally once, at the age of 13. Then It’s up to you at 18 if you feel the need to change it again.
In the UK you are free to basically just change your name if you want. In fact, part of getting it “officially” changed (like for a passport) is proving that you’ve been using the new name in daily life for a while. There’s a restriction about not using the new name for fraudulent purpose", so you can’t pretend to be someone else or whatever, but really what you call yourself and what you want others to call you is your business. I was genuinely surprised that most of the rest of the world thinks it’s acceptable to dictate people’s names to them.
This is already location-dependent. I think Iceland has the most restrictive legislation with a prescribed list to choose from. Other countries have a layer of “is this really a name?” checking as part of the registration process after birth and parents can be sent back to square one.
I think there is a balance to be had where you can’t get away with xc1>df or whatever but you could name your kid after a GoT character that tragically turned evil in the last season. My suggestion would be to include a second given name that is more established than Khalisi or Dumbledore, e.g. Kelly and David. If Khalisi Kelly’s last name is Knox obvs I wouldn’t insist on the alliteration. My point is then your child has a plan B when they get mocked for being called Hobbit in school. They can just go by Henry or whatever other boring name made the cut. That way you don’t need to get into a complicated legal situation where a minor would have to override the wish of their parents.
After reaching adulthood legally, virtually anybody can try to change their name. Although the process may involve having to prove harm to get it approved in some places. I think there is a correlation between a laissez-faire attitude to naming and ease of getting a name change. In countries that are stricter to begin with, the hurdles are much higher and can be much costlier.
I believe in Iceland’s case it has to do with how the Icelandic language works and certain names just kind of don’t work with the rest of the language. I’m far from an expert on the Icelandic language, but my understanding is that nouns, names included, sort of get “conjugated” (I’m not sure if “conjugation” is the correct term, I think that’s specifically a vowel thing, but it’s similar in that the word changes depending on how it’s used in a sentence and most of us are familiar with the concept of conjugation.)
There’s a few random things in English that do it, like depending on the sentence, you might use I/me/my/mine/etc. when you refer to yourself refer to yourself, but in icelandic all nouns do that in a regular predictable way, so they have to be pronounceable with certain suffixes tacked onto them.
I think they also do the old school patronymic/matronymic name thing instead of family names. So if you meet someone in Iceland whose name is something like “Steve Robertson” then “Robertson” isn’t his family name, his dad is literally named “Robert” and so he is “Steve, Robert’s Son” so names kind of have to work with that kind of naming convention as well.
So it’s less of a “this name is stupid” and more of a “this name breaks our language”
It also seems like they’ve eased up on some of the rules in recent years, first names are no longer gender restricted, and they’ve added a nonbinary suffix for the patronyms/matronyms so now you can be a -bur instead of just -son or -dóttir
The thing that annoys me the most about all those Khaleesis is that Khaleesi is NOT HER NAME, IT’S HER TITLE FFS.
That isn’t really that unusual, King and Queen are both used as names, so its not that weird. Steven King, Queen Latifah (stage name, but still), King C Gillete (inventor of the safety razor)
Last names and stage names are entirely different species of names. I maintain (based on no evidence and personal belief only) that most of the people burdening their daughters with this name don’t know it’s a title.
Edit: wait, I tell a lie, my evidence is that SO MANY people called Daenerys “Khaleesi” as her name. “Khaleesi did this, Khaleesi did that, my favourite character is Khaleesi, Khaleesi is Jon’s aunt.”
What about Regina King?
Now listen here, smartass. ;)
They probably dont know that its a title, but it doesn’t really matter. The character is colloquially known as Khaleesi, and thats what they are naming their kid after.
I don’t think its a good name either, given the TV series has largely fizzled, so its connection won’t make sense in a few years time, but being a title first doesn’t exclude it by itself (IMHO).
Man. I’m gonna go pout in my nerd corner now.
I’m sorry :( tell you what, when you run for president of the world, on a platform of “rename all Khaleesi’s to Daenerys”, I’ll vote for you :)
can’t be worse than the current pres. prolly.
That… means so much. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. 🥲
wait, I tell a lie
You sound like a character in a Shakespeare play! I love it.
Forsooth, Brudi, sein oder nicht sein, das geht steil, you egg.
Edit: I am inconsolable, I just came from this thread and my brain hasn’t recovered from the throwback so it produced this nonsense. le epic lulz.
It already is (depending on the country).
Let me give you an example of why you can’t do this:
I think that “Connor” and “Brody” and “Mikaela” and “Chase” are stupid names.
No, names like Vagina, X Squared and Helicopter are stupid names. Connor, Brody and Mikaela are just names you don’t like.
I know what they meant. I was illustrating that the bar can be set much lower.
Who dictates what’s stupid? Where does the sanity end and crazy name start? We can’t be the arbiters of good taste.
Who dictates what’s stupid? Where does the sanity end and crazy name start?
Sanity ends when the name has an objectively high likelihood of causing the child harm, or otherwise severely hindering them in life. For example, naming your child “Hitler”, or “<insert slur of choice>” is objectively likely to be harmful to them. Likewise, naming them “Helicopter” or “Rollercoaster” is very likely to set them back in life through childhood bullying.
Who dictates this? In all countries I’m aware of that have laws around this: A government body of some kind.
Many countries have law banning stupid name which aren’t a way to give abusive power to a civil servant but to protect kids from crazy parents, so your example doesn’t work
In Germany the bureau where you register your child they have a book with tons of names in use around the world. But apart from that it depends on the bureaucrat handling your case. And of course you can always sue in case you don’t like their decision.
There is a German actress whose first name is Wolke (Cloud). She doesn’t know how her parents managed to get that approved. But now she is a case you can point to if you want to name your own child Wolke.
Wolke is a rare Dutch name for male and female. Wolk would idd mean cloud.
But Wolleke is used for animals i know. Wol = wool.
ke = ( behind a word to make it ) smalWolke/Cloud are both pretty names
Justin Case likes the name his parents gave him. But at any time he has the legal right to change his name to something else he prefers, just in case he doesn’t like the name his parents gave him.
Michael Hunt has entered the chat.
Bet he learned to pronounce that with a hard H very quickly.
Hey. His name’s Mike.
That’s what he prefers to go by
Ill-advised, at the very least, eg: “My name is Sue How do you do You gonna die”
GG Allin’s birth name was Jesus Christ Allin and he turned out just fine!
Hugh Grant’s middle name is Mungo.
This question should be illegal. Name changes should be simple and up to the individual when they have autonomy. Before then, you get whatever your parents want, because names are just made up nonsense anyway.
If I were world lord god or whatever, everyone would just be allowed to legally change it at 18, then once again whenever they want, in case. No trading if you used both yours on silly changes.
