A Boy Named Friday

[IDrinkaRum]

Not sure if this is where this article should go, but it seems to be the best fit.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071218/..._uk_italy_name

Parents in Italy give son unusual name of "Friday". Courts in Italy say they can't do that and re-name the baby Gregory for the Saint on whose day the baby was born.

The court said that a child with an unusual name will be ridiculed and won't be able to make nice friendships.

I'm torn about this. Yes, it's nice that someone wanted to smack the parents upside the head because they named their kid after a day of the week. However, is it really the court's/government's duty to see that children are named properly?

I know this isn't in America, but it just seem silly. However, the mention of superstitious Italians who view Friday as evil might make the child's life miserable.

Anyone else have an opinion?

[MystyGlyttyr]

I think that there should be some form of mandate in place to help curb the horrendous names I see inflicted on little children...some of the ones on my obits are so bad that my spellcheck tries to hurt itself. And I KNOW these names have no meaning, they're just something the parents make up that "looks cool" or that they think might be "ethnic" but it's really just a mess (and if they spent three seconds with the right baby name book, they could find a true ethnic name).

But I think it should just be used in the sense of names that could really, really be bad...like a guy I know actually named Kotex. Yes, he is a miserable son of a bitch. Or the children who will get in kindergarten and have to learn how to spell their name when it's something like, and I'm using actual names from my files for today here, MonTashia'arya or Sha’Asyaee (for the record, on the last one, the e's are silent). No, I promise you, I did NOT just make those things up. I have to call more funeral homes regarding the spelling or capitalization or freaking PUNCTUATION of children's names than ANYTHING. I think names like those border on child abuse.

But something that's a little unusual can actually be a good thing. There's a family around here where just about every guy is named Cash Register, and they LOVE their names. And I've known people named Tuesday and Wednesday and they functioned just fine.

For God's sakes, my last name is FOOTE. You think I didn't get teased for that? Further, there were three of us so we were always getting "OH, it's the YARD children! Three Footes, huh huh." (American measurement for those who don't know...three feet = one yard.) And the bitterness and resentment I feel for my peers has nothing to do with that. Hell, it was about the only mildly clever thing they ever came up with.

I'm sort of torn between the rights of parents to name their children and the rights of children not to have to live with that crap. So...I can see the point of the ruling and even agree with it to some extent. If it was a name like Kotex, I would totally agree. Something like Friday, that's just a bad luck thing, eh. Anyone who would pick on a child for something out of their control like that is either completely immature (i.e. cruel little children) or just looking for something to bitch about.

Eh, overall, I don't know about this one. I sort of see both sides. I just think the ruling was a little too stringently applied here.

[AFPheonix]

Kids will always find something about other kids to make fun of, no matter how perfect the kid's name is, how mainstream their clothing is, blah blah blah. Kids are assholes by nature.
I do agree with cutting down on absolutely retarded names, though. Some people and they way they spell their kids' names.... I don't think Friday is all that weird though, I will grant that I'm not Italian and perhaps it has a stronger connotation for them than it does me.

[Banrion]

The article doesn't quite make it clear whether they were actually trying to name the child Friday in English, or Venerdi (Friday in Italian), either way I believe it is the parents' right to name a child whatever they want. If the kid doesn't like it, he can change it the day he reaches the age of majority, and can probably start having friends and other acquaintences call him by his chosen name well before any legal change takes place.

Kids in general are cruel and mean, because children have not developed sympathetic and empathetic responses to social situations yet. Children are by nature selfish, and cruel, and must be taught how to appropriately function in a social group. I have a borderline unusual name, and by sheer coincidence, there was one other girl in my grade level who had the same name. ( For the record, my name is unusual for a good reason, hers was just because her parents wanted to be different. My name is Krysta- K is my moms first inital, Rysta was her maiden name, my mom was an only child, and her father was the only male of 12 children, at the time I was born, he was very very ill, and my name a small homage to the family name) I being the chubby unpopular girl got called all kinds of horrid names and teased endlessly to the point I would go home crying everyday from 4th grade through my freshman year of high school. She being the cute popular cheerleader never got any of it.

I agree with Mysty, there are too many people just trying to be different with names, that names are getting out of control.

[CancelMyService]

Besides, with a name like Friday he could be king one day:

[IDrinkaRum]

That's cute CancelMyService.

Right before I changed the TV station to Disney, the TV was actually on a news channel station. The anchor person (2 boys & a girl - well, 2 gentlemen and a lady) were sitting around, talking about this, and the woman said: "There's an actual law in italy that says you have to name your first born son after a Saint?!?" And then one of the guys chimed in, "There aren't any Chads in Italy?" I don't know ... it grated on my nerves for some reason (could be because I have just woken up and haven't had any coffee. )

I have no feelings either way for naming the kid (though the more outrageous spellings/names (like naming your kid Del Monte) should really be banned). However, the parents are Italian they know there are superstitious people in Italy and how these types of people view Friday. They really should have known how the Courts would react. They can name the kid Gregory and give him the nickname Friday. Compromises are always good.

[Boozy]

I don't know how a so-called free democracy thinks it can get away with telling parents what they can and cannot name their own children.

Italy is a perfect example of a country that allows religious belief to intrude upon civil rights.

We may think the names are dumb, but we don't have the right to judge. Who are they hurting? Its just a name.

Will kids make fun? Sure...but there is no way that I'd accept that as an excuse for being a dick. "Sorry, but his name was Friday. I had to mercilessly tease him until he cried. I had no choice." Please.

[MystyGlyttyr]

We may think the names are dumb, but we don't have the right to judge. Who are they hurting? Its just a name.

There's a difference between a name that's dumb, like anyone naming their child Fannie in this day and age...or a name like Kotex, where the fellow in question admitted to me several times that he thought about killing himself a great deal during his younger years because he thought his parents hated him to give him that name. I asked him WHY his parents picked that and he replied that they "just liked it." They didn't see the problem! When their son came home from school in tears from the teasing, they would give the old standby of "Oh just ignore them, they'll get bored, blah blah blah." And of course, it didn't end, it still hasn't.

Kotex is 17 and he swears that as soon as he's legally able (which will be in June), he's changing his name, and after that, so far as he's concerned, his family is disowned from him. To hear a 17-year-old guy talking about getting a will written up just to ensure that should he ever be worth something, his family won't get any of it, tells me how deeply the wrong name can affect you.

Sure, it's an extreme case, but it can still happen.

I actually sort of like the tradition of "milk names" that I think it might be the Chinese or some group of them use...where they give the baby a temporary name until they're old enough to choose their own. Then if you get a dummy name, you got no one to blame but yourself.

[Boozy]

I'm not questioning the effects of a terrible name. Kotex is an embarrassing name and his parents are clearly idiots.

I suppose that a case could be made in this situation that his parents subjected their child to ridicule tantamount to child abuse. But that's a slippery slope. If the parents are at fault, then what responsibility do his tormentors have?

The situation in Italy is slightly different and more concerning. "Friday" is considered an "evil" day, and thus the name is deemed unacceptable. The government is making a subjective judgment based on religious convictions - ones that the parents (presumably) don't share.

The child is currently only 15 months old, so any argument that the court could make that it is protecting the child from peer ridicule is premature and impossible to prove.

The same court then ordered the child be named after a Catholic saint.

There is obviously no freedom of religion in Italy.

[XCashier]

Besides, with a name like Friday he could be king one day:

Or a police officer!

"My name's Friday. I carry a badge."

[rahmota]

I'll agree that names and words have power. The wrong name can be quite dangerous and detrimental. Maybe not the supernatural power some people think but definate social power.

Should people take great consideration in what they name their children. Oh most definately. It took me and the wife 3 months to come up with the names for our children. We bounced various ideas, made lists and practiced saying the name aloud to see how it would sound and how it could be made fun of. We settled on some nice relatively special names that are both common and traditional as well as unique to our children. (No I am not going to say them for privacy reasons)

Should the government be able to deny people the decision and choice to name their children. Definately hades realm no! Might as well let them decide what your name will be anyhow. That happens look out for everyone to have names like THX 1138 or something. At least they didnt name him Sue.....

[DesignFox]

Working with children...some of the stupid ass names parents give their kids...or the weird ass spellings.

At least, last year, when I was working with kids, I had to make name tags. Some of the spellings of the common names were outrageous. Or, the name would be spelled one way, but pronounced another way. I think some parents seriously just threw a bunch of letters in a hat and pulled randomly...

Thankfully, most parents weren't uptight about it- they'd just let me fix any errors...but some people got their panties in a twist. Here's an idea. If you don't want people fucking up your kid's name all the time, spell it like the rest of humanity, or follow some of the basic laws of the English language.
(I grant exceptions for peoples of different cultures- As an example, I know people in Poland don't name their kids the same way we name ours- the language being different and all)

Can we tell this annoys the bejeebers out of me? My mom wanted to give me a "weird" spelling of my name to make me feel special, but opted on the side of good sense and spelled my name like normal people would. She figured it would be better for me to have the same name as someone else than to never be able to find any name thingies with my name spelled right (hey, that's important when you're a kid!) or have people messing it up all the time...or get teased because of it. People had enough trouble with our last name as it was...

[ArenaBoy]

A few of my friends have named their kids these names: Ludovic (French name), Rinoa (After the character from Final Fantasy 8), and Taj. There was no questioning on them. Although some names when combined with certain surnames are bound to be disaster. Look at some of the names we've seen.

Off topic: Since I started watching soccer, I've been subjected to some very unique names, the most unique being Eidur Gudjohnsen (An Icelandic player). Pronounced I-der Good-yon-sin. Elongate the Goo part and you're good.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Many countires in Europe have strict rules about giving kids names. Here's a German case of a Turkish family in Germany wanting to name their child Osama Bin Laden.

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/e...ama/index.html

Denmark is another country with extrememly strict rules; in fact they have a list of 7,000 names which are acceptable and you must pick from the list, they do not allow any other names to be used for babies born there. Here's an article about Denmark.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/10/...s.php#end_main

[rahmota]

in fact they have a list of 7,000 names which are acceptable and you must pick from the list, they do not allow any other names to be used for babies born there

Well no wonder there are so many karl jorgs or whatever. Almost soudns like that bad sterotypical joke of calling a chinese operator and asking for wong. "Which Wong you want?"

Still I can see some cultures not exactly wanting to have kids named certain things. Like germany and adolph or osama bin laden or something. But somethign like Moon Unit or Friday or Punky (I knew a girl named Punky, yes she was named after the show.) while beign stupid and strange choices are still the parents perogative. If they make a bad choice yes the child will have to live with it until they are old enoug to go to court and change it but oh well.